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Can pregnancy occur during menopause?
Climax is the gradual extinction of reproductive functions. It usually starts after age 45. However, these numbers can fluctuate greatly. According to statistics, every third healthy woman has a menopause and up to 45 years. And every fifth – after 55 years.
The onset of menopause can take years. Menstruation becomes more and more rare, the process of egg maturation is disrupted, and menopause gradually sets in – the complete cessation of menstruation.
Despite the fact that there are no more periods, there is a minimal chance of pregnancy. According to the World Health Organization, within a year after the last menstruation, spontaneous ovulation without menstruation is possible, which means that pregnancy is also possible. According to some reports, it is recommended to use contraception even 2 years after the onset of menopause. There are also very casuistic cases when a woman becomes pregnant a few years after menopause.
About half of these accidental pregnancies are spontaneously terminated, because at this age the balance of hormones in women is already disturbed. During menopause, many diseases manifest themselves for the first time, chronic diseases become aggravated. All this affects the development of the embryo, and often it does not survive.
The average age of women in childbirth is gradually increasing, the quality of medicine is growing. Therefore, with early monitoring of pregnancy, even during menopause, you can bear a healthy baby.
How to recognize pregnancy during menopause
In youth, it is much easier to recognize pregnancy, at least by stopping regular menstruation. Also, new sensations appear that were not there before: nausea, headaches, sleep disturbances.
After the age of 45, it becomes much more difficult to distinguish pregnancy from the very signs of menopause. The woman attributes all unusual symptoms to hormonal age-related changes, and is in no hurry to take a test, because she considers pregnancy impossible. The irregularity of menstruation also does not bother a mature woman, as she expects the onset of menopause.
It is also important that the “hot flashes” of heat that accompany menopause do not disappear anywhere, even if a woman is carrying a child. It is a mistake to assume that pregnancy will delay menopause – on the contrary, such a double hormonal blow will only aggravate everything.
It is important to visit the gynecologist regularly by the age of 45 – 50, even if you are sure that you are definitely not pregnant. The cause of menstrual disorders can be not only natural hormonal changes, but also various diseases.
Popular questions and answers
Such an ambiguous topic causes a lot of controversy even among gynecologists. There is no single answer to frequently asked questions by women, but the availability of information about pregnancy during menopause will help to understand the topic. Answered questions from patients gynecologist Shagerbieva Eleonora.
Do tests help determine pregnancy?
Whether to keep the pregnancy if it came during menopause?
No doctor can predict how a woman’s pregnancy will proceed, even if previous pregnancies were successful. Every pregnancy is unique and can be completely different from the others. Pregnancy that occurs in menopausal women requires more careful monitoring, more additional research.
Does the risk of developmental pathologies of the child increase during pregnancy after menopause?
If you take this seriously and do not hope for “maybe”, you can give birth to a healthy child and not harm yourself. You need to be careful and take care of yourself.