Dear nycartist:

The term Premature ovarian failure (POF) has premature in it because ovarian failure happens to every single woman as part of aging. So it’s different from other organ failures like liver failure, or heart failure that most people never  experience in their lifetimes.

POF is a conditions in which ovaries stop working and menstrual periods stop before age 40. (When the ovaries fail after the age of 40, it’s called menopause). Wikipedia states that the age of 40 was chosen as the cut- off point for a diagnosis, and that It was “chosen somewhat arbitrarily, as all women’s ovaries decline in function over time”.

Wiki: “Menopause typically occurs between 49 and 52 years of age”, in its entry on Menopause, Wiki states: “The average age of the last period in the United States is 51.. in India and the Philippines, the median age of natural menopause is considerably earlier, at 44 years. In its entry on aging, Wikipedia states: “menopause typically occurs between 44 and 58 years of age”- consistent with it happening at 44 in some countries.

www. ncbi. nlm. nih. gov/ pmc/ articles/ PMC2815011/ (no spaces) states: “Women who experience premature menopause (before age 40 years) or early menopause (between ages 40 and 45 years) experience an increase risk of overall mortality, cardiovascular diseases, neurological diseases, psychiatric diseases, osteoporosis, and other sequelae. The risk of adverse outcomes increases with earlier age at the time of menopause”.

This is how I understand the above quote (I am not a medical professional of any kind): the risk in premature menopause aka ovarian failure is the same risk all people, men and women experience as part of aging. Aging in itself carries “an increase risk of overall mortality”. Al the diseases mentioned in the quote, statistically increase with aging.

Here is my non- professional understanding: a woman starts aging at 25. When a woman experiences premature menopause at 25, her somewhat escalated aging starts at 25 and by 45, with 20 years of escalated aging behind her, her chances of disease are congruent with 20 years of escalated aging.

You are 37, so when you are 45, you will have 8 years of somewhat escalated aging, and therefore you will be at 45 in a better shape than the 25 year old I mentioned. In other words, it does matter how close you are to the (arbitrary) 40 when you experience early menopause.

In summary: when I first read your original post I was alarmed by the word “failure” having in mind such things as liver failure which is a horrible thing. But now, I am thinking that as long as there is no other medical condition behind your menopause (and putting aside the issue of plans you may have had to get pregnant again), it is an undesirable head start in the aging process, but not a terrible one. You are .. a few years ahead in aging, that is all.

As you know not all women age in the same pace, there are women in their 60s who exercise daily and take care of themselves who are in better physical shape than women in their 40s who don’t take care of themselves.

If I am making a point that you didn’t think about, if I am- take it to a professional and ask about it, will you?

anita