Goodbye Menopause, Hello Post-Menopause

Congratulations!  You’ve survived menstruation, maybe pregnancy, and have now completed menopause.  Post-menopause is usually when you haven’t had a period in a year.  For some women, they go into post-menopause at only six months of no periods.  Some women may need more than a year and a half before their final flow.  Every woman is different.  But post-menopause can be a time of freedom from the cycles of the reproductive organs.  It’s a sort of return to childhood.

I Can’t Wait

It can be hard to tell f you’ve moved from menopause to post-menopause.  The body always seems to try to surprise you.  If you had a dollar for every time you heard a doctor say, “I’ve never seen this before”, you could buy your own island.  Even if all of the other symptoms of menopause have gone for years – the hot flashes, the mood swings, the food cravings, the headaches, the insomnia, whatever you had — you could still have a period and still be considered menopausal.

Post-menopause begins a year after your last period.  But was your last period your last period?  It can be hard to tell.  Was that spotting I had last month a period or something else?  Unless you had a hysterectomy, it can be hard to determine when your last period was.  This is normal.

The only somewhat reliable medical test to determine if you are, indeed, into post-menopause is called an FSH (Follicle Stimulating Hormone) level blood or urine test.  This checks how much of each hormone is still left in your body.  This is a controversial test as it doesn’t seem to be accurate for a lot of women, especially if they were or are still on any kind of hormone replacement therapy.

One of the big advantages of post-menopause is that it usually is no big deal when you start.  It doesn’t require a huge change of lifestyle.  If you’re not sure if you are still in the least bit fertile, don’t take any chances.  Still use birth control.

Party On

So, you have no more eggs for babies.  So what?  You are still a worthwhile and valuable member of society.  Many women love their post-menopause years.  They have more freedom to be themselves, to pursue hobbies and volunteer work because they don’t need to worry about keeping children or a boyfriend safe.  The sex drive doesn’t go entirely away during post-menopause, but your knowledge of sex leads usually to better quality sex, if less quantity.  Your sex life is only a fraction of what you are.