Thought you were done learning about your body at age 12?

Well, you have a thing or two to learn from your uterus and ovaries!

Listen up ladies, perimenopause arrives unscheduled, uninvited, and often sooner than you think. Many women start experiencing perimenopausal symptoms as young as age 38. There is no one-size-fits-all age or right or wrong age. Unfortunately, you won’t receive a “save the date” so you can plan your outfit. The average age of menopause is 51. Remember, you are not officially in menopause unless you have been without a period but for 12 consecutive months.  Women can experience premature menopause, which means that your period has stopped for twelve consecutive months before the age of 40.  If  you feel you are experiencing menopausal symptoms, find a good menopause specialist!   Premature menopause may occur as a result of your genetic make-up, an illness, or medical procedures such as hysterectomy.

Women pride themselves on being prepared.

The sisterhood is so prepared and open when it comes to childbearing and child rearing. From pregnancy to college applications, my friends and family were always full of support.  Most mothers of young children routinely walk around with a whole nursery in their diaper bags and enough hand sanitizer to sterilize an entire country.  It is time to educate and prepare the sisterhood for perimenopause and menopause and help women take control of their fertility and biological clock!

Did you know that 95% of 30-year-old women have only 12% of their original number of ovarian follicular cells, which can develop into eggs? At 40, only 3% of the cells remain, according to research from the University of Edinburgh. Don’t panic! The research also points out that, before birth, females have roughly 600,000 cells. So even if you lose 88% of them by the time you celebrate your 30^th birthday, you can still celebrate having 72,000 cells left.

While it’s easiest for women to become pregnant before age 35, all egg-laying ovaries are not created equal, says David B. Smotrich, MD, a Diplomat of the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology specializing in Reproductive Endocrinology and Fertility. During your early 30s, your eggs can decline in quality and you might begin ovulating less frequently, even if you are having regular periods, Smotrich says. Reproductive potential decreases as women get older, and fertility can be expected to end 5 to 10 years before menopause. A 30-year-old woman has a 20% chance of getting pregnant per cycle, but by the time she’s 40, her odds drop to 5% per cycle, according to the  American Society for Reproductive Medicine.

Family Planning and Menopause

If you or someone you love is in their 30’s or 40’s and planning on starting a family, the best way to take control of your family planning, according to Dr. Smotrich, is to ask your doctor for these four simple tests:

Follicle-Stimulating Hormone (FSH) Test: A blood test that measures your body’s levels of follicle-stimulating hormones, which control your menstrual cycle and your production of eggs.

25-Hydroxy Vitamin D Test: A blood test that determines if your body is deficient in calcidiol, your body’s main form of stored vitamin D.  According to Dr. Smotrich, calcidiol levels generally decline with age, and deficiencies can predispose your baby to health complications.

Estradiol Test: A blood test that measures the amount of a hormone called estradiol in your blood. Estradiol is a form of estrogen that is largely made in and released from the ovaries, adrenal cortex, and the placenta, which forms during pregnancy to feed a developing baby.

Anti-Mullerian Hormone (AMH) Test: A blood test that estimates the number of the eggs in the ovaries.

It’s so important for our sisterhood to understand perimenopause and its effects on fertility and your biological clock. My mission is always to prepare you for menopausal bliss, so that’s why I commissioned well known comedic writer and talent, Rachel Bloom, along with song writer and producer, Jack Dolgen, to create this educational music video.

A singing uterus…what’s not to love?  Laugh, learn, sing and dance!
“This is one smart uterus!” Help spread the word!

Suffering in silence is OUT! Reaching out is IN!