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Menopause is the permanent cessation of menstruation which occurs a considerable length of time before the end of the lifespan.

Menopause occurs when both ovaries used up their egg cells. Egg cells are necessary for the ovary to function and to produce the hormones estrogen and progesterone.

Menopause also occurs when both ovaries are removed. This is sometimes necessary and women who lost their ovaries have the same symptoms as women where the menopause occurs naturally.

Menopause occurs normally between the ages of 45 - 55 years. (with some differences in different populations and in the reports of different researchers). This age is independent of the number of children, the use hormonal contraception (The Pill) or other factors. All women use up there egg cells at about the same age.

The pituitary gland still functions although the ovaries stopped functioning. The pituitary gland continues to try and stimulate the non responding ovaries. The levels of FSH and LH continue to increase in an effort to get to ovaries to respond.

The lack of estrogen causes the symptoms experienced by post menopausal women. The most common being hot flushes, dry vagina, tiredness, mood swings, night sweat and disrupted sleep (insomnia) The incidence and severity of the symptoms differs from to woman to woman.

There are also long term or late onset symptoms and complications, the most important being increased incidence of heart disease , osteoporosis and a possible effect on the onset of Alzheimer's disease.

If the ovaries contains about 500 000 eggs at birth ,why are there no eggs left at the age of 50 ?

Although only one egg is released every month , it appears that every day of a woman's life a few egg cells are ready to develop and if they are not stimulated, they degenerate and disappear. For an egg cell to be stimulated and for a follicle to start developing the hormonal conditions in the body must be perfect. Once a month the FSH and LH ratio are conductive to follicle development and egg cell ripening . During the rest of the month , before adolescence, while taking oral contraceptives or during pregnancy the internal conditions are not perfect and egg development won't occur. Degeneration of the eggs that are ready still continues. That's why it doesn't matter how many pregnancies a women had or for how long she took oral contraceptives, the menopause will still occur at the age of 50 . The time of the her first period also have no influence on her age when the menopause occurs.

	This drawing illustrates the endometrium during a normal menopause. As you can see the endometrium is very thin here, this is due to a lack of oestrogen.
	This drawing shows a post menopausal ovary. There are no egg cells or primary follicles in the ovary. Only scar tissue is present where the egg cells use to be. Scar tissue shrinks with time and this causes the ovaries to become smaller.