Amenorrhea affects only women since it is the absence of the menses (the monthy menstrual cycle or periods). There are two types of amenorrhea: primary and secondary. Primary amenorrhea is diagnosed when a teenage girl hasn't begun her period before the age of sixteen. Secondary amenorrhea is diagnosed when a woman hasn't had a period in a certain amount of time, usually three to six months, during the childbearing years. There are many causes for amenorrhea. In primary amenorrhea, causes include (but not limited to) congenital abnormalities involving the reproductive organs, abnormalities of the pituitary gland (both congenital and acquired), anoerexia nervosa or some other cause of a teenage girl being underweight, and stress. In secondary amenorrhea, causes include (but not limited to) pregnancy, illness, cancer, abnormalities of the pituitary gland, and stress. Most women with either primary or secondary amenorrhea can be treated with hormone replacement therapy while some can be treated with surgery. Some must be treated with both surgery and hormone replacement therapy.
At age seventeen, I was diagnosed with primary amenorrhea. By that age, I hadn't started my periods. I only got concerned when a friend who was a little younger than I had a hysterectomy because her ovaries never forned. I didn't think about it before because I was going thru a lot of surgery at the time. Everyone assumed that my body was stressed by all the surgeries. In January 1982, I started on hormone replacement therapy. The failure of my brain (actually the hypothalamus portion of the pituitary gland) does not signal my ovaries to ovulate (produce eggs each month). I use hormone therapy to stimulate that growth. My reproductive organs formed the way that they should have. I never knew the actual name of the condition until the mid 1990s.
I am basically on the same regime (when I do my hormone therapy) as when I started it in January 1982. I've learned that there are hormone supplements out there tho and am considering a change in my prescription. I take Premarin (every day) and Provera (for ten days of each month). That's when I do the regime. Since doing paramedical data entry at work, I have discovered other hormone supplements that I would rather try. I don't care for some of the side effects of my current regime.
I could have had children if I chose to do so. The doctor would have simply changed my prescription to allow me to become pregnant.
Links
Please feel free to email me with links containing information and/or support for women with amenorrhea.
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