I'm not much help. I will be 56 in September and I stopped my periods abruptly when I was 38! The doctor thinks maybe it was because of Prozac that I was on at the time. What ever it was, I was glad to be rid of it! Lol! I did how ever suffer from hot flashes for many years after that. Now, just once in a while, I get them.

Here's a good site with lots of info on menopause:
http://www.healthywomen.org/content.cfm?L1=3&L2=52

Here's what I found:

Some women go through menopause before age 51 and some experience it a bit later. Early menopause is defined as occurring at any age younger than age 40. Early menopause can occur naturally, but premature menopausal symptoms may signal an underlying condition, so it is important to discuss any symptoms with your health care professional. Menopause can occur as early as your 30s and, rarely, as late as in your 60s. However, there is no correlation between the time of a woman's first period and her age at menopause. In addition, age at menopause is not influenced by race, height, the number of children a woman has had or whether she took oral contraceptives for birth control.

[ June 28, 2005, 05:30 PM: Message edited by: wordcharmer ]