Early and surgical menopause
The NHS defines early menopause as periods stopping before age 45, and premature menopause as before age 40. Causes include a family history of it, having started periods early, smoking, low body weight, and medical treatments including radiotherapy, chemotherapy, certain hormone medicines, and surgery to remove the ovaries.
What makes surgical menopause different
When surgery removes the ovaries, hormone production stops at the time of the operation rather than declining gradually over the years typical of natural perimenopause. There's a known date, and often no preceding transition period to have tracked through — the starting point of a record is simply the surgery date itself.
What to note once, alongside ongoing tracking
- The cause, if known — surgical, medical treatment, or unexplained. This is background context worth recording once rather than something to re-derive later from memory.
- The exact date, if surgical — the operation date functions the way a 12-month period-free mark does for natural menopause: a fixed reference point everything else can be measured against.
- That there was no perimenopause phase, if that's the case, since it changes what "before and after" comparisons actually mean. There may be no earlier baseline symptom pattern to compare against.
Beyond that, the fields don't change: symptoms, dates, and an HRT record if you're on one, tracked the same way as at any other point in the transition. How to keep a record of HRT dose changes.
Why age and cause are worth stating plainly to a clinician
Being told "you're too young for that" is a common and specifically unhelpful response when the cause is already known — and naming the specific cause and date, rather than describing symptoms alone, tends to shortcut exactly that conversation. What to say when you're not being taken seriously covers this pattern in more depth.
This is general information, not medical advice. HormoneLog is a tracking tool, not a diagnostic or treatment device, and nothing here can tell you whether your symptoms are normal, what they mean, or what you should do about them. Those are conversations for a clinician who knows your history.
What happens at each stage. · What "12 months" means. · What to ask before starting HRT.
More in this section
About HormoneLog
HormoneLog is an iOS app from Baker Ventures LLC for tracking perimenopause and menopause symptoms and keeping an HRT record: what you took, at what dose, from when, and what changed afterwards. It is built for the appointment, where "it has been bad lately" is worth far less than a dated record of frequency and severity. The app is in development.
HormoneLog is a record-keeping tool. It does not diagnose, does not score you, and makes no claim about symptom relief. The guides on this site link to NICE, the NHS, the Menopause Society and peer-reviewed sources, and say plainly where the evidence is thin. Everything here is free and needs no account.
Questions and answers
What counts as early menopause?
The NHS defines early menopause as periods stopping before age 45, and premature menopause as before age 40.
What causes early or premature menopause?
The NHS lists a family history of it, having started periods early, smoking, low body weight, and medical treatments including radiotherapy, chemotherapy, certain hormone medicines, and surgery to remove the ovaries.
What is surgical menopause?
Menopause caused by surgery that removes the ovaries. Unlike the gradual transition of natural perimenopause, hormone levels drop abruptly at the time of surgery rather than declining over months or years.
Why might tracking look different after surgical menopause?
There's no perimenopause phase to track through beforehand — the starting point is a specific, known date rather than a gradual, hard-to-pin-down transition, which is worth noting clearly in a record if you're later asked when things began.
Should early or surgical menopause be tracked differently in HormoneLog?
The same fields apply — symptoms, dates, and an HRT record if relevant. What differs is context worth noting once: the cause, and the exact date if it was surgical, since both are relevant background a clinician will want.
HormoneLog. “Early and surgical menopause.” Baker Ventures LLC, September 8, 2026. https://hormonelog.bakerventuresstudio.com/guides/early-and-surgical-menopause/