Newlywed ‘grieving’ kids she won’t have due to menopause at 27

The miracle of childbirth was stolen from one young woman.

Amy Fleming, in Surrey, England, was stunned to learn she had gone through menopause at the age of 27 — and left heartbroken by the likelihood that she’ll never be able to conceive children.

Fleming, now 29, stopped menstruating shortly after surgeons removed two large cysts on her ovaries back in 2020 — the same year she was married.

The freelance marketer, who had only just tied the knot to her new husband, began experiencing extreme symptoms of menopause shortly after the operation.

“The lowered estrogen levels brought on hot [flashes], mind fog, night sweats, anxiety, hair loss, weight gain, achy joints, insomnia and tearfulness, to name a few,” Fleming candidly told Caters News Agency. “My periods didn’t return… and I couldn’t function in my day to day life.”

The Brit began to experience severe abdominal pain in April 2019, which medics initially believed may have been related to irritable bowel syndrome.

However, a CT scan performed the following year determined that Fleming had a seven inch cyst on her right ovary.

“My ovary had twisted on itself four times, because of the weight of the cyst,” she explained. “I knew my right ovary was going to be removed.”

“The trauma from the ovarian cysts and surgery is the reason behind my early menopause,” Fleming declared, revealing she was diagnosed with Premature Ovarian Insufficiency (POI).

The Mayo Clinic describes the condition as one where “the ovaries stop functioning as they should before age 40, failing to produce typical amounts of the hormone estrogen or release eggs regularly.” The condition is also called Premature Ovarian Failure and often leads to infertility.

It’s considered rare in the US, with less than 200,000 cases diagnosed each year.

Fleming told Caters News that between five and 10% of women with POI are still able to conceive naturally with their own eggs, but she does not believe she will be one of the lucky ones.

“Scans and tests have shown that the trauma to my [right] ovary is too much and that my remaining ovary has already shrunken in size in just a year,” she stated. “For my own mental health, I’ve had to come to terms with not being able to have my own children.”

Fleming says she is speaking out publicly to break the stigma and silence surrounding early menopause.

“I never thought I would be going through the menopause, grieving the loss of my fertility and going through it before 30 but now that I am, I want to raise awareness of it and break the taboo,” she defiantly declared.

Fleming is among few other women to talk candidly about premature menopause.

Back in 2012, a British woman named Amanda Lewis spoke out about going through menopause at the age of 13 — just six months after she started getting her period. Lewis is believed to be the youngest woman in the UK to experience menopause.

It’s rare for a woman to go through menopause before the age of 40, with most cases induced through treatments, such as chemotherapy for cancer.  

Menopause that occurs naturally before the age of 45 is called “early menopause,” and affects about 5% of the female population.