Woman Who Experienced Menopause at Age 11, Gets Pregnant at
30
 |
| Amanda Lewis |
A British woman, Amanda Lewis, who went through menopause
when she was just eleven years old, says she has finally taken in at the age of
30
News Courtesy The Daily Mail UK
Amanda Lewis, 30, had feared she would never carry a child
after going through the menopause aged 11, but has revealed she is now three
months pregnant and is expecting her first child after having IVF treatment
using a donor egg and her partner's sperm.
The
dance teacher, who lives in Nuneaton, revealed her happy news during an
appearance on ITV daytime show Lorraine on Wednesday, having previously
appeared on the show back in 2009 to talk about her early menopause.
'I knew
I wanted to try the treatment [IVF] but the odds of it not working were very
high,' Amanda told Lorraine Kelly.
'I was
very lucky that it worked first time.'
Most women start the menopause between the ages of 45 and 55, but in
rare cases it can occur prematurely without an explanation.
Amanda
explained how, when she met her other half, Tom, she told him 'straight away by
text' about her condition.
'He was fine about it - the way I was building
it up he thought it was something a lot more serious,' she told Lorraine.
Amanda
said that he was understanding when she told him they might never be able to
conceive a child naturally, adding: 'He said "we can look into it when the
time comes", and [told me] not to worry".'
When
the couple decided they were ready to have children, they looked into the
possibility of IVF treatment using a donor egg and Tom's sperm.
'It was
on the first attempt - we're very lucky,' Amanda said.
Amanda
said of her first trimester: 'I'm a little bit tired, but everything is okay.
'I knew
I wanted to try the treatment but the odds of it not working were very high. I
was very lucky that it worked first time.'
To
prepare to carry her child, Amanda had to take hormones to increase the size of
her uterus.
'It was
only 2mm thick and it should have been 8mm. But we got it there in a month.
[The doctors] were quite surprised.'
The mother-to-be, who will be
monitored closely throughout the duration of her pregnancy, and will continue
to take hormones, said that after giving birth she will go through the
experience of the menopause all over again.
Amanda was just 11 when her
weight spiralled and she began to experience extreme mood swings - something
that was put down to the onset of puberty at the time.
'It was very difficult,'
she told Lorraine.
'The biggest thing was the weight gain and my mood swings. I
went from a size 8 to 18 in a matter of months and then I just started getting
down.'
It was six months
before doctors - alerted by erratic hormone levels evident in Amanda's blood
tests - realised she was going through premature menopause - decades before
most women start experiencing symptoms.
'I went on a mixture
of HRT and the pill, they chopped and changed me because I had side effects on
one then the other, and that has been on and off since basically,' Amanda said
of her years on medication.
After
giving birth Amanda will go back on HRT to manage her menopausal symptoms, and
will be tested to check the impact pregnancy has had on her bone density.
Despite
her condition, Amanda is hoping to continue growing her family: 'We have three
top-grade embryos in the freezer, so they're all ready to go if we want any
more.'
She joked: 'Maybe not three more but we'll
see!'
Lorraine added: 'That is incredible what
science can do, in the relatively short time since you were diagnosed. You must
feel so happy and so blessed despite everything you have gone through?'
'Yes I do,' Amanda said.
'It was quite hard to believe it was real
until about a month ago but I've just got to try and enjoy it now and not feel
stressed about it.'
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