Menopausal, perimenopausal, not sure, come join me!

[TracyA]

I havent had a period since about September. This has happened every year for the past 3 years ! i've had no periods for the last 3 months or so. The first year it happened, the dr gave me some tablets to re-introduce and regulate my periods, last year they just came back themselves. This is the longest I've gone. I've no other obvious meonpausal symptoms and am definetely not pregnant (!). I'm 47. I've also had a couple of abnormal smears over the past couple of years (with normal ones in the middle). I should make a dr appt but I've got a BUPA health check coming up in feb where they do a smear and mammogram etc so I may just wait for that.

[Turtle Bean]

Does it need investigating if your periods disappear? I haven't had one properly for a few years. Occasionally I have a very light one and even more occasionally a what used to be normal for me one. I mentioned it when I went for a smear and she just vaguely said, well that happens as you get older, but does it really? I have no other menopause symptoms and would have thought I was a BIT young still, at 42.

[Tsu]

You're a wippersnapper, Bean. Well compared to me you are.

I have finally stopped. Eighteen days.

[Carocaro]

Bean, mine just stopped and I was 40 but I had all the symptoms so I have menopause envy

[Moody Blue]

Good news that it has finally ended, Tsu. Keep that appointment though.

3 hour commute, Bambs. I couldn't do it. When I was in my 20's, I commuted to Reading. It was a 10min walk, 10min train journey, 5min walk at the other end. I would have to sort myself out, arriving at the train station, on the train and once I got to work. Madness.

[Bambideer]

Moods, I consider myself lucky that I can cope with it now. Train loos are so depressing . Tsu, glad it's finally stopped but yes, go to the appt!

I have had a very stop/start period at last, it's more like spotting really & I wish it would hurry up & decide what it's going to do as my boobs are really sore, I'm horribly bloated & feel like I ought to be in full flow so to speak. I sort of hope it all happens quite quickly from here on in, the uncertainty is quite annoying.

[Tsu]

Saw the doc this morning and I now have an appointment for an ultrasound to check for fibroids (to rule them out) next Tuesday evening.

[Rosa]

I'm glad it's being investigated, Tsu.

[Tsu]

She said that generally, peri-menopausal women fall into three types. The lucky ones whose periods just get lighter and lighter until they stop, the ones whose periods get heavier and longer and then the erratic start / stop types.

She said that if it's just peri-menopause, they can treat with hormones but I'm not a fan of hormones due to my blood pressure etc. so will just have to put up with it I reckon. I will be happier when anything else is ruled out though.

[Bambideer]

Good Tsu, glad you are getting checked out. I am now on Day 10 of a (stop/start) period that was a couple of weeks late so I hope this isn't a sign of things to come. It hasn't been heavy or painful, it just goes on & on. I am fed up.

I'm also wondering how much of it is driven by living with a teenager. E is pretty obvious to spot when she's got her period (and she's pretty vocal which would have made me die at her age), so I guess I'm at the mercy of the shared hormones at present.

[Rosa]

That's interesting, Tsu. So far I seem to one of the lucky ones.

I have a naturopathic nutrition consultation soon, which could be interesting. It's been set up by a friend of mine who's studying nutrition, and I'm going to be her menopause case study . I hope she doesn't make me eat bloody tofu.

[Tsu]

Right, well I have a collection of small fibroids, none of which will win any prizes. Everything else looks OK, it looks like it's just my age.

I'll be back for a blood pressure check in a month so let's see how I go twixt now and then.

Azu, you lucky thing.

[welshy]

I'm in. I think my avatar says it all really. It started with cystitis-like symptoms in October, but when they didn't go
The pee thing is a bore. It seems to be reasonably under control but I still find that when I need to go, I really, really need to go. I'm hoping that it will continue to improve with the cream/capsules because R has started talking about a Paris to Shanghai (or possibly RTW) motorcycle trip and I'm not sure I could cope at the moment. I was lucky to get away with the Moscow trip last summer. Men really do have a much easier time of it ...

PointingPercy.jpg

This could be a sign, but then again it could be an overactive bladder. I went through a stage where I couldn't leave the house without first of all thinking of all the toilet stops en route. I spoke to the Dr about it and she gave me Vesicare, and they solved the problem within a few weeks.

Re the hormone test, my friend has just had one as she can kill the week before a period these days. They told her the test was negative, but that didn't mean anything as she could well be on the change. So what is the point of the test then :?

[overthehill]

... The pee thing is a bore. It seems to be reasonably under control but I still find that when I need to go, I really, really need to go.

This could be a sign, but then again it could be an overactive bladder. I went through a stage where I couldn't leave the house without first of all thinking of all the toilet stops en route. I spoke to the Dr about it and she gave me Vesicare, and they solved the problem within a few weeks.

Re the hormone test, my friend has just had one as she can kill the week before a period these days. They told her the test was negative, but that didn't mean anything as she could well be on the change. So what is the point of the test then :?

Given my other symptoms, the doctor was fairly sure that the pee issue was hormone-related. Mercifully, the cream/capsules seem to have done the trick. I'm glad to report things are much better than they were. Very little burning sensation now and the need to pee is much reduced ... though I don't dare try and hang on too long, when I do feel the need.

[Beena]

I've been having a heavy period every two weeks since Christmas. Despite having a long history of gynae problems, my cycle has always been 28 days, like clockwork. This just started out the blue - on Christmas Day of all days. I figured at first it must be due to stress, but this new cycle is still completely regularly. Every other week, on the same day, I start to bleed.
I guess it has to be a hormonal trigger.

There's no pain, or cramps, beyond the norm. Nothing to suggest anything is amiss. It's just I already suffer with anaemia and struggle to keep my iron level up so only have a few days respite between bleeds is killing me. I can't get an appointment with my GP until the 20th and while I know better than to google, the little bit of looking up I've done suggests it might be menopause related. I'm 39. I lost part of an ovary about 8 years ago and a tube last year, but I can't imagine that has fast-forwarded events. I don't want to be facing menopause just yet.

[Bambideer]

Not necessarily Beens, you've been through a huge upheaval & that has an impact. With your history of endo I'd definitely get it checked out but I went through similar upheavals about 8 years ago & it all settled down again after a few months. Step away from Google.

[Edith Bacon]

Does anyone here suffer with nausea? I've started feeling really queasy a lot, especially in the mornings and a bit of googling suggests it could be related to perimenopause. I've noticed a few other changes over the last year or two so, even though I feel quite young for this stuff to be happening, I know 44 is within the 'normal' range so it is all probably linked.

[cuppa tea]

Well, it looks like I could be joining in here soon. Have been having shorter and shorter cycles over prob about the last year or so and finally got it together enough to see my doctor about it yesterday. I had assumed (hoped) that it would be blamed on the copper coil, but she went straight for the hormonal angle.

Have to go for blood tests (day 2 ones) and think the coil will have to cone out as well to be on the safe side. I guess once the test results are in, I'll know more, but atm I'm really struggling to get my head around this. I'm only just 36, M&C are just 3. I was hoping that I had the time to convince himself to have another but now? Either we go for it straight away - which I'm not even sure I'm ready for myself- or ? I can't take hormonal contraceptives, but also can't leave it to chance. (medical issue which means pg has to be planned v carefully). So.

It's not life threatening, we'll be ok, I already have 2 fab (imo!) children, but. Y'know.

[Moody Blue]

I'm sorry, Cuppa. 36 is young, to be going through it. Has anyone in your family had an early menopause? I hope the blood tests show up something else for you. Something not serious and not the menopause.

[Luna]

I have been feeling crap lately. Had the right mid cycle dooooom at the weekend. It's almost as if my body is intensifying the last vestiges of hormonal activity. Extra crap ovulation and more painful period pains. :grump: