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Original poster

Periods in your 40s....hell?

72 replies

FortunesFave · 13/12/2020 15:47

I'm 40 bloody eight.

48! That's 35 years worth of periods!

Every month the period arrives like some nasty old Aunt that nobody likes.

Over the past couple of years I get so tired the day before that I have to have a nap in the day. This coincides with me getting tearful.

When it finally arrives it's teasingly light for a day but this feeling of pressure and pain builds up in my lower back and abdomen and hips and I know that by tomorrow, I'll wake up looking like Carrie.

Two days of that then it buggers off. When will it STOP??

OP posts:
user1471538283 · 13/12/2020 17:07

I was nearly 51 when they finally buggered off for good. 40 sodding years of it. However, within a couple of years I had horrendous night sweats. I'm now on HRT and despite everything aging I feel brilliant.

MagicSummer · 13/12/2020 17:09

I too was 56 when they finally stopped! Had several years of horribly heavy periods and was prescribed tranexamic acid to try to stem it, which did work. So I suffered for 43 years (no kids).

FelicityPike · 13/12/2020 17:10

I’m 43 and my stomach & lower back are KILLING me, it’s not due for two more days!
Currently sitting in a hot bath to help the pain.

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BashfulClam · 13/12/2020 17:11

My mum was 57 before it properly stopped, my gran was 54 so I assume I’ll be the same!

AudTheDeepAndCrispAndEven · 13/12/2020 17:13

Forty-four here. A day or two before I feel like I have the flu, get migraines and horrendous insomnia. Also get constipated. Then the fucker arrives and with it the shits! PMT used to be one week in four, now it three weeks out of the month. Waiting until I hit 45 next Summer and then I'll be straight to the GP demanding HRT.

Aquamarine1029 · 13/12/2020 17:14

@AudTheDeepAndCrispAndEven

Don't wait until you're 45! I was on HRT shortly before 42. Don't suffer like this.

Magpiecomplex · 13/12/2020 17:17

47 and been getting peri symptoms since 36. I think I'm getting closer to stopping - cycle is getting longer now, but not fast enough. I've had enough.

MintyCedric · 13/12/2020 17:18

45, underacyive thyroid and down to one ovary.

I have very similar periods to the OP...day of spotting, 36 hours of niagara falls, then a day or two very light...but no pattern to when it's going to happen.

Have a had a monumentally stressful couple of years and apart from a run of about 4/5 months regularity I have been going 6-10 weeks in between.

Excruciating back/stomach pain on my heavy days and feeling like I've been hit by a truck with tiredness.

Agree with PP that the Mirena is fabulous. I had one for 10 glorious years but made the decision to have it removed and my tubes tied when they removed my ovary.

Magpiecomplex · 13/12/2020 17:19

I tried HRT, when they finally agreed to let me have it at 45, had to come off it in a hurry during the first lockdown as it was making me dizzy and haven't got round to going back to the GP yet.

AudTheDeepAndCrispAndEven · 13/12/2020 17:19

@Aquamarine1029 I was under the impression that to get it before 45 you have to have your levels tested. Mine were tested last year (unrelated issue) and were 'normal'.

PoppyOppy · 13/12/2020 17:20

40 years of it for me too (I'm 51) and no sign of it stopping. In fact it's now every 2 weeks. Bliss. Hmm

Magpiecomplex · 13/12/2020 17:22

[quote AudTheDeepAndCrispAndEven]@Aquamarine1029 I was under the impression that to get it before 45 you have to have your levels tested. Mine were tested last year (unrelated issue) and were 'normal'.[/quote]
Same here, hence having to wait 9 years!

Aquamarine1029 · 13/12/2020 17:23

@AudTheDeepAndCrispAndEven

Testing hormone levels for peri is pointless due to your levels constantly fluctuating, (that's why your body is going so crazy), and not how it is diagnosed. Peri is diagnosed based on your symptoms. Also, don't waste time with a gp. Go private and see a peri/menopause specialist.

www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/well-good/teach-me/113666670/perimenopause-lead-up-to-menopause-very-uncomfortable-and-poorly-understood

tinytemper66 · 13/12/2020 17:24

I am 54 and still have one every month!

AudTheDeepAndCrispAndEven · 13/12/2020 17:24

@Aquamarine1029 How lovely to be able to go private! Meanwhile, back in the real world I have to wait until next Summer.

Chosennonesneakymincepie · 13/12/2020 17:25

Starting to realise that I feel really not great the week run up to my period. Ache all over, joint pain, boobs so sore, emotionally all over the place and usually a headache. That goes when period arrives but I have 24 hours of Chainsaw massacre bleeding, passing clots as big as frogs Shock. The it all disappears.

howsicklyarsekissy · 13/12/2020 17:26

Mine were hell so heavy! but at 40 I had the novosure ablation, not had a period for 4 years. Not sure when my menopause will come as my mum was 59! Or how I will tell if I keep not having periods.

WankPuffins · 13/12/2020 17:26

Oh no...

I fell pregnant just before 40 with my third. My periods had always been like clockwork, usually painless and quite light and lasted three days.

She was born 4 months ago. I've had three periods since. Still like clockwork but fucking hell they are so heavy and long. I can't go too far from the bathroom for 3 out of 6 days.

The first one I put down to bad luck post baby (and post section, but all three were sections).

I've had three terrible ones now. If they are here to stay it will drive me insane (I don't want to have the coil or ever take birth control again).

Aquamarine1029 · 13/12/2020 17:27

@AudTheDeepAndCrispAndEven

I know all about the real world. I live there, too. Confused

iMatter · 13/12/2020 17:28

Can I join?!

52, hideous periods (total carnage).

Sometimes every 4 weeks, sometimes every 2.

Absolute bloodbath.

Can't do HRT or anything like that because I had breast cancer about 4 years ago and my consultant said bearing in mind the cancer I had, my age and family history it's a no no.

KatherineJaneway · 13/12/2020 17:29

Mirena coil. No periods in 8 years. Bliss!

Elieza · 13/12/2020 17:32

Honestly please think about acupuncture if any of you are suffering.

You have to go privately so it obviously means you need to be able to afford it, but if you can it could seriously change your life.

Mine is £60 a go. One session to start and one stop your period for a couple of months (so four sessions in total for me over two months) and the next couple of months for me were totally fine. No probs at all. No bloating or anything.

It’s no woo, it’s well documented that acupuncture is good for women’s things/conception/child birth etc. And you can get it on the nhs for some illnesses, but I’d prefer to get it from someone who is experienced as I’d expect better results, rather than a physio or gp that did a course on it and treats only one patient a week or something.

However one thing I do have that it’s not sorted is the runs. If bowels are connected to hormones I must get back and get that sorted as mine aren’t right.

goldenharvest · 13/12/2020 17:33

Haha. You'll go into the menopause and end up taking HRT so will still have periods for several more years. It's fun being female. At least we don't have nasty old prostates that stop us weeing

Flaunch · 13/12/2020 17:35

I’m 40 and mine were so awful I had a novasure ablation in August. My period still comes like clockwork every 24 days but consists of a bit of spotting. It’s bloody miraculous! Unfortunately I still get the cyclical anxiety that’s getting worse as time goes on but at least I’m not horrendously anaemic anymore.

BernardoTeashop · 13/12/2020 17:39

I’m 48 and have r us a period In years as I take the mini pill. But I’m fucking exhausted all the time, headaches more often and sleep is erratic. Just praying that I feel better when I get to the other side of this. Havent seen the doctor as I don’t know if this is peri/menopause or just getting older