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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be absolutely FUCKING FURIOUS that my period has started

192 replies

MaryZeZJezuzIzntZombiedYet · 19/03/2013 20:55

because I'm 50. And I've been having periods since I was 12. Every fucking 28 days like fucking clockwork (apart from the infertility drug years).

And then in November I missed one, and I thought "whoopee, that's it, all over, done with menopause here I come.

I was wrong. Christmas was like a scene from the Texas Chain Saw Massacre.

And then January nothing, nada, zilch (yippee).

And now, here we fucking go again.

Disclaimer: I will not be responsible for my actions if anyone is unwise enough to inform me AIBU.

So you had better all ignore this thread.

OP posts:
mrsjay · 20/03/2013 08:45

a neighbour of mine thought she was on the change she was 48 and 9 months later Grin

DelGirl · 20/03/2013 08:45

yanbu but I would hate to be near you if, like me, you suddenly have one after almost a year Shock. I can't actually remember my last one, think it was over a year ago now so hoping that is it for me. Still hormonal though gah!

Original poster
MaryZeZJezuzIzntZombiedYet · 20/03/2013 08:46

Jesus, at least it's behind your eyes. For some of us it's right there, in front of our eyes, far too often [bitter].

OP posts:
mrsjay · 20/03/2013 08:46

to actual menopause at 59

god sake it is getting longer women are far to healthy these days

Original poster
MaryZeZJezuzIzntZombiedYet · 20/03/2013 08:47

mrsjay, I am most definitely not pregnant. Though that might be interesting, and would at least guarantee 9 period-free months.

OP posts:
mrsjay · 20/03/2013 08:47

my 77 yr old auntie told me she still gets flushes it actually goes on forever

maddening · 20/03/2013 08:49

My mum is not veggie sorry

Almostfifty · 20/03/2013 08:49

MaryZ my consultant had no qualms whipping the lot out. He just put me on HRT the next day. Told me he wasn't going to 'fuck about' (honestly, he did), and it was what I needed.

He was such a lovely man. Winced when I told him about one of many instances of flooding through a tampon, night towel and my black (thank goodness they were black) jeans right onto the car seat in a twenty minute journey. I think that made the decision for him.

mrsjay · 20/03/2013 08:52

I have just started flooding the last few months I used to all the time then it stopped I am considering going private to see a gynaecologist My gp isn't very sympathetic they said I could go on the pill if I want and he shrugged

Original poster
MaryZeZJezuzIzntZombiedYet · 20/03/2013 08:59

Hmm I think I'm going to have to go and see someone. It's got to the stage I'm afraid to leave the house as I can't go more than 15 minutes without changing.

The trouble is, I thought it would just all stop. And it seemed a waste at almost 50 to do anything about it.

But if it's going to carry on for another ten years Shock, I really can't cope.

OP posts:
thegreylady · 20/03/2013 09:01

Mary when I was your age I had an endometrial resection because of prolonged heavy periods and I never had another. They do it with a laser under GA but it is a day surgery thing. I thoroughly recommend it.

mrsjay · 20/03/2013 09:05

They do it with a laser under GA but it is a day surgery thing. I thoroughly recommend it.

I think that is what my mum had.

Original poster
MaryZeZJezuzIzntZombiedYet · 20/03/2013 09:06

That looks promising greylady.

I will have to go back to my gp I think [sigh] and see what she suggests.

OP posts:
mrsjay · 20/03/2013 09:08

My mum is only 61 (she had me young) she went got her op when she was 52 she doesn't like talking about 'down there' So i am assuming it was the laser surgery she had she was out by the evening

HippiTEEHoppoTEE · 20/03/2013 09:27

My problem is if I take the pill I get migraines

So I have a Mirena.

And still bleed...

ImperfectPirouette · 20/03/2013 09:34

YANBU!

My periods have never got around to being regular, which is apparently a familial trait. I don't mind too much when it's several months between periods, it's when I've less than a fortnight off. The first time that happened I was on a fortnight-long Guide camp (as service team) & had nothing with me. Having to go & ask the First Aider for sanitary protection (after I spent a long drive panicking I was going to stain the seat of the car I was in, thankfully I didn't!) almost led to my death from embarrassment, as did having to buy them in front of the group I went offsite with.

Epic levels of disgust additional self-loathing & shame really do not (astonishingly enough) enhance the period-having experience. Thankfully am much less prone to those feelings now - or at least, the intensity is massively dialled down - but it really was horrendous. Blegh.

My ridiculous body manages to carry on kicking out the occasional period however low my weight gets (leading to the lovely "Clearly I am not REALLY 'dangerously underweight', see how I still have my period & thus they are all lying & I must lose more weight immediately!" mindset). Tis especially weird given my set weight's bang in the middle of the normal BMI range, is not that I'm Designed To Be Thin. (My weight's currently stuck at "underweight", which feels Huge And Disgusting, but is prolly better for me than a lower weight, I suppose. Meh.)

So yes, I am all for this Off Switch idea. Not just cos of My Crazy, either, but cos periods are such miserable things, whatever the [insert expletives of choice here] pedlars of sanitary protection try to claim.

Also think it's rubbish there's VAT (even at the reduced rate) on SP. Surely we've [had] enough female MPs now that someone(s) should've pointed out that it really shouldn't be considered a "luxury" to move on from the practice of stuffing our undies with rags. Maybe the members of both Houses should be made to deal with their constituents' used SP (spanning entire range of things available) to encourage them to re-evaluate the "luxury" status. We might have to help the men to understand the pain-and-unpleasantness side of things, too. Volunteers for stabbing Cameron et all with knitting needles/repeatedly kicking them in the stomach/other suggestions welcome please form an orderly queue...

DeepRedBetty · 20/03/2013 09:42

I've got a lovely GP, she's prescribed Tranexamic Acid which works brilliantly, her advice was to carry it with me and take four the moment it starts then 2 three times a day for four days.

She also prescribes Norestithelone which stops the thing even starting if you discover you're due during holiday, but you need to take that three times a day from a day or two before.

weegiemum · 20/03/2013 09:47

Erratic periods from 35. None after 39. hormone tests said prem menopause. Then at 42 I've had 2 (very light) periods though I'm wondering if it's sympathetic as dd1 just started and my bleeds come 2 days after hers. Also I started (last year) an immune system boosting treatment for my neuro problems.

Aargh! Being a woman isn't easy!!

JoTheUnsure · 20/03/2013 09:48

As I read this I'm waiting in a hospital for a blood test to check hormone levels before considering having a coil fitted to manage monstrous periods. .. How ironic.

canuck43 · 20/03/2013 10:15

Mrs Jay and Mary, had my first baby at 21 last one at 42, think this last baby just whooped the hormones up because last period was 61 yrs 7 months.
Mary I didn't want to have the carry cot and cradle taken away, had an enourmous fibroid that bled each month a bit like you chain saw massacre. A very nice consultant in Guildford saw to the fibroid, been alright ever since.

AllotmentFreak · 20/03/2013 12:57

I'm 50 and in the throes of hot flushes and bad tempers. My morning routine now embraces the daily look for chin hair and ensuing rage when I find several one. Hot flushes are the worst, please anyone - how do you cope?
I've not had a period for 6 weeks but getting aches and pains instead, and I feel crap all the time.
You have my sympathy OP

birdofthenorth · 20/03/2013 13:42

Yanbu although you are terrifying

One upside of a long pregnancy, ages bfing, two miscarriages followed by a viable pregnancy is I've only had a few periods in the last 3 or 4 years. Not looking forward to the return of monthly doom though will try to keep it in perspective

MummytoMog · 20/03/2013 13:56

YANBU. The only thing that makes my periods bearable is my mooncup. The upsetting thing is that my mum didn't go through the menopause until she was fifty five so I've twenty more years of this crap to go through. Still, at least I get to tell people (my cringing husband mostly) that it's all gone a bit Enoch Powell down there.

ElsieMc · 20/03/2013 15:44

Sorry to tell you I am 51, had not had one for six months and then this month lo and behold, it came back. I was praying for the end following a three week period in late August when I had to go to hospital and they had to give me drugs to stop it.

I then had to have a minor procedure to see why they hell this was happening. It was due to the lining of my womb thickening, thus making periods hellish each month. If you can go twelve months, I think you are done, but the bastard will come back and get you otherwise.

Snugglepiggy · 20/03/2013 15:46

I had some exploratory investigations because I have had ridiculously low ferritin levels - down to 1 at one point.They were amazed I was still standing but still no offer of surgery or laser treatment.So soldiered on until I got mightily peeved when a friend in her 40s was immediately offered endometrial ablation.
Then I marched back into the GPs and demanded- politely - to know why I in my 50s had not had the same offer.Got the same old same old about fitting a Mirena ( it's cheap)which I have repeatedly declined.Know some women swear by them but I don't need contraception - been sterilised - and know several who have hated there's and had real mood swings etc.Not going there thank you.Had enough of those without a foreign body in my womb.
It seems to be somewhat ageist in that the implication is ' you won't have long to go' but as posts on here have shown the bloody ( literally) shenanigans can go on well into the late 50s.
Solidarity to the suffering sisters.Were all in this mess together!