I need advice from people who've been through the menopause.

[Fatmomma99]

Happy to do it on PM if too personal.

It was like something out of "Carrie". Please do feel free to stop reading now - it gets way, way worse!

I'm currently having a period like no period I've ever had. Mine ALWAYS stop on day 7 (like someone is turning off a tap). I'm on day 10 at the moment. That's a post in itself.

Last Saturday night (day 8, so already unheard of) between about 6pm and 10pm I had to change my clothes 3 times because of the flooding. At one point the sanitary towel actually floated free from my pants - the glue became unstuck because of the quantity of blood floating around. As well as the sanni, I had a super tampon AND a wad of loo-roll in at the time. I stained chairs! There were these globules of blood - like I was having some kind of miscarriage.

Is this the beginning of the menopause? I'm 45 1/2?
What do I do about it?
How long does it go on?
I have a GP appointment for Weds. What do I ask for? Is there anything that can help?
I don't seem to have any other symptoms. This was unexpected.

Any advice gratefully received.

I talked to my mum. She said that in her 40s her periods got horrendous. But then she saw an invitation to be a guinea pig in an experiment, an advert that said "if your periods are bad and you've had children and don't want any more..." so she did that, and had an operation and never had another bleed again.

Is the menopause just about the end of eggs though? I've had no other symptoms - no hot flushes or anything.

It was bad enough on Saturday. But what do I do if I get this at work? It's like someone has taken a bucket of my menstrual blood and just poured it out!

Yep.... I had similar. My last period was 5 months long and "abattoir-like" (!) and I was investigated for fibroids etc, but there were none. I tired transexamic acid with no effect and ended up taking noresthisterone. It stopped the bleeding (which returned as soon as I finished the course of tablets, but it was a short break from the awfulness)

After that, I had no more periods though and it is the best thing about menopause!

Definitely see the GP though.

I think its important people know and talk about 'abattoir-like' bleeding - it was a huge shock to me. And I only knew what it probably was because my sister had previously had an episode and rang me up in horror!

I think its important people know and talk about 'abattoir-like' bleeding

I completely agree - all the info mentions "heavier bleeding" but simply doesn't prepare you for what it can be like. Even though they don't want to cause unnecessary worry, there really should be more out there about this

Tranexamic acid worked for me during my early 50's - though norethisterone made me sick - but I didn't like taking too much of it, so in the end I just gritted my teeth and got through it somehow

It could be due to approaching menopause but then again it could be large fibroids.
You need to be referred to a specialist for assessment. My friend just had a procedure to take away her womb lining for this problem. She suffered the type of bleeding you describe for over a year. Another friend went for a Hysterectomy because her period was every couple of weeks and heavy. She is 51 and her blood tests indicated her hormones were normal so not even peri-menopausal at that age! Her decision to have the hysterectomy was because her problem could have last another 5 years!

Thank you all SO MUCH for sharing your experiences. I will go over and look at the boards too.

There's lots of fabulous advice here. Thank you. So good to know I'm not alone and that there's lots of options available.

to everyone who's posted and PM'd me.

and extra to the poor lady who had to walk through a restaurant!

Hi OP, I am now officially menopausal.
Ok, I had a few (3 or 4 ) heavy,long lasting periods. I did flood a few times (though perhaps not quite so heavy as you) and pass clots and my longest periods lasted about 18 days. What I would find is that they would stop then start again, so it was almost like having 2 or even 3 periods back to back.
I didn't see my GP, but then I've never had any gynae problems and I just trusted it was normal, and it was. I never took anything for mine either, but you can buy over the counter treatments.
As for the hot flushes, mine only came after my last period, so don't necesarily think they are part of the perimenopausal stage. Mine weren't too bad and only lasted for a few months, mainly through the heatwave we had last summer. I am still quite sensitive to temperature though, I definitely feel more comfortable when it's cool.
Oh yes, my perimenopause lasted about 5 years. The other thing was that my periods used to come on unexpectedly whereas before they were regular, and I could tell anyway because my body felt different.

oh fuck... clicked on this link by accident - (wanted to steal/borrow a 'clever' username for a different forum and mumsnet has the best usernames!) and have realised these symptoms are happening to me.
Trying to have 2nd child at 40 and I had 'hoped' it was possibly chemical pregnancies and that I am still fertile.
Thanks for the thread - am going to get myself a gp appointment sorted out in the morning when the phonelines open...

Oooooh. This happened to me a couple of weeks ago. I thought I was having a minor miscarriage (had 3 miscarriages and the feeling was the same) but now that I've reached a certain age then I think the perimenopause might be to blame. Oh bloody hell.

Friend of mine (a doctor!) had this and opted for an ablation, which she says was easy and sorted it once and for all.

greebo that's utterly shite of Harry Ramsdens!!!

Katemiddletonsothermum, this might have happened to you because of an overdose of cheese?

Sorry everyone else, KM'sOM and I are bantering on another thread.

I'm so grateful for everyone's experiences, and the link to the other threads. They've been fantastic, and I now know what to expect from the GP, what to ask, what to avoid, etc.

And am glad this has helped for you, nuttybananas!

Putting a positive slant on it, may I just emphasise once again that once you've got through this, the NO PERIODS of menopause is bloody brilliant!

I'm approaching menopause (51, and perimenopausal for about 5 years, still having periods though).

Having had light periods all my life until I had kids, I then had occasional flooding for a few years when my youngest was a toddler/ young child (I had him at 38 so this would have been in my early 40s). Never been sure if this was a post-children hormonal thing - I had no periods for years due to pregnancy and bf, but when they came back they came with a vengeance - or whether with the benefit of hindsight it was the start of perimenopause.

The reading I've done in the subject suggests that everyone's menopause is different - I'm very surprised to be still having periods, having had longish gaps in the last three years and having thought "that is definitely it" about a year ago.

Good luck with your GP appointment and hope they can do something for you. While I did have flooding it was only ever one day a cycle, so not bad enough to seek treatment - yours sounds much worse.

I had flooding. Awful.
Tried tranexamic abcid which helped tremendously but the best thing was discovering I had fibroids which I had treated by uterine artery embolisation.

First thing to do is tell your gp how the very heavy periods are affecting your quality of life. Discuss treatment options. Ask if its possible that you may have fibroids.

Meantime carry a change of clothes, get a mattress protector, always carry sanitary products.