Menopause / or Did your periods change after Covid vaccine?

[DontDrinkDontSmokeWhatDoIDo]

I'm 51 and last had a period more than 2 years ago. After my Covid vaccine in Feb, my periods 'started again'.

It looks like there are quite a few post-menopausal women who have had the same, and some non-menopausal women who've had their menstrual cycles go awry.

www.redonline.co.uk/health-self/self/a36457082/post-menopausal-women-bleeding-covid-vaccine/

If this applies to you, please do contact your GP for advise and/or to register your experience.

It's not necessarily a problem, but women do
Often accept situations that could do with being explored in more detail, so please do make your experience count if you can.

I wonder what the mechanism is, (biologically) why the jab would make a difference to periods.

I didn't experience anything outside of my normal variability.

Havent had my jab yet but I'm 30 and TTC from august and all this is putting me off. My mum hadnt had a period in 3 years and has started heavy bleeding 2 weeks on 2 weeks off since her vaccine. Had hospital appointments and camera and there is nothing untoward to see. I've also heard of Trans men having periods for the first time in years and lots of delayed periods. How could they possibly know the long term affects of this? I was really pro vaccine but the last few weeks have gotten really nervous. Look at the Thalidomide disaster, that passed all the tests and was deemed safe initially

I wonder what the mechanism is, (biologically) why the jab would make a difference to periods.

An immune response causes information of the endometrium (which is part of the immune system).

I wonder what the mechanism is, (biologically) why the jab would make a difference to periods.

It's transpiring that women are much more likely to experience side effects from the vaccines than men. From what I can tell its because of our high levels of oestrogen. The menorrhagia will be caused by the transient thrombocytopenia induced by the vaccines stopping the blood from clotting quickly enough.

It would be interesting to know if there is difference in symptoms depending on where a woman is in her cycle at time of vaccination.

I agree @Zoladrama! I now know of a couple of ladies who were going through various processes of TTC and because they were tracking it carefully know that their follicles stopped growing so didn’t ovulate as expected, as well as others who had AF turn up either earlier or much heavier than expected, or both.
Someone is doing a survey on this, I’ll see if I can find the link…

Survey: redcap.healthinstitute.illinois.edu/surveys/index.php?s=LL8TKKC8DP
Article: www.nbcchicago.com/news/coronavirus/does-the-covid-vaccine-affect-your-period-survey-launched-after-some-report-changes-to-menstruation/2494064/

Thanks for that @Sunbird. Good to see at least one study is underway.

I had my first Pfizer jab on last week and my periods are usually like clockwork on a 28 day cycle but this cycle has started a week early.

Any post-menopausal woman experiencing vaginal bleeding needs to see her GP ASAP. There are some serious conditions that show up with that symptom. I experienced this in 2019 and got treated successfully. Perhaps if it had happened in 2021 instead, I might have misinterpreted it as a side-effect of the vaccine. It wasn't.

Don't mess about wondering and reporting any odd or concerning symptoms until you've reported them to your GP first and got an investigation started! Lives could be at risk.

@NewlyGranny

Any post-menopausal woman experiencing vaginal bleeding needs to see her GP ASAP. There are some serious conditions that show up with that symptom. I experienced this in 2019 and got treated successfully. Perhaps if it had happened in 2021 instead, I might have misinterpreted it as a side-effect of the vaccine. It wasn't.

Don't mess about wondering and reporting any odd or concerning symptoms until you've reported them to your GP first and got an investigation started! Lives could be at risk.

You're absolutely right, @NewlyGranny .

It's been a mentioned a few times in this thread but worth repeating:

ANY POST-MENOPAUSAL BLEEDING (and abnormal bleeding, in general) must be medically checked out as a matter of urgency.

I had a scan as a result of mine which fortunately came back all clear.

@pipsqueakbollock

Shit. I got a breast cyst out of nowhere after Pfizer #1

So did I 😮 never occurred to me it could be due to the vaccine

As above, it's not specific to Covid vaccination. Many vaccines can have this effect.

I got a breast cyst out of nowhere

How else does one get a breast cyst?

oh no. Is this for any of the vaccines or just the AZ?

I haven't had a period in 2 to 3 years and I hope it stays that way!

@Delphinium20 - that sounds flippin awful 😡

Mine first lasted only about 6 days but was
So heavy, like yours.

I normally love baths but had to switch to showers as the water was literally turning red from the heaviness of the bleeding 🤢🤢🤢🤢🤢

@RantyAnty - I had the AZ so can only speak for that.

Fingers crossed you don't get any effects - I'm sure not everyone does.

I've been bleeding/spotting constantly since the jab in feb, after not having a period for 18 months due to the implant.

Had a smear etc to make sure it's nothing sinister.

I didn't link the 2, but I was 2 weeks early and very heavy, after second. This has never happened before.

Fingers crossed you don't get any effects - I'm sure not everyone does.

I didn't have any problems with bleeding, I got all the flu-like side effects instead after my first one and no side effects after my second except for an achey arm and mild tiredness.

I’ve now heard of both AZ and Pfizer causing periods to go wonky (as welll as HPV and flu vaccines) for some women. All the advice is still to get unexpected bleeding checked out by a doctor, just in case

[quote DontDrinkDontSmokeWhatDoIDo]@Delphinium20 - that sounds flippin awful 😡

Mine first lasted only about 6 days but was
So heavy, like yours.

I normally love baths but had to switch to showers as the water was literally turning red from the heaviness of the bleeding 🤢🤢🤢🤢🤢[/quote]
Oh dear! Yes. I have not considered a bath!! Thanks for the thread!

Hi there, I’ve posted on another thread on MN, but have come here because this one seems more current.
I am 58. Had a very straightforward menopause, periods just got lighter and lighter and stopped 3 years ago.
Had AZ vaccine on 18 March. 7 days later I had the most painful boobs I think I’ve ever had - worse than pregnancy or PMS. In fact, they were so uncomfortable, I ended up taking pain killers. I was actually on the verge of going to the doctor as they were causing me so much discomfort. At the same time, I also stated getting spots and an increased discharge. Looking back, they were classic PMS symptoms. 14 days later, I had a period. It was exactly like the ones I always had, not just a random bleed. It lasted 5 days - as mine always did. Absolutely nothing since.
When I first bled, I was petrified thinking the worst possible scenario, but having had the hormonal symptoms, I guessed there must be some kind of connection.

I contribute to the Zoe Covid Symptom app and always find Tim Spector’s weekly update far more informative than the media shock horror reporting. When he said that women had reported strange menstrual symptoms - even post menopausal - it all made total sense. I don’t accept there is no association with the vaccine, despite these cases being dismissed as merely coincidental by some ‘experts’ We don’t tend to openly discuss a change in our periods so I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of women have just assumed it’s them and not made the correlation.

My second jab is due on 3/6 so it will be interesting to see if I have a similar response again.

Hiya @2389Champ

Your experience sounds very familiar to many on here (including mine).

I'm not sure if you sought medical advice, but being post-menopausal, I think it's really advisable that you do.

It does sound like your symptoms are vaccine-related, but ruling out more sinister reasons for any bleeding after menopause is treated very seriously and subject to a fast-track 'within two weeks' protocol.

Would be very good for you to get it checked out for reassurance.

I'm 51, had Moderna, both shots, period totally normal.

Teen DDs both had two Pfizer shots. Also periods totally normal.

No thrombocytopenia that we were aware of. I did suffer badly from thrombocytopenia in pregnancy but it cleared up straight after each birth.