Periods at nearly 55, am I alone?

[itstimeforme]

Posting for traffic, aibu to ask if anyone else is still having or had periods at nearly 55? I have the odd gap of a month or two with night sweats and other peri symptoms but they keep returning to the regular 4 week pattern. All my friends were done by 50/51! Is there an age when I should seek a medical opinion

Mine were regular until 54 then stopped quite abruptly - they had been very heavy in the previous 2 years. Seems to have been about the same age for most of my friends.

My periods stopped around 50 and I was absolutely fine for a couple of years and thought I'd sail through menopause. Then the night sweats. flushing, muscle aches, brain fog and not sleeping gradually started. I went on HRT patches but bleeding started again and symptoms didn't go, so I stopped but caved and went back to Dr. Put on Kliovance and all was great for 18mths, until now. Just had a month long bleed, heavy, cramping, sore boobs etc. Am booked in for a scan. I've had fibroids removed before, so suspect they are back/grown. At 55 I thought it was all behind me. I am just so sick of it.

I’m 54 this year too and had regular periods (heavy at times, so was on tranexamic acid) until last September when my second Covid vax stopped them in their tracks
Started spotting in January though so maybe they are trying to crank up again

@oviraptor21

Am I the only woman that wants them back? 😂

YES

I'm 53 in a couple of weeks and there was me thinking I was quite old to still be having periods; turns out I'm still but a youngster!

I had my last one (🤞) at 55 years and 9 months - I am now in my 60's, but superstitious, hence the 🤞! I started my periods when I was 11, and was so glad when it dawned on me that they really did seem to have stopped at last 😁

55 🙁. Did you get any of your normal warning signs or does it all change?
I can feel ovulation mid cycle. I’m late this month but gaining a week means flooding when it comes. I used to have light periods so it’s been a major shock.
Night sweats ended but I have proper old lady skin now. Think the fags and wine will have to go ( but maybe I’ll wait until the periods go first).

I was still having heavy periods at 56 x

@Walkingalot

My periods stopped around 50 and I was absolutely fine for a couple of years and thought I'd sail through menopause. Then the night sweats. flushing, muscle aches, brain fog and not sleeping gradually started. I went on HRT patches but bleeding started again and symptoms didn't go, so I stopped but caved and went back to Dr. Put on Kliovance and all was great for 18mths, until now. Just had a month long bleed, heavy, cramping, sore boobs etc. Am booked in for a scan. I've had fibroids removed before, so suspect they are back/grown. At 55 I thought it was all behind me. I am just so sick of it.

Eek thought I had escaped it but now you say you can get menopausal symptoms well after the menopause? :(

Are you all still using contraception then?
I'm 56 and had my Mirena coil taken out about a month ago assuming my menopause was over.
Doctor didn't say anything about using another form of contraception but I have been getting occasional period like cramps. I definitely do not want my periods back and even more definitely don't want to get pregnant 😱

DH had a vasectomy after DC3 was born 15 years ago - thank god. The thought of having to deal with contraception on top of the peri menopause would have been too much for me I think - hormonal contraception never agreed with me, I hate condoms and I couldn’t face a coil insertion.

@itstimeforme

Posting for traffic, aibu to ask if anyone else is still having or had periods at nearly 55? I have the odd gap of a month or two with night sweats and other peri symptoms but they keep returning to the regular 4 week pattern. All my friends were done by 50/51! Is there an age when I should seek a medical opinion

Well 51 is the average age, so by definition some people must have them for longer. Mine stopped when I was about four years under the average age, I deduced that I am not the average and never thought about seeking medical help.

@oviraptor21

Am I the only woman that wants them back? 😂

Yes.

I would weep if my heavy flooding periods returned. They controlled my life for so many years and I could hardly leave the toilet, let alone leave the house.

Oh god, this thread is not giving me much comfort! I am 52 and still going, though after a lifetime of clockwork 28 days I am all over the place for the past year or so. Shortest cycle was 17 days and longest was 42.

My mother was on hrt from her mid 40's and stayed on it 20+ years. I have not taken anything and generally feel ok. Though tired at times but work is very busy so that's no surprise really
I hope I'm done in the next year to so...dragging onto to late 50s fills me with dread

Oh dear lord! The thought of getting pregnant at fifty-something

Hormones can protect you from osteoporosis and heart disease but longer menstrual history (both early menstruation and later menopause) are also associated with increased risk of breast cancer, so it's not a simple matter of more periods being better.
www.breastcancer.org/risk/factors/menstrual_hist

53, on HRT and still having them.

I am 52 and on HRT and was still having periods up until June last year. It was very strange because I had my second vaccine in June and periods stopped and have never returned. The doctor I go to for HRT (private clinic) assured me that it could not be linked to the vaccine but admitted it was very odd to literally just stop like that. They were regular up until then. I am not complaining though as they were horrendous latterly.

[quote crispinglovershighkick]Hormones can protect you from osteoporosis and heart disease but longer menstrual history (both early menstruation and later menopause) are also associated with increased risk of breast cancer, so it's not a simple matter of more periods being better.
www.breastcancer.org/risk/factors/menstrual_hist[/quote]
Definitely this. I've had a couple of scares over the last couple of years and am off to the breast clinic again tomorrow - my long menstrual history is on my notes now.

I'm envious of you guys with periods well into your 50s! Must be great for your skin and bone density and muscle density, surely?

Mind you, I never found my period a bother, so didn't mind having it.

Not so great for risk of breast cancer though @racingnowhere

@MorganBrocklehurst

I'm 45 and 2 years post-menopause. None of my friends who are my age are even perimenopausal yet, ditto my older sister who is 50 this year.

Everyone is different.

Same. I’m 50 and 5 years post menopause. No symptoms until then. They just stopped one day. A year later the hot flushes, night sweats etc started and get worse as time goes on 🙄

I did and they pitched me into a deep depression when they occurred, every three weeks or so! My local hospital offered me an endometrial ablation which removes the womb lining. It was a day case under anaesthetic and transformed my life. It means a woman cannot have any more children but who would at 55! The procedure was only mildly uncomfortable afterwards, a bit like period pains, but soon went. I was so grateful to the hospital.

Amazing! That's very healthy, is it common in your family?

Regular as clockwork. 54. I am on hrt so unsure if that has an impact ?