To think there's a link - shortening menstrual cycles and covid vaccine?

[HelpMeHiveMind]

I want to be clear im in no way advocating that people should not get the vaccine.

I have another post in Health, where I was actually wondering if this could be peri menopause (I'm late 30s) and maybe it still is. Periods moving forward by a week or so each time and have done for about the last 5 cycles.

But others started responding that they too have experienced this since their covid vaccines, I've looked online a bit more and found others saying the same. Yet all the "official studies" I can find just talk about a temporary short lived (eg 1 or 2 cycles) change and generally refer to different length cycles, not them moving forward.

I'm just wondering how many others have experienced this, what the implications are, when / if it went back to normal and why there aren't more studies about it - or maybe there are and I've not found them? Or, are there lots of late 30s / early 40s ladies starting peri menopause at the moment (possibly completely unrelated to vaccines)?

It's interesting - my cycles are getting shorter and so are my periods, but I hadn't even considered a link to the vaccines. I'm 41 so it's very likely peri-menopause.

One problem is that 'regular' perimenopausal symptoms are still often shrouded in mystery. What seems shocking and debilitating (will it did to me) is sadly quite common for women.

Whereas mine are more irregular, generally much further apart and heavier, but some are shorter.

From my tracker app for the last year the intervals are: 30 28 34 20 24 43 28 69 and 100+ and counting.

But I'm 48 and perimenopausal and that's likely to be the main driver.

The younger you start mentruating, the younger you will have your (natural) menopause...

This isn’t true at all, there’s no direct link. You are more likely to start menopause sooner if you have no or only one child compared to women who have two or more children though so there’s that.

I have heard various links between the vaccine and issues with periods, there was a BBC article about it last month as well. I didn’t even make the link but my period was shorter than usual this month and I had my booster last month so seems I may have been affected too. Not really bothered though, shorter works better for me.

I’m triple jabbed and there was no change to my periods. I was tracking them at the time too so would have noticed. I’m also pregnant now.

working back in time, my cycle lengths... 32, 37, 28, 44, 22, 25, 26 = avg 30.6 days since 2nd jab

~70, 21, 24 = avg ~38.3 days during betw jab period

24, 29, 21, 26, 21 = avg 24.2 days avg pre 1st jab

No.

It might be affected for a very short while - this is because the vaccine causes your body to have an immune response, it puts strain on your body, and anything that puts strain on your body can affect your menstrual cycle.

It's just the same if we're stressed, or poorly, or whatever, we might have an "off" month and our cycle might be a little different.

It's really nothing at all to worry about and it is not going to cause any permanent change any more than your work stress last month caused a permanent change.

I think with so many millions taking the vaccine, it's always going to be the case that there will be other people with similar things happening to their body. It would be natural to think that it must be associated with the vaccine, but actually it's just the sheer amount of numbers.
I always remember that I used to give my dog the flea drops on her neck. My mum told me that when she gave it to hers, the dog always behaved a bit off for a day or two. So I did mine and I noticed the same behaviour as mum described. I went to do it again a couple of months later but I got distracted. That night she looked a bit off and I immediately thought it was the flea drops. Then remembered I'd never actually given them.
We always try to link things to have them make sense and we feel uncomfortable with things that have no explanation. But it doesn't mean those links we're making are actually right.

I was looking up shorter cycles the other day, mine are down to less than 21days... I'm 37!

Could it be peri?? How long would it need to be a latter for to be worth investigating with GP?

I'm about to be 45, I've had COVID twice and three vaccines. My periods are every 28 days on the dot. Neither the virus nor the vaccines have affected it.

I've had a few random early ones (around 10days early, both times) and some just a few days early. They weren't straight after the vaccine, a couple of cycles later I think. Who knows, I'm 38 so could be peri, could be the vaccine. I went to the doctors about the first one as i thought it was mid cycle bleeding (before it turned into a period), as I'm usually super regular and have never had an early period before. 🤷🏻‍♀️

There is a potential link, and it is being investigated. Make sure you report any potential side effects to MHRA coronavirus-yellowcard.mhra.gov.uk/

All medicines have side effects, people just need to consider the risks and make an informed decision based on their own circumstances. I have had all my COVID jabs, but that was prior to omicron - which appears to be far milder than previous variants. I don’t intend to have any more covid jabs as I no longer feel the risk from covid outweighs the risk from vaccination. I think each person has to weigh the evidence and make an informed decision based on the circumstances at the time ( eg how virulent the prevailing variant is, what the transmission rates are in their area) and their personal level of risk ( from covid/vaccination.

Mine was late 4 days and stayed like this. I think it might be coincidence, because around this time I had so much stress with family member dying of covid in a hospital.

I've tracked my cycles for a few years and mine have shortened since February 2020. In other words, from the beginning of lockdown/stress about the pandemic.

I am 33, so presumably not quite peri-menopausal yet.

I've not had the vaccine but I have had Covid and experienced an unusually heavy/early period in the middle of the symptomatic phase.

If Covid (possibly) has that effect why are we so suspicious of the idea that the vaccine also does?

My cycles have also got shorter in the last year, but again I'm 37 this year so could well be peri as I know that is common. I won't report it as a side effect because it is more likely to be me than the vaccine, though I am still suspicious that it contributed!

@Abra1d1 yes that's true. Its interesting how many people 35-40 are saying it's just normal to be starting peri menopause now...I'd always been told it was usually a little later but judging by this thread, if all these people are a result of that, it starts much earlier than I had realised. I'm not much past mid 30s myself so thought peri was a possibility but unlikely- perhaps not. My cycles were always a full 4 weeks and had been for my entire menstrual life, it does coincide with the vaccines that they changed, first to 24 days then 22 and now 21 and have stayed that way. But could be total coincidence/ peri menopause. They also start now with no real warning - I used to get a day of cramping / discharge first.

Yes the vaccine definitely disrupted my cycle. My GP said that researchers are now looking into it properly as there have been numerous anecdotal reports.

I'm 42. Up until about age 39, my cycle was always 29-31 days. Then it shifted and is now 21-23 days.

This happened about a year before covid, but had it happened a year later, I would have been inclined to agree with your theory. As it stands, it must just be a peri menopause symptom.

Cycles can also change because of illness since when your immune system is fired, your menstrual cycle is not seen by your body as a priority as you are unwell so the main priority is to fight your illness, so by that logic a vaccination can also cause menstrual changes as it triggers an immune response. So you may not be unreasonable, but it’s not the vaccine per se, it’s a consequence of an immune response, which would make sense.

First jab - had mid cycle spotting 3 weeks later (panic ensued, went for a smear..)
Second jab - mid cycle bleeding again, 3 weeks later
Third jab - no bleeding but period 4 days early

This is interesting. I'm 37 always been regular as clockwork on a 28 day cycle. For the last 6 months or so my cycles have moved to a 23 day cycle. I feel like I'm either constantly bleeding, have PMT or very hormonal with no let up.
I never connected it to the covid vaccines but maybe there's something in it? I don't know.

Mine changed after having covid in Aug 20 and I went down to 11 days between cycles. They then got longer after the first jab (78 days) and seem to have been kicked back into roughly 24 days since jab 2 and my booster.

If we started a thread asking for menstrual changes after eating a curry we would get no better data than on this thread. These threads are completely anecdotal and IMO reading old wives' tales makes more people link unconnected things together.

Had the Pfizer booster on the 3rd Jan, and havnt had a period since- it was due in the 25th Jan.

I've never missed a period, or had one this late. Have been regular since my first period. I've never taken hormonal contraception. Definately not pregnant. I guess I could be peri, but doesn't seem likely as I'm only 31.

I have reported it on the yellow card site. I think it's completely unfair to dismiss a link, when it seems to be widespread. Women do know theyre own bodies, and there should be research done into what exactly is going on.