period woes making me miserable :(

[phlebas]

I'm 38 & still breastfeeding my 2 year old (including a couple of night feeds but he doesn't have masses of milk overall). Periods have been back for about a year - the first few were very irregular but for the last 6 months or so they've settled down to every 25/26 days which is more frequent than they were pre-pregnancy (used to be 30-32 days).

I'm also getting 5 or 6 days of heavy bleeding followed by at least of week (sometimes more) or very light bleeding (mainly brown/pink stained CM). I went to see my GP about it 3 months ago & amongst other things he tested my thyroid, FBC, ca125, took swabs & did a smear. All that was normal & he suggested it was 'hormonal' & advised leaving it a couple of months to see if it settled down.

It hasn't. I had bleeding until day 16 with my most recent period - I saw him again last week & he has referred me for a scan to check for fibroids/polyps & endometrial thickness. I expect that it'll be quite a long wait.

My next period is due tomorrow or Monday & yesterday evening I started having light bleeding & lots of cramps to assumed it was just early. More pink/red spotting this morning but it has stopped now & no sign of my period (still getting cramps). I have never had spotting before a period before. I'm planning on going back to the GP again next week to see if the scan can be hurried up, I'm really starting to fret about nasty causes of strange bleeding now :(

(I'm not pregnant or using contraception - dh had a vasectomy a couple of years ago)

Didn't want to read and run. I was the same as you but after tests, I have been told I have fibroids which explains my heavy bleeding etc. Hopefully after your tests are done they can tell you what it is and what will be done to help you. Its understandable to be thinking all sort of things though, because I felt the same as you. Your mind goes into overdrive!

Do you keep a period 'diary'? Its a chart to log every day of your period the flow so that your consultant will see how heavy and how long each period lasted. Mine was like 'building blocks', its hard to describe, but one building block was spotting, two slightly heavier up to about 5 block for flooding. if that makes sense. Its a useful thing to do. Good luck OP

I shaded in the block depending on what my period was like that day.

thanks Spotty :)

I have a gynaecologist friend who said given my age the normal ca125 & the normal smear it is unlikely to be anything nasty .... doesn't feel very reassuring though!

I've been keeping track of everything for the last 3 months & it seems to getting worse :(

I know what you mean! Until you are told what it is, you worry. Hopefully you won't have too much longer to wait for an appointment.

still getting awful cramps but not much more than brown spotting - I have no childcare today but am going to try and get to the GP tomorrow

A good idea.