Periods suddenly gone mental

[Chuckthefucklebrothers]

I'm usually regular as clockwork, 28 day cycle, occasionally a couple of days late but never early. Last period was 5 days early & much heavier than usual, leaking through a super tampon in a couple of hours , never happened before either. Period arrived again yesterday, 10 days early!! already really heavy, i've had an excruciating headache for days...

I'm 38 (today, happy birthday to me ) - could I be perimenapausal? (sp) What is going on??

Thanks in advance, feeling crap, old & generally sorry for myself!

No idea but Happy Birthday! And I recommend the mooncup.

Cheers for the bday wishes & suggestion - but moon cups scare me!

Hi there are a couple of good threads about this stuff, I'll see if I can find them and link for you. And btw I think you've self-diagnosed correctly - but have a read of those threads when I've found them.

Thanks Dame, had a bit of a look but not much luck.

God, that's depressing! I mean, it's inevitable & good that it's not anything life-threatening but bloody hell... Is this how it's going to be for the next however long?? Don't really know much about this stuff coz I thought I was too young to need to know! At least I've already got my kids.

Get checked for anaemia and fibroids. Ad don't worry, it's not as bad as all that!

Hmmm.... hadn't put them in Watch after all, sorry. I'm afraid you'll have to browse around the Menopause topic.

Anyway, when the surgery reopens, get an appointment with your GP. Ask about Tranexamic Acid. Make it very very clear that you are being effectively crippled by this.

Meanwhile, in my opinion you have every right to spend your birthday on a sofa with a hot water bottle! Here's some for later

xposted

As a veteran of fibroids, if thats what it is, the escalation usually goes.

Tranexamic acid (you can buy it over the counter in pharmacies now)
Mirena coil
Ablation
Hysterectomy

I got the full set eventually... And life post menopause is brilliant. But the headaches absolutely could be anaemia so get checked.

I've got an appointment in a few days for something else, so I'll ask about it then. Would anaemia be a cause or an effect? I'm vegetarian so it's a possibility.

I want my pressies but my DH is still in bed lazy fucker!

Have chocolate, DVDs & loads of telly on sky+, will be making myself a nest on the sofa as soon as aforementioned lazy fucker DH gets up!

Thanks again

It'd definitely be worth a look in the Menopause topic and in particular thisthread about the perimenopause.

(There was a long one not so long ago in another forum - might even have been AIBU - but that's impossible to find now).

It's quite possible that your body has just thrown a weird one. It happens sometimes. Or it could be unconnected with the menopause itself - just something associated with ageing. Changes in bleeding should be checked out, whatever your age. Frequent diagnoses are adenomyosis, fibroids and endometriosis.

Any good GP, if you go with heavy periods, will take some blood. That's where you start.

Anaemia can be caused by heavy periods, it wouldn't usually cause them.

Fibroids can cause heavy periods. It's worth knowing if you have them, as they can be shrunk by injections etc.

The mirena coil can sometimes calm heavy bleeding right down, but doesn't work if things get too bad, as with me.

The main message is, periods shouldn't be so heavy that its a nightmare and women often don't seek help, as they think, hey ho, it's inevitable and just the menopause.

Do go to the GP, though, MN is luffly and there are health professionals around, but they can't take your blood for you :)

My lovely GP tested for anaemia and prescribed Ferrous Fumerate, which is much nicer than the other sort of iron supplement - doesn't cause black poo ishoos for a start. I'm not completely vegetarian but only eat meat occasionally as dd2 is and it's too complicated to make different meals all the time.
Have a lovely day with your sofa and Sky+!

I got a blood transfusion. If you get anaemic enough that they offer you one, say YES. I can't tell you how much better I feel.

Thanks for all the advice ladies!

I read most of the peri menopause thread & now I am quite depressed.

Bastard hormones!

Oh and now I've frightened myself with another explanation - ovarian cancer. My nan died of it in her early 50s, took years for her to get diagnosed.

Think I'll stop googling now & try to forget about it until I go to the drs!