Is there any damn reason why my norks have been sore balloons for a week now, given the extreme unlikeliness that I am up the duff? Am I just heading for menopause?

[motherinferior]

It's getting on my nerves.

lol MI

you need more wine. It would lessen the pain I'm sure.

Discounting the pregnancy option (though I'm not sure you should ), this is how my PMT started (breasts so painful I could hardly roll over in bed). I found the coil made it much much worse but do know others for whom it has been brilliant.

Well... I shouldn't have posted yesterday about having not had a period since April. Woke to contraction-like pain and floods this morning

When I was pg with my dd, my mum came to visit me and came on during her visit. We had to nip down the chemists shop pronto as I had nothing in, no maternity pads or anything - the assistant was clearly baffled as one 7-month pg woman was choosing sanitary pads along with a woman in her early 50s but to her eternal credit she said nothing. Bet they see all sorts....

Ah yes the oestrogen effect. I had to sit in between 2 pregnant women at work a few months ago. The extra oestrogen flying around had an adverse effect big time on my cycle.
Was I glad when they went off on maternity leave.

Oi, MI, how are they today?

Well, they're slightly less sore and frankly I am SO GLOOMY - honestly, I sat there at work feeling on the verge of tears about the fact that two colleagues had spoken to me in a way that suggested that perhaps I wasn't their top priority (they weren't rude or anything just busy) that I suspect, strangely, that I just theoretically might have PMT

I'd bump this thread but think OP may have bump of her own quite soon

Mine were like unexploded overripe water melons last motnh..almost had to wear a bra in bed they were so ridiculous - lasted about a week

I have hot fkushes, terrible moods, migraines, and have even developed post menstrual tension where my mood afterwards is even worse than before (if that's possible)

I'm 37 and if this is what the next 10 years are going to be like, I expect to be divorced by then/

Have you done test MI?????

Mine are sore lately too, I even had to hold them while out for a run yesterday, despite ultra-support sports bra. Luckily there was noone around to see. and I'm not pregnant nor menopausal. I thought it might just be PMS, but more dramatic than usual.

pregnant (for you, not me) would be more exciting though

i have a day of "staining" followed by about 3 days of full on flow then it appears to ebb away only to return a couple of days later - like a double period. Most weird. Also i get PMT every four weeks but my period appears generally every 3-3.5 weeks so like someone else on teh thread, i get post-mt

MI, I could post you my Germaine Greer book on the menopause if it helps? You can learn to Resist the Patriarchal Construction of Menopause and Celebrate the Change.

Apart from a test just to know for CERTAIN that you are or aren't pg, might it be worth taking gigantic doses of evening primrose oil? In case it is pmt and post mt all rolled into one gorgeous hormonal moment/lifetime? The good vitamin makes (ie not Boots own brand) do v good mega doses of various oils. Also acupuncture can help stabilise mad hormone levels.
None of this helps with the norks though ...

so are you pregant MI?

Oh poor MI, I suspect we are not helping.

Wow. Come back from my holidays to find that MI has started a "could I be pregnant?" thread (albeit masquerading as an innocent query about sore norks). Fwiw, my norks get really swollen and sore these days (like they did in pregnancy) - keep meaning to keep a log of it but I think it's a PMT thing.

Depressed at all the stuff about late onset of periods relating to early menopause - I started my periods at 17 and am 38 in a couple of months.

MI, we are the same age and I have been suffering sore boobs (and been very short-tempered) on and off for the last few months for few days before my period. My periods have also been a bit irregular for about 19 months now. I have never previously experienced PMT btw.

I'm pretty sure it's the big M!

(btw, the menopause actually means the cessation of periods, not all crap leading up to it, so 49 is not so far off really ).

Someone recommended me a supplement - will try a search for it (because I need to buy some soon) [short-temper emoticon]

why depressed moo?

its liberating! (unless you want more kiddywinks?)

Same as Mears here, things going haywire at about 40 - hideous flooding heaviness, psychotic PMT, and Lolo norks - but then it all seemed to settle again for a while. Also the cycle varied like mad, and stress can bring it on early. Three years later its still mostly ok, but with ups and downs - so if it is perimenopause, it's not necessarily a linear downhill plummet!

Evening primrose definitely helps, especially with the norkage, and [woe] cutting down on alcohol, coffee, etc.

Good question really, Nadine. I suppose because my Mum had a really hard time of it - her periods got really heavy, she was anaemic etc (plus very weepy and depressed). She had to have a hysterectomy in the end. So maybe I associate menopause not with liberation (and no, no more kids for me!) but with Bad Stuff. Which is daft, I know, as that may not be my experience of it at all.

Plus of course it means you're getting old .

Exactly! you may sail through and even if you have problems there's lots more things that can help nowadays.

Well, the norks continue to subside, and my not due yet period is not due yet. I feel the world is safe from more Inferiority

Motherinferior - I got pg at 43.... is that worrying enough for you (snicker).
I am now 45 and since af came back post bf in Jan, I have noticed that I get pmt from hell and sore boobs, which I never had in my life before. So maybe we are having some hormonal shifts on the way to menopause?
Hope not.
WW - my mother started at 12 and finished at 55. as did her sister. And I should have been half way through the menopause when ds1 arrived and finished it when ds2 got here. So your table is a bit rubbish. Sorry.