Sorry this is quite TMI but ...

[Realitea]

I’m 40 and my periods have gone a bit strange

Still regular yet further apart than they used to be by about a week

Last month was lighter than normal

This month - bloody tidal wave. I was up in the night changing my sheets, had to change clothing twice today and then this evening something happened that nearly made me pass out in shock
I felt something odd. Went to check and there was a really large clot about the length of the sanitary pad 🤢
I had an ultrasound a year ago and they found nothing as I complained of heavy periods and intermittent pain in the groin. I’m anaemia too but don’t want to be out on hormones as suggested to stop periods
They didn’t find anything in the ultrasound. I haven’t had sex for a few months so it can’t be that..
I’m just really worried 😟

I would suggest peri. but maybe ring your gp if you are worried. I had clots due to fibroid.

God I could’ve written your post. I’m on day 16 of my period and it’s not letting up! I’ve also had a scan - no fibroids.
Have you had kids? I had twins 6 years ago and since then my periods have beyond awful. Roll on the menopause!

Yeah I would suggest peri too. My periods are all over the place - one month I’m flooding every hour, the next so light I could wear the same pad all day. Passing the clots can be so incredibly painful too. At it’s worse it has me on the floor.
If you’re worried, check with the GP as PP said.

@doodlejump1980 I cannot wait for the menopause it’ll be such a relief! Yes I’ve had two children and one is now 20 but the other one is still little
My periods have always been awful since I was 15. That’s when I became anaemic and I’m sure it’s linked. I remember I had a bit of spotting a few days - a week before my last period which worried me

Actually I remember chatting to a nurse at my last smear test who suggested peri too. Yikes! I wonder if that’s why my moods have been so up and down aswell

www.larabriden.com/how-to-treat-heavy-periods-with-diet-natural-progesterone/
I found this helpful

Thanks, that looks good

The large clot you passed, did it look like a normal clot but huge or was it a sack like thing? If the latter it could have been a decidual cast. I've passed one and it was painful and I was like wtf was that when I saw it.
You could have grown polyps since your ultrasound. I had one where they saw fibroids but a few months later when I had a hysterscopy they found a polyp. I had them 7 years ago which I had removed.
It's all worth writing down, keeping a record and seeing your gp to get referred to gynae.

OP, that's a classic sign that you are entering perimenopause.

Yes it looked normal but huge. I felt faint enough seeing that - let alone what you went through! Sounds awful! Maybe I should run it by the doctor but I’m thinking it must be peri. I have been getting other new things happen too. Eczema and rosacea (never had that before) pain in my hips and legs. I wonder if it’s all linked
I’m going to have to have a read up on it now

Sounds similar to how my peri menopause started. I found it pretty grim tbh. Very very heavy periods with big clots and always anemic. I started using tranexamic acid when I needed to. It used to be available from the pharmacist at Boots but I think you have to have a prescription now. It used to make me feel a bit sick but it was good to know I could use it if I needed it. There were times when I would have struggled to leave the house without it.

I will have a google of that I’ve never heard of it before

I had a very similar experience, periods getting further apart and lighter, I thought they were coming to a natural end and then suddenly they were very very heavy, long and painful, I had a coil fitted in the end and it's been absolutely amazing.

Is it the progesterone coil? I considered that but I don’t react well to progesterone!