Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

General health

Mumsnet doesn't verify the qualifications of users. If you have medical concerns, please consult a healthcare professional.

Flip

1 2

Original poster

senile primagravida

50 replies

Jimmy · 16/10/2002 20:34

Are there any other older first-time mums out there? Facing the delightful 2's at 46, with menopause symptoms, a chat with similar would be appreciated.

OP posts:

CAM · 05/02/2003 11:46

I'm reviving this thread because I'm over a week late with my period for the first time in my life except when pregnant. As I don't think I can possibly be pregnant I'm wondering if it's the start of menopause. This month I had the usual symptoms of PMT that I normally have, ie. tender breasts and had to eat chocolate but on the day the period was due, nothing. The PMT symptoms stopped as usual, but no bleeding, not even a spot. Is this normal? I think I'm the right age for things to start happening in this direction but wonder if anyone has any advice?

MABS · 05/02/2003 12:39

No advice Cam - just hope you're ok

CAM · 05/02/2003 12:49

Thanks, Mabs - I am totally ok. Physically I feel hormonally "neutral", like when you're not having a period and not having PMT and not pregnant! Normal in other words, but must admit I now am wondering when the period(s) will start or come back. I'm so used to knowing exactly when I'm going to start I now feel I have to carry tampons everywhere.

mum2toby · 05/02/2003 12:54

CAM:
My period was 10 days late last month. I'm always on time (give or take 1 day).... I had all the period pains and PMT at the right time, but no bleeding. Then the bleeding started and was perfectly normal!! I have no explanation for it and neither does my gp. It was just put down to stress!
Has there been any stressful events in your life recently or trauma or could you be slightly anaemic?

clucks · 05/02/2003 15:37

But CAM, you don't look old enough to start the menopause.

Batters · 05/02/2003 17:13

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

CAM · 06/02/2003 10:55

Thanks for these replies. Mum2Toby: no unusual stresses to report. Clucks: Thanks, chick, you've made my day, but I am! Batters: Isn't there something you have to do to get pregnant? (Can't remember what?!!)
I guess there's nothing I can do except wait (I hate waiting for anything).
Has anyone ever heard of someone's periods just stopping, just like that?

lou33 · 06/02/2003 12:05

Mine stopped like that Cam and after 6 months of nothing was told I had polycystic ovaries. Could that be a possibility? I had 1 child at the time and was trying for number 2.

CAM · 06/02/2003 18:18

I don't know Lou I have not had these probs before. I'm not trying to get pg by the way, that would be the last thing on my mind at my age. Plus I had an internal scan shortly before becoming pg with dd2 aged 6 and everything was pronounced to be very healthy. It was very interesting seeing your own fallopian tubes etc wafting around.
What happened with you, have your periods come back?

lou33 · 06/02/2003 19:51

I didn't know I had it until I tried to get pg. I came off the pill and 6 months later still had not had a period. The gynae doc thought I was having an early menopause ( I was just 29), because the lining of my womb was so thin, but it turned out I was polycystic, and hadn't been ovulating. Didn't have any problems trying to conceive dd1 though, in fact she was almost too easy to get pg with! I ended up having an operation called ovarian diathermy to get me ovulating again, and it worked the very next month, I was pg within 2 months. I was told to complete my family within 3 years as it was not supposed to last longer than that, but I think they did their job too well, because over the next 6 years I had 3 more children! In fact I went and got sterilised to stop me having any more!

My periods are regular now since the op, but they never were before.

CAM · 07/02/2003 11:05

Have you got 5 children Lou? I have heard of the pill causing loss of periods when people come off it but I haven't taken the pill for nearly 10 years.

lou33 · 07/02/2003 11:29

No I have 4 Cam (and that's plenty thanks!). It wasn't the pill that caused the problem, it was hiding the problem. Obviously you have a regular bleed on the pill, but it isn't a real period technically, so I was regular while taking the pill, but when I wasn't I was always irregular. Having said that I would usually have had at least 4 periods in that 6 months. I don't know if polycystic ovaries can happen after always being regular or not though.

CAM · 05/06/2003 10:48

After missing 2 periods in a row I decided in March to go to my GP. I took a preg test a few days before the appointment, although I didn't believe for a minute it would be positive, and it wasn't, but so I had something to tell the doctor. Dh came with me and the doctor looked at my notes onscreen to find my age (he could have just asked me?!!!) and actually laughed at the fact that I'd bothered to do a preg test. When I said I had simply wanted to absolutely rule it out, the doctor then made a comment that a woman in Italy had become preg (through IVF) at 60 so he supposed he could see why I'd taken a test. I am 46, but obviously in his mind this is the same as being 60. He then said its only to be expected at your age, your periods might come back or they might not. He didn't ask me if I had any other symptoms (I didn't) and generally treated me as though I had completely wasted his time. After we left the surgery my dh commented that until now he hadn't believed that doctors really lived up to this stereotype of treating a woman past a certain in this way. He felt I hadn't been taken seriously. TBH I wasn't surprised but anyway my periods came back the very next day and dh wanted to ring the doc up and tell him. I didn't let him obviously and I then had 2 periods in a row, missed the next one and then had another one. I guess it's the start of the menopause, I think its called the perimenopause. Luckily so far I have had no hot flushes or anything else and just assume that the periods will eventually stop altogether. I won't be going back to the GP about it though.

ks · 05/06/2003 11:21

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

CAM · 05/06/2003 11:33

Thanks, ks, well Cherie Blair had Leo at 46. I actually don't mind starting the menopause as I do not want any more children (I feel too old and don't have the help, money etc that Cherie has) and am, in a way, looking forward to not having to worry about getting preg. However, apparently there are conditions other than pregnancy and menopause which cause lack of, or irregular, periods (see lou33 below) so I sort of thought a visit to my GP might not be totally pointless!

marialuisa · 05/06/2003 11:38

Hi Jimmy,

Whereabouts in liverpool are you? My mum is 49 with a 3 year old DD and also looks after my 2 year old DD. There are another 3 inbetween aged 8, 16, 18. Mum has some health problems which says are a PITA when you've got little ones and she's got the menopausal flushes. If you're anywhere near Bebington/Bromborough, keep an eye out for a tall woman with 2 blonde monsters in tow. I know she'd love to meet someone in a similar position as she hates "standing out" at preschool etc.

SueW · 05/06/2003 11:59

Cam, that's awful. I'd want to stick it to him too.

My mum's friend (who is about my age, mid 30s) has just had her seventh child. She was dreading seeing her doctor for her postnatal check-up as this doctor had told her that six was enough children for any woman to bear. When she pointed this out to the doctor and said she wanted another, the doctor say, 'Well maybe one more. It takes a toll on your body'.!!!!!

Honestly. Friend has the kind of body most 18yos would envy and I certainly do.

lou33 · 05/06/2003 12:16

Cam how dreadful of that doctor! He obviously passed his exams at the school for old gits. Sorry you had to experience that.

Marina · 05/06/2003 12:19

Gosh, some doctors take the biscuit, Cam. Heaps of women are still having periods and probably ovulating (maybe not every month) at 46 (and I'll say it now, you don't look anything near your age, that cheeky GP).
Honestly, though, there are basic blood tests that can be done to check you are indeed perimenopausal as opposed to having irregular periods for some other reason. Is there another GP at the practice you can see, or maybe the practice nurse? Might not be a bad idea to just double-check.

CAM · 05/06/2003 13:05

Thanks for the compliment Marina, and Lou yes obviously as I am past it in the dr's eyes, I think I will go to the well-woman clinic where I have smears done. At least that is staffed by female nurses who always treat you with consideration.

SofiaAmes · 05/06/2003 21:49

CAM, I have a good friend who went to her doctor at 46 because she had missed some periods and thought she might be getting early menopause. Turned out she was pregnant with her first. He came out healthy and happy and is now 8.

bossykate · 05/06/2003 22:04

cam, i must second marina's opinion and say that you could have easily shaved off a number of years without the dr being any the wiser...

good luck with getting to the bottom of this and hope it is nothing to be worried about.

your gp sounds like a complete idiot.

CAM · 06/06/2003 12:08

Thanks bossykate, I'll take comfort from the fact that gp looked my age up on the screen then, as obviously thought I was too young to be starting menopause (wish I believed that)!!!

Batters · 06/06/2003 18:38

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

tigermoth · 07/06/2003 10:29

amazed by your doctor's attitude, youthful CAM. Definitely bypass him.

Flip

1 2