do periods get worse as you get older?

[moljam]

anyone?im sure mine are getting worse and im getting bad pms or whatever its called.

well i think mine are definately gettin worse, but i thought it was because ive had four children.(im 38 now).
suffer with terrible pms and just before it starts, awful crampy upset stomach followed by really heavy bleeding. i often think to myself how i would cope with it once i eventually go back to work,id need a lot of toilet breaks to sort myself out. i don't remember being this bad when i was in my twenties.

After ds3 was born I kept 'flooding' - couldn't go out as was soaking through everything within 30 mins. Now have a coil which has made it much better.

No... i've found they get better. At age 47 I now find its only 5 days instead of 10, and abdominal cramp for first day only.

I was so bad I was using tampons, pads and sleeping on a towel on a plastic sheet. I now have my life back because of a procedure called a 'TCRE' a Trans Cervical Resection of the Endometrium. It is very like a severe DC but they cauterize the womb lining as well as scrape it. I havn't had a drop of blood for 6years+ and its great. No more anemia, no more embarrasing incidents, especially as my periods were erratic and my PMS has lessened.

I am experiencing a similar scenario to discoverlife. I hate it. I cannot sleep when af is here because I am so afraid of the leakage - it disgusts me. I suffered flooding a few times last year. The worst incident was in the summer when I met a friend for lunch. All was well, we got to the restaurant, we ordered, I visited the ladies' room, we sat and lunched (max 45 mins) and then it flooded everywhere. I don't think my friend realised, she has never said, but I was totally drenched through mooncup, towel and jeans. I have stopped using the mooncup as I blame it, but I still experience heavy bleeding/clotting regularly.

I am very interested in the procedure mentioned as I am seriously considering a hysterectomy. I am 39.

I think so. In my giddy youth it was around 4-5 days of light bleeding. Nowadays it is 10 days of really heavy bleeding.

I am 45 and went through a 2 years of very painful periods with flooding. I even had high temperatures with some of them and the pain was so bad I couldn't get out of bed for a day every 4 months or so.
I had a scan which found some small endometrial cysts.
The doctor said I was premenopausal ,put me on duphaston (progesterone) for 10 days a month which made feel really awful for those 10 days and didn't really help the periods. She them wanted me have the mirena coil, but after the duphaston I decided no.
But for some reason for the last year I have been a lot better.
What seemed to be happening to me ( this is what i feel, not what i have been told by a doctor) was that each month the cysts were building up, then I think the really bad periods were the cysts bursting. Next month a lot better then then for the next few months they would steadily get worse again until the next really bad one with temperature.

Much more heavy bleeding on first 3 days, shorter number of days for periods.

Nothing like discoverlife, TBH I can cope fine but get no sleep for first 3 nights as I have to get up at least once.

The procedure is day surgery, and the preparations include a hormonal treatment to stop the buildup of the lining as much as possible, if I remember it was 1 tablet timed 2 weks before your AF and the op timed to correspond. The op was all of 20 minutes under anethetis and bleeding for anout a week afterward but not too severe. I did have one fright as about a week after the op I had a flood and thought something was really wrong, but the nurse hadn't told me about the fact that when the scab came off (internally) it would cause that reaction.
But since then I havn't had a period not even spotting. It may not work as well with everybody, but it always does reduce the bleeding to a manageable level. It does sterilise you though.
As a side point, now that I don't know when my period is due, I seem to suffer less PMS. Or is it because I am no longer anemic?

Think its quite common. I went to my doc with this problem, she thought it was pretty much par for the course. Got sent for a scan which turned out to be normal, Was offered traxanemic acid which is a blood clotting agent but didn't fancy it. Mirena also suggested but I was told it had to be fitted at a certain time of the month following (in my case) a course of antibiotics. Then to make a 15 min appt for doc, Proved impossible to co-ordinate all that so am putting up with it ATM. PS I am 45.

thanks thats good(well its not for all of you ofcourse,but atleast im not alone!)im only 29!i never had much in build up to period,now my boobs hurt so much i visited gp last month convinced something was wrong,ive had migranes for 2 weeks,ive got worst cramps ive ever had ,i turn into a fire breathing monster for week before and during period,dh is realising not to talk to me or near me,i scare myself i can be so horrible and there just seems so much of it!!!also a tmi warning-does it change colour as you get older(go darker??).

i have a coil btw,not mirena as they messed up putting it in and couldnt do it.anything else that may help?

Can I just barge in here please with a question...I am 37 and have had a mirena coil for 10 years. I was thinking of having it removed so as to let my body return to its natural rhythms before the menopause...but perhaps I am mad?

I haven't had a period for over 10 years so wondered if my body could so with a "rest".

Any views?

Your body is having a rest, why put it through the stress of AF production etc.
Year ago (50+ years ago) women usually only had about 20 periods in her life because she was either or pregnant or breasfeeding. It is un-natural to have periods every month for year after year.