What's up with my cycles??

[Freddie3642]

Hi all, I'm 36, with 5 and 3 year old DCs, and in the last 6 months noticed a huge shift in my cycles, i'm not on any contraception. My cycles have always been irregular, 7 days long, very heavy and very painful since they started at age 13. They are now as irregular as ever, but much lighter and much shorter and less painful (you might wonder why I'm complaining, but this is very abnormal for me). I've also noticed an increase in physical and emotional symptoms in the week before ovulation, and the week before my period. Symptoms like: pins and needles in my hands, terrible bloating, spotting 5 days leading up to ovulation, headaches, anxiety, intrusive thoughts, panic attacks (on a particularly bad month), rage and irritability, fatigue and disrupted sleep.

I've never suffered any of these symptoms before. So I dutifully took myself off to the GP, who has completed tests around: thyroid, diabetes, some hormonal tests, perimenopause, iron levels, swabs, there were a few others that I've forgotten, all these have come back normal. I'm having an ultrasound scan at the weekend to rule out anything physical.

Am I just getting older? Is this normal? Please share your experiences.

Even if your female hormone levels aren't showing it in the blood test, it sounds like perimenopause symptoms. Hope the scan goes ok x

I had similar in a change around 36yo. I had completely clockwork 28 day periods until I was this age, then they started coming every two weeks, or else 35 days (costing me many pregnancy tests!) and my GP had to be convinced into testing my hormones, which it turns out might be because we don't have good tests for women's hormones so the results were not that helpful anyway 🙄

Ultimately it's still the same situation a few years later, and I think will be until peri menopause "proper" into actual menopause.

It’s always fucking perimenopause.

this is what I hate about being a woman and medical issues.

it’s always “hormones” or “your period” or once you get past 30 “perimenopause”.

the bloods have come back normal, so see what the ultrasound says.

if there is no abnormal physical finding I’d start keeping a diary. See if your symptoms are cyclical, and if changing anything affects it.

did your blood panel include vit d and B vitamins?

@Whatsgoingonherethenagain on reading the results on my NHS app, it didn't, but I take a daily vit d and b vitamin complex daily. I do see the frustration, as it may not be perimenopause, I'm only 36 and my mum didn't start until her mid 40s, but i do wonder if the lack of research into women's health over the decades has meant that health professionals really don't know anything about how our bodies work! I'm completely convinced that it could be a much more gradual change than just one day you are fertile and the next you have entered perimenopause. On talking to the women in my life they all report perimenopause-like symptoms from their mid-30's.

Currently I'm in my usual ovulation window and have real period like cramps and spotting which is unpleasant. Hopefully the ultrasound will shed some more light!

Thank you all for sharing your experiences with me. I'm realising that it is more common than I thought, and it seems sad that we don't really know why.

Hi all, just an update. The scan showed
PCOS. I'm happy it's probably not Perimenopause, and PCOS does make sense with my other symptoms. The hospital are going to send the results to my GP there maybe another blood test, and then we'll go from there.