Help - 42 year old usually light period suddenly flooding

[NoveltySlippers]

Sorry I wasn’t sure which board to post this on so have gone for Chat.

I’m 42 and for the last 5 years my periods have been so light I can get away with panty liners and the odd tampon, and short In duration too, just 2-3 days plus a few days of spotting.

All of a sudden and out of the blue I am leaking blood like there’s no tomorrow. This was preceded by 6 days of brown and sometimes bright red spotting. I haven’t had to run to the loo to prevent an accident like this since a Labour government probably! (Was on the pill for the Coalition govt. Not sure why offering political context to my periods but there you go!)

I’m at work and actually just had to grab paper towel from the kitchen and stuff it in my pants . Thank god my officemates not in today!

I’m just wondering if this could be one of two things.

A) Could I briefly, briefly have been pregnant??

B) Or - is this the heavy period that I read happens in later perimenopause? It seems odd if it’s this though to happen so suddenly, without a gradual change from light periods to heavy first.

Any thoughts please would be very gratefully received. I’m totally discombobulated by this.

I have sadly never been pregnant due to male factor infertility (and also now my age).

So - if it is a sign that I might - briefly - have been pregnant, then this would be amazing. (Despite the bleeding. I guess the ‘never been pregnant’ brigade would understand.)

Oh bugger. Thanks @lazymoz for sharing your experience. It would be good to know or get an idea which it’s likely to be either way.

Peri. I'm 42 and same thing happening.

Sounds like peri to me, I'm afraid! Welcome to the joys of middle age. Soon you'll be crying at X factor auditions and sprouting hairs from your chin! x

Oh balls. Just suddenly out of nowhere? From ridiculously light to flooding?

It’s so sudden - it’s bizarre that I feel like I could enter into my calendar the date I entered the (peri) menopause!

Oh god, then I’m really buggered. I cry at absolute nonsense anyway!

Peri. I went to GP and said I never want to have that happen again. Went on HRT and it hasn't.

Sister went on Mirena and that worked for her - she's had no problems with it.

Lots of ibuprofen helps short term. Not on an empty stomach.

My flooding happened on holiday in a hotel in France - it looked like I'd murdered someone in a particularly graphic way.

Norethisterone helps some people. It made me very angry indeed.

Basically you don't have to put up with it - there should be something that'll help.

Yeah, probably perimenopause (it was for me) but get yourself checked anyway in case it's an early miscarriage. Sometimes you need a D&C after that or you may continue to have heavy bleeding. Better to be safe.

This happened to me three months ago.
Out walking the dog the blood absolutely soaked me by the time I could get home.
I've been very light periods for a year or two. Back to very light again these last two months.I'm 39.
How long does peri last?

Thanks everyone this is helpful. How old were you all roughly when this started?

42 seems kind of young for HRT to me (not that I’d mind it - I’m definitely open to giving it a go). But is that a complete misconception of mine? Again be good to be corrected if so.

I feel amazingly ignorant of what happens in perimenopause despite trying to read up on it, as everything on the internet about it seems so vague.

Me too, I went from periods being short, regular and fairly light, to being extremely heavy and irregular. Some months I skip one, other months it arrives two weeks late, it's a nightmare to plan anything.
Mine didn't start acting up until about 48 though, I guess if you are still fertile there is a chance you've been pregnant, might be worth a visit to the gp.

@Barsh yes I had to take norethisterone when we did IVF and I can confirm it also made me mystifyingly angry!

Just wondering then - does this not in any way sound like a possible (and short lived) pregnancy? I know that sounds like grasping at straws but as it’s never happened before, I guess I’d like to know if that sounds completely infeasible after 3 weeks. (Spotting started Day 20 and this would be Day 26 of my cycle.)

I accept it sounds like it is just a characteristic of peri, and that’s useful to know if so, too.

The heavy (and more frequent) periods started for me at around 46.

I’m nearly 51 now and still have them 😞.

We're just moving this over to our infertility topic for the OP.

I'm older than you (49) but my periods were so heavy that at times I was at the doctors pleading for something to make them stop. I would flood every time I stood up. I'm now the opposite and have only bled two very light days in the past three months. Although I'm still worried my next period might be a whopper. But if it keeps happening, you may need iron. I ended up needing a blood transfusion last year. You should maybe see doctor to make sure

That sounds awful @Moira. Thanks for the tip re iron. It has been carnage today!

@Little - my sympathies!

A friend (40+) told me that she had heavy bleeding and was given some hormones to stop it, but she did not mention perimenopause. I have read that perimenopause can last even 10 years though so anything is possible. But 42 sounds a bit early to me to be honest.

Thanks @Oldandsad - yes that’s what I was thinking about 42 too .

PS. Good username. Sums up how I’m feeling today!

since you have your period (light or heavy) you are definitely not menopausal

This definitely isn't true. The whole perimenopause stage is when your periods (and all other things) start changing.