My periods have slowed down, everyone else's have speeded up!

[Mirandasbestmate]

Hello.
First time poster here. I'm 48 & the last 2 years my periods have been getting less & less regular. I used to be 28 days regular as clockwork but the last 2 yrs I have had 4 periods - about every 9 months. They last about a day & as light as can be - blink & you'd miss it.
Friends of a similar age say they are getting more frequent & much heavier - that's what all the books seems to say as well.
Is this anyone else's experience or just mine? I'm a bit concerned that I'm just weird !
Thanks

Well, it's not my experience but it does sound a lot like what SIL described to me (I'm assuming you're not SIL, as she's a bit older and it's all finished with now for her).

She had occasional periods (6-9 months apart) for 3-4 years. She said it was a bit of a bugger, as she always thought "that's it" then another one would turn up.

I'm 42 and my periods have become more frequent and last up to 2 weeks. It's crazy. I would not be complaining if I only had a few a year. I'm soooo looking forward to them going.

Miranda - I don't think you're unusual, I've heard of many women like you whose periods just got further apart and lighter. I envy you - my periods became totally unmanagable over the last couple of years and were so heavy and prolonged that it was often difficult to leave the house for fear of flooding in public! I had an operation in the end which alleviated the symptoms to a degree but I still have frequent, heavy periods. Nightmare!

Mirandasbestmate - I was like you. Went 3 months without one. Then had a couple and then missed 5 months (or thereabouts) had another, went another 5 months and then went onto HRT because sweats and flushes were horrendous. Every woman's experience is unique and every combination of periods - heavy light, often, skipped are experienced. Welcome to the mad-go-round! Just make the most of them while they are still there and hope you don't get troublesome symptoms! I am now post-meno, still on HRT but thankfully stable.

I never had heavy periods and was lucky peri meno. I had several that were closer together- cycles of 17 days at times- but bleeding was light. I missed a couple of months, then back to normal for about 6 months, then missed around four, had another couple that were very light, then that was it. Everyone is totally different so you sound quite 'normal',