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Menopause

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Original poster

51 AND STILL SHEDDING EGGS LIKE A BATTERY HEN, WHEN WILL IT STOP?!

43 replies

StirredNotShaken · 29/01/2017 22:21

I keep thinking (hoping) that I will miss a period and that will be the beginning of the end of it. I have had hot flushes for around 2 years, sometimes a period is late - maybe up to a week late but then I will have a normal period and another one when it was due as if the other one had not been late (iyswim). Should I not be done by now! Plus I have gained a few pounds, despite not eating a grain more and still exercising at the same level and it will not shift. Is this normal? It is very frustrating.

OP posts:
gnushoes · 29/01/2017 22:25

Yes, very normal. Wander over to the menopause matters website and you'll find lots of likeminded people - including women quite a bit older than you still having regular periods.

Original poster
StirredNotShaken · 29/01/2017 22:33

Thank you gnushoes - I thought average age for actual menopause was 51. This is so tiring! I have no need to keep producing eggs....Ugh!

OP posts:
zen1 · 29/01/2017 22:39

My mum didn't start to go through the menopause until she was in her late 50s. On the plus side (for her), she didn't have any horrible symptoms and seemed to come through it more unscathed than her friends who went through it in their 40s (all anecdotal, of course).

Original poster
StirredNotShaken · 29/01/2017 22:45

Poor woman! late 50's? - mind you, symptomless sounds good to me :-)

OP posts:
zen1 · 29/01/2017 23:07

Yes, she was pleased she didn't have to go on HRT or anything. I'm in my 40s now and wondering whether I'll follow suit!

Original poster
StirredNotShaken · 30/01/2017 07:32

My Mum and sister were both done and dusted by this age or thereabouts. I'm hoping I will follow suit but it shows no sign of abating thus far!

OP posts:
QODRestYeMerryGentlemen · 30/01/2017 07:47

Pisses me right off! Added insult is that I'm infertile and apparently don't ovulate but I still manage to produce a period month in month out grrrr
48 soon

PollyPerky · 30/01/2017 08:19

The average age is 51 but the range is 45-55. There are very, very few women who go to late 50s. Unfortunately, some women who have bleeding (light) at that age are suffering from vaginal atrophy- which can cause a watery discharge and bleeding - or more serious diseases. And having a late menopause (late 50s) if it's genuine, doesn't mean you won't have any symptoms when periods stop.

dementedma · 30/01/2017 12:03

53 here and fricking sick of it all. Was on HRT. Latest "breakthrough" bleed has now lasted 13 days!

Original poster
StirredNotShaken · 30/01/2017 12:18

I'm with you demented ma! 40 years of periods now - I have had enough....

OP posts:
TimTamTerrier · 30/01/2017 12:38

I've been wondering this too. I'm about to turn 50 and haven't had any symptoms at all. To make things even more annoying I have PCOS and so only had a couple of periods a year for about 20 years until I started taking Metformin. Having a period every single flipping month was a bit of a shock to my system, I still find it annoying nearly eight years on.

BakeOffBiscuits · 30/01/2017 22:26

I'm 51 and my periods are only in the last 6 months starting to go rather weird.

I have had 2 which were 70 odd days apart but in between that, they have come closer together and I bleed for about 10 days at a timeAngry

I don't seem to have any other symptoms apart from feeling like I'm premenstrual all the sodding time

Can't wait for it all to end tbh.

gardeningsarah · 30/01/2017 22:36

I''m 54 still having them every month, and frankly I've had enough. Every month I think is this it, the last one but no the follow month it happens again. Like others I'm fed up with it.

Original poster
StirredNotShaken · 30/01/2017 22:51

bakeoff and gardeningsarah - Ugh! I was so looking forward to menopause! Who'd have thought it eh....I have mood swings - well PMT like symptoms but thank fully no dreadful depressive episodes or painful symptoms which I am thankful for of course...But I would love a break from the actual periods themselves! I have no need to shed eggs...I have no need for my body to 'report' that I am not with child. Also so annoying that there is no really accurate indicator that you are done...we just have to wait. Chin up girls, this is why alcohol and chocolate exists.

OP posts:
PollyPerky · 31/01/2017 08:22

Unfortunately alcohol will only make your meno symptoms worse (and increase your risk of breast cancer considerably. ) Sorry to be a killjoy :)
'Clean living' is the way to beat the menopause, along with HRT if you feel you need it.

dementedma · 31/01/2017 21:15

Fed up with bloody HRT too. Works brilliantly for the flushes and the rage, but have gained loads of weight and am having a never ending period...Pissed off.
Menopace does nothing. Stumped for what to try next.

Gingernaut · 31/01/2017 21:26

Since my teens, I had painful periods.

About 6-7 years ago, I suddenly got an awful pain in the right illiac fossa region (about appendix area).

Thinking it was my appendix, I went to the doctor and was told there was nothing wrong.

The next month, it happened again.

Then, the following month it occurred in my left illiac fossa.

Then it dawned on me. I was ovulating.

Since the first time it happened, my periods are now only mildly uncomfortable (no cramping pains, no more time off work cuddling a hot water bottle) and it doesn't matter how irregular they are, I know the 5-7 days after the pain stops, my period starts.

They even stopped for nearly 6 months. I thought it was great. Smile

Then they started again. Same pattern. Ovulation pain which affects peeing and pooing and then my period a week later.

I'm 49. I would really, really like to stop the whole tampon buying faff too.

ChrissyHynde · 31/01/2017 21:39

How do i know what stage of menopause I am when I take a 28 day cycle pill (no breaks)? I'm loathed to come off the pill as it has been reasonably effective at controlling migraines .

Wandainn · 31/01/2017 21:40

Merina coil solved it for me. Periods barely noticeable, became further apart and they stopped altogether at 54

mayhew · 31/01/2017 21:45

Still have an (irregular) cycle at 56. No flushes or other symptoms. Mirena sorted out heavy periods. Still waiting......

dementedma · 31/01/2017 21:46

I was on PremPak which was fine but was obviously giving me a bleed every month so I thought, how the hell will I know of my periods are actually finished or not unless I stop it. So I stopped it and the flushes and rages came back with a vengeance so they put me on Elleste which she said I wouldn't have bleeds with. Yah right. So fed up I just stopped taking it cold turkey and could now quite happily murder the first person who crosses me! Nearly 3 weeks bleeding, hot flushes back again.
What the fuck am I supposed to do? I need manageable periods( ideally none at all),and no hot flushes. Any ideas? Natural and homeopathic stuff does fuck all. Omega 3oils help with the joint pain.

PollyPerky · 31/01/2017 22:32

demented You won't know if your periods have stopped if you were on sequential HRT- but is it important to know anyway?

Your dr should have told you that conti HRT (Elleste) takes up to 6 months to be bleed-free. Spotting for many months is normal.

There are other options which you might want to think about.

One is the Mirena coil and a separate estrogen (patch or gel.)
The other is a sequential type with a bleed but using hormones identical to our own to reduce side effects- a lot of us are using Oestrogel and micronised progesterone. My consultant offered me long cycle HRT which means a bleed every couple of months, not monthly, but you do need annual-ish scans to check the uterine lining is okay (you'd need to pay for this as it's not a usual NHS service.)
This- or even a monthly cycle- should give manageable bleeds.

Prempak is a very old type of HRT using synthetic oestrogen and progestogens. It's not the safest or best re side effects.

Weight gain- it could be coincidence , not HRT. Our metabolisms drop right off in peri / post meno and weight gain happens if we don't change our eating habits. There is no way I could carry on eating the same as I did pre-50, because I'm not so active (desk job) . I've been on HRT for 8 years and weight is still the same but I have to be very strict with myself! (very few carbs, mainly protein, veg, fruit, full fat plain yoghurt, no sweets, crisps, booze.)

Might be worth thinking about going back to a sequi HRT for a while.

PickAChew · 31/01/2017 22:40

I'm "only" 47 but have been peri for years and years and forever, now. All that seems to be happening is that my cycles are getting more and more irregular - now ranging from 18-39 days and the cycles I ovulate in are becoming fewer.

Gingernaut google for oestrogen's last hurrah. When I do ovulate, it sometimes makes me incredibly ill and is often accompanied by horrendous migraines - had my first one of those when I was 40! The last one I had made me puke without being either pregnant or drunk for the first time since I was 12! One awful month, I felt dreadful and had constant squits for the full 2 weeks until my period started and then I was as right as rain! Overnight!

Icequeen01 · 31/01/2017 22:42

I'm 56 and will be 57 in July and it's only in the last year things have started to go a bit haywire. I don't have a period for about 3 months then I will have a couple. Night sweats are a bit of a pain as they disturb my sleep. I had an ablation when I was 51 and specialist thought I probably wouldn't have any more periods. Well here I am nearly 6 years on and still going!

dementedma · 31/01/2017 22:50

Polly yes, I want to know because if they have stopped naturally, then I dont want to restart them artificially. I want to be done with them!
They did mention spotting which I had the first month but this is a full on bleed which has lasted for weeks! The longest period I have ever had in 40 years. I don't want the coil. Recent gynae attempts to take a womb biopsy were agony. 3 different consultants couldn't get the thinnest of probes through my cervix and gave up in the end. No way I am going to let them try it again with a coil. Have heard a lot of negative things coil and it doesn't appeal to me.
Whatever option I take has disadvantages