Would GP think I was wasting her time with this?

[JessieMcJessie]

I’m almost 45, have a 2 year old DS but he was conceived by IVF (own eggs).
Last few months I’ve had- mid cycle bleeding, period coming about 4 days early, one period that came on time but lasted about 3 days longer than usual and some heavy feeling in abdomen and lower back and sharp pain in my uterus at the mid cycle point (ie period type feelings but at the wrong time).

Not painful pain, just pain I am aware of.

We haven’t used contraception since DS was born as I would be delighted with another baby but I know of course that the chances of getting pregnant are pretty fanciful.

My question is, if this is perimenopause then should I be getting HRT? And if it isn’t that, could it be an early symptom of something nasty? As an older Mum I am terrified of leaving my DS without a Mum so am hyper vigilant about health symptoms. Smears up to date and fine.

Would a busy GP think “you’re 45, what do you expect” and secretly curse me for time wasting? Should I wait until I have 6 months or so of weird stuff to report?

It's pretty much classic peri meno I'm afraid. the mid cycle bleeding is usually a hormone dip and low progesterone. Some GPs prescribe the mini pill to regulate spotting if it's constant.

You don't need HRT unless you have symptoms OR your periods stop soonish for good- rule of thumb is if they stop before 45, some say 47.

Have a read of this site- it's very good.

www.mymenopausedoctor.co.uk

I’d rather it was perimenopause than cancer Queen, so your confirmation that these are standard perimenopause symptoms is a good thing. Thanks.

The classic advice is any bleeding outside of a cycle should be investigated but tbh I went to a gp about this when I was 47-ish and she poo-pooed it as ' peri', hormonal etc. It did settle down after a few months and I wasn't post meno till 53.

I think if you carry on having odd bleeding, see your GP and they prob arrange for a scan. But the pain and 'phantom period pain' are peri signs too.