Peri menopause and contraception

[JoBudd]

Hello,
I am new to Mumsnet so I am hoping I can receive some advice/guidance about peri/menopause and what others have done in my situation.
I am 49 years old and still take the mini pill and have begun my menopause, because of this I am questioning whether this could be the time to stop taking it and let my body progress from peri to meno. Could it be masking some symptoms as in how will I know if my periods are stopping? I have read that it can be beneficial to carry on taking it throughout so I am torn as obviously I cannot risk getting pregnant, if I still can?? Can anyone pass on their experiences, it would be appreciated. I haven't been to the doctors yet but plan on doing so armed with some experiences of others.

TIA x

Hi @JoBudd
I am a year younger than you and peri, I have been advised to continue with contraceptive as pregnancy can still happen apparently (even though I have very high FSH levels and only one Fallopian tube!). I came off my POP for a few months last year, before peri was diagnosed, to see what stage I was at. I had infrequent, but horrendously heavy periods for first time in my life. (Spells where I couldn’t leave the house).

i feel taking the mini pill is better than suffering such periods, although it’s a year on now and I am again curious about it!
I do worry a bit about being on quite a few meds now at once.

This is such a helpful response and exactly what I was thinking. I think the next thing for me to do is confirm that I am definitely peri menopause although the hot flushes maybe suggest that. I may ask my GP about the merina coil as this method has been suggested to me
not sure if this is something you could consider?

Thank you and all the best.

This is a useful read, FSRH Clinical Guideline: Contraception for Women Aged over 40 Years

www.fsrh.org/standards-and-guidance/fsrh-guidelines-and-statements/contraception-for-specific-populations/aged-over-40/

Thank you very much. Interesting to see the percentages of what types contraception women are using at my age.

I'm 51 years old and tonight I had a positive pregnancy test. I'm not sure if it's genuine or the menopause although I've no symptoms of that. I dtd on 23th August and i had a implantation bleeding about 8 days after that.
Could anyone give me any advice please

I'm a year younger than you and don't use any contraception. There's so few days of the month even healthy women can get pregnant combined with the fact any eggs I have now are highly unlikely to be viable.

I know someone will know someone who became pregnant at our age or maybe even a pp but I just don't believe the chances are that high.

Thank you. Will ring Dr today. I don't have any symptoms of the menopause

I had a Mirena fitted as part of HRT in July and was advised to continue the PoP until I had a scan to check it was in place - apparently a six month wait so I am progesterone-d to the hilt. I also have oestrogen gel. I’m 49.