Think thats it...and have two young LOs, very odd feeling...

[Elibean]

Its a year since my last period. AAARGH! Just had to type that out loud somewhere, because am feeling very and about it and most of my friends are still happily pre-menopausal or post-menopausal with grown up kids.

Mine, unusually, are 4.5 and 18 mos. Long story, but I wasn't able to have them till my forties.

Menopause and playgroups are a very odd (and somewhat isolating) mix. Wonder if I should start an old Mums' support group?!

Wittering on...possibly another symptom...

Well I haven't had a period in 18 months and I only have one ds 3.5 yrs. I am quite that I didn't get a couple of more years of fertility. I'd have loved ds to have even one sibling. Looks like he will be an only.

can I join in here ? I shall be 50 in Sept but no menopause or any symptoms at all, is that weird ? I ask because a school friend told me last week that she hadn't had a period for 2 yrs (she be 50 week after me)

Can I ask - before your periods stopped, did the gaps between them get longer and longer till they just petered out, or was it more abrupt?

Well I had one period lighter then normal, then none at all for a couple of months (thought I was pregnant at first) then 1 or 2 more over a few months then none at all.

I'm 43, this all started when I was 41, about two years after ds was born. The weird thing is I breastfed for two years and had a regular normal period for 1.5 years of that. By the time I stopped bfeeding my periods had pretty much stopped and never came back.

BTE I had NVER missed a period in my life before that excpet for the pregnancy with ds.

MM and Hassled

Just to add my two penneth worth-

I had no meno symptoms at all until I was almost 52- and hadn't skipped any periods either. My cycles did get closer together- sometimes only 17-18 days apart. I had very mild flushes for a few weeks when I skipped 4 months after I was 52. Ditto night sweats, but not too bad.
Between 52 and 53 my periods have come roughly every other month and are usually very light, although every 3rd or 4th one is "normal" - i have just had a 2month gap after a very light one,and then have had a pretty heavy one.

To answer your question- you don't always get a longer gap- sometimes, as with me, they just got lighter and some months more like spotting for a few days. It is only very recently that I have actually missed cycles reguarly.

I'm counting the days (am 42).

One more question - is there a link between starting periods early and starting the menopause early? Or are they unrelated? I started periods young - have no family history (mother died young) to "guesstimate" when it might happen.

Well I don't know but I started my periods early too (I was 10 yrs old). Not sure if there is a connection or not

Thanks - will have to wait it out, I guess.

No- no connection- in fact they sometimes think that an early start means a late finish.

I'm not sure if early starts mean early finish - we have about 300,000 eggs or something?!

The lighter periods you describe I've been advised are an-ovulatory cycles - when there was no ovulation, just 'breakthrough' bleeding and shedding of the endometrium. The heavier periods are the 'real' thing.

I'm one of many older mums where I am (in Ireland) in my group. All are over 35 and some have had babies at 42. I'm 40 with an only DD who will be 4 on saturday. irish mums are traditionally older. It's not that unusual here for a new mum to be in her 40s. Very few women have babies in their 20s. So it's mostly 30s and 40s.

I haven't been called 'granny' yet - but feel like an OHMA anyway!