Has anyone else had this? Freaking out

[ICSH1]

Hi. I’m 45 and probably in the depths of peri though it’s taken a while to figure that out. This month I’ve had the weirdest period- 6 days late, started so lightly for 2 days and then 2-3 days of very heavy bleeding. Then started tapering. Nothing for a whole 24 hours then I start feeling quite premenstrual and I’m spotting again 😕 freaking out. I’ve got an appointment with the GP this morning, feeling horrible and emotional and scared there’s something very wrong. any experiences welcome x

I don't mean to get your hopes up because we're all different, but my last ever period was like that. All in it lasted about a month with all its stopping and starting, it was so weird.

This has happened a few times. Like a day's stop in the middle but it is not finished. I find the lateness hardest of all.
I have no definitive answers but it seems to have come up with knowing there has been no ovulation according to tests, and that one side (going on the discomfort etc) results in the properly irregular timings.

Yeah regularly as my hormones fluctuated.

This all sounds pretty normal to me for peri

Thanks guys especially for getting back so quickly. I’ve got crippling health anxiety so much so they’d actually removed me from the register because I can’t bring myself to go 😕 so this whole stage of life feels like torture. It’s super light spotting at the moment but I feel like I’m just going to have another period all over again

Sorry, hope you don't mind a man posting in here, I usually avoid this board but found the thread in trending and didn't realise which board at when i clicked.

Just wanted to add another data point to hopefully help your health anxiety. DP's been like this for the last couple of years. 5 days on, then a couple of days of nothing and then either spotting or full on again for a couple of days. It drives her up the wall.

This is totally normal in perimenopause. I'm 50 and I've been experiencing stuff like this for three or four years now. I can go for three months without a period but equally I can get two in the space of four weeks. All very unpredictable and sometimes they'll be heavy, sometimes not - sometimes they'll last for a week and sometimes barely two days. Completely random. Nothing to worry about.

I went to the GP and she wasn’t worried. She took blood pressure did an abdominal exam and said sounded normal for age, to take a pregnancy test and just wait it out or call if it becomes very heavy. Sort of don’t know what to think, does that all sound standard? She suggested that I have a full blood count due to heavy periods and to consider the coil. That was it. I sort of expected to be booked in for urgent tests…

For some women, irregular periods can be very normal - what sort of tests were you expecting?

I’m not at peri yet, but I’m aware that a sign can be a change in periods. I understand you have health anxiety, but what’s making you feel something is wrong rather than this just being another stage of life that most women go through?

What screams at me is ‘abnormal bleeding’ and I can’t get past that. I think I was expecting an urgent scan

What I would say is this is the first time I’ve had this kind of period but I’ve never had anything else you’d call abnormal. I don’t bleed after sex for example. No persistent bloating or pain

This sounds really normal to me OP. My periods were all over the place during peri!

It's normal for peri. I had it happen under age 45 (41 I think) and was sent for scans, they found 'something' that meant i was rushed into investigative procedures under the two week rule, all very scary. Then surgery to remove fibroids (the 'something'). In the end it was just peri. My consultant said it should never have been considered worrying and if I'd been 45+ I would have ticked the peri box at the GP's office and been sent home with nothing more than soothing noises. The fibroids were a non-issue; apparently very common.

Ha! That's nothing OP. Your periods may well go completely haywire over the next few years. Last year (when I was 51), I had three periods that all lasted over two months. It turns out it was the last gasp of my reproductive system, because I haven't had anything except a bit of mild spotting in the past 11 months, but for the few years before that I had everything from very light bleeding for two days, to heavy bleeding, to spotting that dragged on and on for weeks. It drove me completely insane! But don't assume that you'll have periods like you've always had them right up until menopause. Basically, anything can happen.

ETA: I was put on the two-week cancer pathway for possible uterine cancer when I had the non-stop bleeding, but it was just perimenopause, I had no fibroids, no cancer, nothing.

Op if it is peri menopause your periods will probably go haywire. The only thing that stopped my extremely heavy periods was the coil. Stopped them completely

Hi op. Totally normal. Did the doctor say it was abnormal or are those your words?

Crikey I had some months with three heavy periods then nothing then normal ones for a few months.

If you think this is abnormal and you are worried, you should try to find someone to talk to, as the rest of peri could properly mess with your head.

Agree with PP, get a mirena to get you through meno. Life saver.

God you guys are saving me today, you have no idea! No the doctor said she would absolutely put me in the “it’s age related” box and send me away. She said she might schedule a scan for fibroids but otherwise isn’t particularly worried. The only issue is I’m regularly quite anemic and probably can’t sustain very regular bleeding and of everything that’s their concern which is why she mentioned the coil

Deffo get the coil. And then take iron tablets. You can buy them over the counter from pharmacy.

I have also been referred for talking therapy as she was worried about the influence of Peri on my anxiety

I started peri-menopause long before I realised at about 45. My periods were all over the place, I could go a few months without a bleed then have a light bleed that looked like brown rust, then two weeks later a really heavy bleed that gushed and ruined my bed. My anxiety went through the roof but we were in covid lock down so put it down to that. Eventually got a blood test my folate was low so started folic acid and HRT. It's been a bit of a journey, I've adjusted my HRT a few times but I'm now feeling OK. I stopped driving, socialising and was struggling to work. I'm now back driving, out socialising and work is OK.

That's really normal for periods in perimenopause, and the same happened to me. Totally regular up until I was 44 then they went haywire, heavy and unpredictable. I put up with it for a couple of years then got a coil on the advice of my GP. I never had another period after that.

Irregular periods and bleeding after sex are not really the same thing, OP :-)

Also interested where the term ‘abnormal’ came from - as you can see here, it’s pretty normal to have changing periods in our 40s and 50s!

Op do you suffer health anxiety?

I do. Quite desperately to be honest. I knew I’d find this time hard because any physical changes feel impossible to me but I didn’t know I’d find it this hard this soon. I imagined all of this sort of thing would get me at 50+ not my mid 40s but then I’m realising how ignorant I am on this!

anything out of my norm is alarming to me and I’ve sort of lumped anything unusual in the ‘dangerous’ category. I’m finding it hard to not associate elongated bleeding with something sinister! It’s super helpful to talk to you guys as I’ve not really got anyone else- everyone I know honestly has the coil, I’ve got no one having normal periods!