40 year old. Period randomly came earlier than normal

[teanntoastinbed]

I was wondering if anyone has had similar. I have always had regular periods and never really been on the pill for any long period of time and not for the past ten years. I had a baby when I was 38 and my periods slowly went back to normal and my cycle has been perfect ever since. I'm now 40 and last month had my period start on the 16th May. I felt cramping today but thought it was just bloating. However, I've just gone to the toilet and my period has come. This is over a week early than normal. It's so random and out of the blue. There is zero chance I could be pregnant... has anyone had similar? Could it be peri menopause?

Welcome to being 40!

It varies from woman to woman but yes they can get a little less regular. Just do contact your gp if you have any other issues in case it is something medical rather than the biological hand women were dealt

Hi OP, I too have had very regular periods since I started! 30-32 day cycle ALWAYS. When I was about 41, I noticed they started getting shorter- 30 days here and there, 28days, 30 days, 27days, 29 days etc. I too assume its peri and read that they will slowly get shorter- and then lengthen then stop!

Do you track you cycle? Any other symptoms? I've had no issues other than the shortening cycles, so haven't bothered with asking for hormonal blood tests etc as yet. If you are having other symptoms though- get it checked.

Thank you @CC4712 and @gogohmm it sounds like it could be peri menopause! The joy xxxx

It's the bright sun and the heat, causing our systems to get out of sinc.

@CreationNat1on any science to back this?! I'd love this to be the case haha!

Try not to fret too much, it may be a one-off and can be caused by stress. I’m 43, my cycles have shortened in the past couple of years from a reliable 28-30 days to 25-27 days. Before Xmas last year (which I was stressed because I hate it!), I came on at about day 19 which has never happened to me in 32 years of having periods. I feared a rapid descent into perimenopausal hell from that point on but my cycle normalised again the next month and has carried on as such since

Ahhh that's reassuring @GeoffPeterson I'm hoping it's just a few weeks or stress and tiredness xxxx

Ah I’m the same as you OP, I have been wondering if it might be to do with being peri-menopausal. Over the last 18 months i’ve gone from having a period from 26-28 days to then 21-22 days and now I have had two periods in the last two weeks😫. I’m going to get my ferritin levels checked again as last year they were really low.

@Pelo82 ahhh I literally know nothing about my body! What is ferrotin and how do I get it checked?