So I'm in a very weird place.
Specifically, it's called perimenopause.
I feel like this category warrants its own thread, since technically, we have not achieved menopause (12 months without a period) but we never know what's going to happen, when...and we only loosely why. (Or is that just me?)
So, who's on board? Get on the peri train, woot! Here's the haps with this old bird. I am 49, have been in ovarian failure for I believe seven years now per labs but my periods only began to go wonky two years ago. Before that, I was like clockwork including ovulation signs so who the kitten knows. I assume it is basically cobwebs in there by now with some mummified Knight Templar propped up against one ovary or something, and yet...the periods just keep on coming. But...weirdly. Two in a month, nothing for a couple months, long, short, whatever.
I am currently on my longest cycle ever - 90 days (I track on fertility friend).
Is it over yet? Will it ever be over? Who knows...in the meantime...shout out if you're peri!
LAWoman72
Member Posts: 2,846 Member
Member Posts: 2,846 Member
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I find I get very PMS-like symptoms at times right down to dizziness and tender breasts, but nothing happens. This has been going on for me currently since Halloween. With that often comes that ravenous PMS hunger. I try to keep things in perspective - it is not likely I am actually hungry when I feel like that, if I have been eating well that day. Some days I am hanging not to overeat, other days I am fine. Today I am fine.
I also weigh up obviously with water at weird, random times.
Anyone relate?
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/506-near-or-post-menopausal-group
Or maybe this thread will be more active than the group!
I have trouble sleeping, hot and cold flashes, thinning hair, bloating, fatigue, random pms and spotting. Every few months I have an actual cycle.
I relate to your post and am right there with you. Today I'm exhausted and retaining several lbs of extra water. Im hoping if I push myself to work out I will feel better.
I find the groups to just sort of...I don't know, disappear. Unless they're very popular ones. Which that one doesn't seem to be...
OTOH, neither does this thread! LOL! #logic
SCoil123, I don't get any hot flashes. My hair is very thin these past few years, yes. That drives me crazy. I suppose there are worst things but it is a blow.
I don't spot at all, really. Or I should say, my last "period" three months ago was basically spotting/staining for two days. I counted it as a period...period-esque stuff led up to it...ugh...I don't know.
Peri seems to be different for everybody, doesn't it?
Once a YEAR! How odd!
"See ya next year..." Revenge of the Brigadoon Period.
I too am hypo-T, but being corrected (and feeling corrected; energy, no more brain fog, no constipation, etc., etc.) has not helped my hair. Not sure where to go from here on that score but we'll see.
I'm glad to hear you never got hot flashes, spiriteagle. I am hoping not to get any, though obviously we don't get to decide these things...sometimes I feel quite warm at night (sleeping) but no flashes, per se.
Thank you so much for chiming in. It helps so much to hear from other people. I joke around a lot but I really am feeling the weight of this issue lately simply because it has been a long two years and I realize it could be a long several more.
Thanks, everyone.
ETA: Oh! Anybody get serious PMS-ish feeling but no period, periodically? (
Been an interesting 18 months. I'm just starting to see a new normal now. That's after years of breezing through weight loss, the best fitness level I've ever had, knowing all the tricks, choosing sustainable behaviours AND knowing this was coming and preparing for it. A trainer had one time told me that I needed to dot my i's and cross my t's before menopause and she was right. I'd have struggled even more I think if I had not reached my goals prior. I thought I was bullet proof.
If you have told me to "just" maintain I'd have had some words for you. If you'd have told me "just" push through I'd have torn you a new one. I "knew" all of that but I didn't recognise bodily cues anymore - it was a new playing field. I needed help, drugs for joints, vitamins. My only regret is I took a little too long to do so but that was ignorance.
The worst part, was not knowing when or if it was going to let up I think. I'm still peri but doctor intervention has helped, still needs tweaking but I know I'm at a point now where I can see which cards are on the table and what I have to work with. (And I'm excited about it!).
So yes, I think how we respond to hormonal changes is different strokes for different folks. I think best first response when you don't feel like yourself is head to Doc. Get the ball rolling a lot sooner.
I learnt a lot though. And was not "not" motivated as odd as that may sound. I just didn't like it lol.
This gives me hope. The hot and cold flashes are almost always at night. I could handle the rest if those went away and I could get a full 8hr sleep.
I kind of just want to be post ...I'm bored with periods
My periods were like clockwork until mid-2009 when I developed DVT on a flight and had to go off the pill and onto Warfarin. Different women react differently to Warfarin when it comes to periods and I actually liked the way I reacted. I was still every 28 days like clockwork, except that the whole thing would be done and dusted within about 48 hours. Massive flood for 48 hours ... and finished. 2 days each month were a little scary, but no gradual build-up and tapering off or anything.
A year later, I was taken off Warfarin and gradually I returned to my usual periods ... still every 28 days, but with a one-day lead up, heavy for 2 or 3 days, and then gradual taper.
But just when I had kind of settled back into my usual, 2012 came and everything started to become wonky, and has been ever since.
I'll have one that builds up gradually for 3 or 4 days, then heavy for 3 or 4 days, then it tapers off for the next week. Then I'm free for a week. Then I spot for 2 or 3 days. Then I'm free for 10 days. Then I have a 2 week, fairly heavy period which begins to feel like it is never going to end. Then I'm free for 2 weeks ... woo-hoo! Then I gush for 3 or 4 days. Then I'm free for a week. Then I'll have one that kind of spots for 10 days.
I never know when they're going to start or finish or how heavy they'll be. But at least once a month I'll have a couple days of flooding among all the other stuff.
I got fed up with it all in late 2014 and saw a Dr who rushed me into a gynaecologist who rushed me into surgery. Apparently I had a very large polyp which turned out to be pre-cancerous. It was removed and things kind of settled a bit, but over the last 6 months or so, things have been back to really wonky again. Evidently I've got a cyst and a fibroid which may be causing some of that ... or it could just be perimenopause. Whatever ... I cannot wait until I skip a period. There will be dancing in the streets!! I almost thought I might skip one about 7 or 8 months ago when I went 32 days without any ... but nope.
Meanwhile, since 2012, I've been through the wild mood swings, acne along my jaw line, bushy eyebrows, night sweats, hot flashes, insomnia, muscle cramps, dizziness, etc. etc.
The night sweats, muscle cramps (especially calves and feet), and dizziness happen in the 2 or 3 days before my main periods start. There is a pattern!
The tender breasts, backaches, and abdominal cramping don't know when to start anymore. It is a bit weird to go through cramping similar to a heavier day of a period with nothing happening ... and then 4 days later the period actually starts.
I cannot use HRT, so I've had to resort to other things. I take Ginkgo Biloba in an attempt to help my memory and concentration (I'm working full-time and trying to plod my way toward a Master's degree ... I need all the help I can get!). I take Evening Primrose Oil for the tender breasts ... the same time I had the rather urgent surgery for the polyp (January 2015), the local breast screen clinic discovered a lump and I had a biopsy. The Dr who saw me after the biopsy told me the lump was benign, and also suggested using Evening Primrose Oil. I take calcium and magnesium for the cramping. And Vit D for moods. And Vit B12 and folic acid for the genetic thing which causes my blood clots and also for moods. Valerian to help me sleep. And a few other things too.
I've never been one for taking vitamins etc. My mother gave them to me every day with breakfast till I was in my late teens, but for almost 30 years I rarely took any. However, in the last couple years I've started again in the hopes that maybe something might help ... and they do seem to. Or maybe it's all in my head. Either way, something seems to be working.
As for weight loss ... that is something I have had control over. While everything else has been going crazy, and I never know one minute to the next what's going to happen, happily, weight loss has been entirely predictable and consistent. I eat fewer calories than I burn ... I lose weight.
I've dropped back to the weight I was in my mid-30s ... the weight I had maintained since high school.
That's something I've had to get used to..not seeing direct results on the scale. I've gained a better insight to how it can mess with heads.
Needless to say - that coil cane out. My CFS is a lot better - with graded exercise, and I concentrate more on activity goals than the 10lbs or so I should lose. But not able to do a full time job yet.
Nowadays I get intermittent but heavy periods, lots of 'phantom period' symptoms (get used to it ~ they happen the other side too...) and some hot flushing - especially if it is already hot. Not much fun but certainly others have it a lot worse...
I get disappointed when I have a period - I just want them to STOP! But so far the longest stretch is just 3 months or so. Oh well. (51 by the way)