When does your periods slow down? I am almost 43 years old, and still get it like clockwork. I always thought at this age, it starts changing? The only change I notice is that I am a little more crampy as time goes on, but it still comes each month.
Oh the joys of being a female LOL

By Dawnk777 on Tuesday, August 14, 2007 - 08:47 am:

LOL! I'm 47 and they have been coming like clockwork, although, I'm still waiting for this one. It should have come yesterday.

By Bobbie~moderatr on Tuesday, August 14, 2007 - 08:50 am:

Jackie, with Faith only being three you may have created your own issue.. Pregnancy and the use of oral contraceptives may delay the onset of perimenopause. As does extra weight, poor nutrition, stress, underlying health issues....

Although many factors influence the onset of perimenopause, women typically enter perimenopause at around the same age as their mothers, grandmothers, aunts. Talk to the women in your family and see if they can remember when they started to notice the changes. That will give you a time line to go by. You usually start with in a two year time frame of the women you are genetically linked to, if no other factors play in..

That said, the age and the signs that perimenopause is occurring are different for all women. Some women experience the symptoms of perimenopause in their early thirties, while other women may notice perimenopausal signs in their forties, and still other women never experience any changes during menopause. There are some women that just have their periods stop and they are done... Others go through terrible symptoms that can last any where from 2 to 10 years.

There is no test that can prove at 100% certainty that you are in perimenopause because unlike pregnancy, you can be just a little bit menopausal for years. Your hormones can be effected enough that you are symptomatic but they can still testing with in range of normal. Or you can test with low hormones with this test they have out to show your FSH levels but it is common for womens hormones to rise and fall at different stages of your cycle, so if they test you on the wrong day they can get a false reading of low FSH. This would imply that there are women out there under the impression that they are perimenopausal that aren't. So this is just another case of rule everything else out and throw an assumption on the symptoms..

You may experience clear signs that there is a change occurring or you may not notice anything until the periods stop some time in your mid 50's, there have been cases of onset in women in their 60's however.

To sum this all up, it is a crap shoot... When it is supposed to happen it does and will.. Until then, who knows...

By Trina~moderator on Tuesday, August 14, 2007 - 08:51 am:

Slow down?! LOL! Mine got much worse, 2 week periods with hemorhaging. Two weeks on, two weeks off with terrible cramps, etc.. However, I have endometriosis and uterine fibroids that cause these problems. My DH got a V two years ago and now I'm on the pill to, as my GYN put it, "quiet down" my pelvis.

By Angellew on Tuesday, August 14, 2007 - 09:07 am:

I have to go with Trina on this one, but not quite to her extent! For the last couple of years (I'm almost 43), they have been totally on schedule, but heavier!!! The strange thing is (I'm actually going to the gyno today and, thanks for reminding me to bring this up), I'll get it, and it will be super heavy for three or four days, major clots ( sorry!), everything. But, on the fourth or fifth day, I'll be flowing really heavy and then literally three hours later, I'll go into the bathroom, thinking it's time to change, and it's TOTALLY GONE... like someone flicked a switch!!!! No tapering down, no slowing, just Whammo! and gone! Really weird!

By Bobbie~moderatr on Tuesday, August 14, 2007 - 09:13 am:

Oh and... It is not uncommon to have a time frame of months with no cycle and have it restart like clock work... So the hope for it to "slow down" may not happen or may not be permanent. The hormones jumping around, cycle starting and stopping are often part of the huge issue women have with perimenopause. It doesn't always slow down and die off... LOL

And you are not considered to have experienced menopause until you have gone a full year, 12 months, with out any sign of a cycle. So if you spot one month you are still cycling.. No period, means no period, thus until you are 100% cycle free for 12 months you could get pregnant.. This is one of the causes of those late life babies. Women assume because their periods aren't running like "clock work" that they can't get pregnant. They miss a couple of periods, stop the birth control assuming they are in menopause and end up pregnant. I have a DF who was born two weeks after her mothers 49th birthday who can attest that when it comes to menopause, don't assume anything...

By Dawnk777 on Tuesday, August 14, 2007 - 09:54 am:

I don't really think I am pregnant, though. My boobs never got sore. Even before a period, they would get sore, every month! There also hasn't been a lot of intimate activity going on lately, either. We haven't had a lot of time.

By Bobbie~moderatr on Tuesday, August 14, 2007 - 10:31 am:

Dawn, LOL I wasn't assuming you were pregnant, just throwing that out as a bit of FYI for people that might read and not understand how perimenopause works... LOL, I hope would hope you aren't pregnant.. Talk about starting over again.. Jesh... Send one to college and make her room into a nursery... No thank you.

By Cat on Tuesday, August 14, 2007 - 10:47 am:

Slow down? Is it supposed to??? Mine are getting closer together! I'm not quite as bad as Trina, but they used to be every 5 weeks unless I was on the pill. Then it was every 4 weeks. Now it's every 3! m kind of like Angela, too. I'll have a couple days of light spotting, then usually 2 days of really heavy then NOTHING for about a day, then light spotting again for a couple days. I've also started spotting mid-cycle, can feel when I ovulate now, and am I the only one (sorry if TMI) that gets really loose stools the first day or two of my cycle? Oh the joys of getting older.

By Angellew on Tuesday, August 14, 2007 - 11:18 am:

OMG, Cat, you are NOT the only one... but I wasn't going to be the one to go there!!!!

Welcome to our life... isn't it great?

By Marcia on Tuesday, August 14, 2007 - 01:22 pm:

I have always had fertility issues, and my periods have never been regular, but I did used to get them several times a year. Now I might have one period a year. At my last physical, which was almost 3 years ago (don't slam me, going next week), my hormone level was still normal. We'll see what happens next week. I would love to hear I've gone through menopause without even knowing. I think it would be perfect, after so many years of so much crap!

By Angellew on Wednesday, August 15, 2007 - 09:49 am:

So... I asked my gynocologist about the whole thing last night... heavier, more frequent, not always on time questions, and her response, with a huge grin on her face, was "Welcome to your 40s, Angela!" I kind of wanted to smack her!

She said, if you were always completely on the dot on time and you could map them out for a year in advance, say goodbye to that! They can be early, late, every three weeks, every five weeks, and then sometimes you will skip a whole month... feel from to home pregnancy test! There will be months when the flow is extremely heavy, and some where it's almost not there at all!

So, I asked her "what about menopause?" She laughed at me! She said the AVERAGE age of menopause between 50 and 53... of course, your family history and children you've had, can alter that number, but, I'm nowhere close!

So... here's to no longer knowing what the heck is going on!!!

By Dawnk777 on Wednesday, August 15, 2007 - 10:12 am:

I'm on cycle day 34, since my last period. I've already gone up to 35 days without a period, and then it came. For most of my menstural life, it was a 30-to-31-day cycle and would come on the same day of the month, most months. It was a wonderful thing. Then it started to come more like every 28 days and the first 2 days, at least, the flow would be so heavy, I would have to keep on top of changing tampons, or I would have a mess. Then, say the 3rd or 4th day, it would cease, almost like someone turned off a faucet and then I would have one more day of spotting, before it was over. So, the flow's been weirder the last few years, along with the timing.

By Imamommyx4 on Wednesday, August 15, 2007 - 10:35 am:

Every body is different. I have a friend who started menopause in her late 30's and another who didn't start until her early 50's. I'll be 46 in less than a month and have just now started to notice changes.

By Crystal915 on Wednesday, August 15, 2007 - 01:34 pm:

This is so disheartening, if only because my family history predicts 40+ years of cycles. Of course, a history of endo, and my grandmother having a hysterectomy because she was past 55 and still bleeding from the endo, I'm not looking forward to the next couple decades. My mother was told that she would either have to take BC pills until menopause, or have a hysterectomy, and I'm looking at the same fate, so once I'm done having children I'm seriously considering a hysterectomy.

By Dawnk777 on Thursday, August 16, 2007 - 01:21 pm:

Well, I wondered if I would skip this month. Nope, just a few days later than it should have been. AF started just a little bit ago!

By Trina~moderator on Thursday, August 16, 2007 - 01:29 pm:

Crystal, I was told having a hysterectomy will slam my body into menopause. Something I'm not ready for. I was also told a hysterectomy will not cure endo. There are now other options to cure/regulate heavy bleeding other than a hysterectomy. NovaSure is one of them.

By Dandjmom on Thursday, August 16, 2007 - 03:14 pm:

After not having a cycle for 10 years (took Depo shot) I had my son 3 1/2 years ago went back on for about a month wanted to get my body back to it's natural self so left everything alone the shot , pill, patch everything, I got my tubes tied january of this year, and my cycle went form 5 to 3 days on and nothing no spotting anything on the 4th day, and then i will spot on the 5th and then just like the flip of a switch nothing. Oh I I stopped having menstrual cramps are giving birth. I have a 28 day cycle and just like clock work every 28 days.

By Dawnk777 on Thursday, August 16, 2007 - 06:32 pm:

Having two babies didn't stop cramps, for me, although, I wonder if the fact that I had c-sections matters at all. I still get cramps bad enough to want ibuprofen, just for a day or two, though.

By Dandjmom on Friday, August 17, 2007 - 07:56 am:

Dawn,
I started my cycle at age 9 I was have cramps so severe that I wold get sick litterly. So when they stop I was shocked and I not to to gross but my paps got more comfortable also and my then doctor said that some women expericence ( I guess a more relaxed womb) if you can call it that,but she told me that thats was a benefit of having children for some.

By Dawnk777 on Friday, August 17, 2007 - 08:42 am:

Wow, lucky you! I think my cramps were worse, before I had kids, so they did improve some, but never actually stopped.