Menopause Community

hi, when i saw your post my heart sank !! i only wish i had someone like me to help when i was going through this! back in july of 2008 it started i hand a period that lasted 19 days!! stopped for two weeks only to start again for another 20 days!!1 petrified i finnally went to the hospital they took full series blood work and an internal! ruled out internal bleeding and said i was in perimenipause!! but to be sure and to take further testing I had to see an obgyn which i dreaded! but i finally went int the mean time i had a friend (now EX friend) who scared me half to death telling me she was shure i had uterine cancer!!! to try and shorten the story i went to the dr. who did all tests ruled out everything elce and coldly told me you are way in memapause and shouldent be bleeding (two days ago she told me it was normal) tells me i must have a uterine biopsy!! Already had a normal pap and a normal cervix biiopsy!!P.S. i ran out never to go back again never had the uterine biopsy!! its now march 09 and havnt had a period in two months spoke to a 62 year old woman yeasterday who told me dr.s dont care they just want tests to find something!!! She told me to expect irregular periods for at least a year! i know i go on and on ....Im in meapause!!.... now i cant sleep and have horrible night sweats....welcome

I feel your pain! I'm 43 years old and I have been on my period since Jan. 25th 2009. It is now the end of March. I have been to the Doctor several times and everything is normal. I'm scheduled to have an ultrasound in May, so I guess this will continue until then. I'm so afraid of having an accident in public,or other women finding out. I have large clots sometime and other times there is little or nothing. I alternate between pads and tampons. I'm so paranoid that I refuse to leave the house not wearing a pad. I don't trust my body anymore and I'm so sick of this, it's a terrible, terrible feeling. I need help. I guess it's true what they say, "their is always someone worst off than you" I'm opened to any advice ... any advice!

I have one of the greatest OBGYN's God ever created. He is caring and extremely knowledgeable. This same thing happened to me about 2 years ago for about 6 months and then it became very painful so I called him.

He put me on Progesterone - it regulated the periods and stopped the large clots. Basically your body is producing the blood lining just as if you were impanting an egg, but then it does not shed like it should and builds up. When it does come out, it comes out as large clots which lead to intense bleeding.

I did this therapy for about 6 months and then the periods stopped altogether! Much easier to predict and live with. Ask your Dr if he will prescribe the progesterone therapy. Good Luck

I would suggest you see your Dr and see what he thinks is going on. I to had problems with my cycle.. For the past 4 yrs have had heavy bleeding that would go for months at a time. Or weeks then a week or couple days of nothing to start up heavy for weeks again. All the while passing heavy clots. In Feb of this year I ended up in the ER for being so week from bleeding so much. I had to have a D&C done.. Along with receiving 5 pints of blood. I was told by the Dr that I have uterine fibroids and now am scheduled for a hysterectomy. Once I had the D&C done I had a fairly normal cycle at the end of Feb. So far nothing this month. I know I'm in perimenopause. Have night sweats, hot flashes and now sleeping problems. Hopefully after the hysterectomy I'll do better than I have been for the last 4 yrs.

Norma

I am using progestreon now,so we will see how it goes,I do feel better

how all gets better,

I am 55, and the last 2-3 years have been real different! but this time, I went about 61/2, weeks nothing then spotted for 3 days , then gradually got heavier period. Now it's been 12 days, is that normal? and when are you suppose to stop??? Rita

NanaNorma,

You mentioned that you're scheduled for a hysterectomy. Are you aware that there are other treatments for fibroids that preserve your uterus? Many doctors don't perform these alternative procedures and would rather earn the $$ for a hyst versus referring you to someone else.

The uterus is key in protecting women from heart disease; without it, you'll have a 2.7 times higher risk of heart disease. It's also critical to the pelvic structure. It's removal increases your risk for bladder and bowel incontinence and it will also cause your spine to compress giving you the post-hyst belly / thickening waist. And in approximately 35-40% of hysterectomies where the ovaries are left "intact", they fail within a few years causing symptoms much like "surgical menopause."

The HERS Foundation at www.hersfoundation.com is available for consultations to women considering hysterectomy and/or ovary removal. There's also a lot of information on the site about the adverse effects of this surgery. There's a blog of women's stories about how their lives changed after this surgery.

Good luck.

Hello! I am 50 years old. I missed my period for three months. Then I had a period for 8 days. Then no period for 2 weeks. Then a period lasting 1 and a half MONTHS. Sometimes just spotting then bleeding. Sometimes brown sometimes red. Then I was off for only 3 days, now I am on my PERIOD AGAIN. Dr did a blood test to see if I was going thru menopause and to see if I was anemic because of so much bleeding. When blood was drawn I was only spotting. The test says I am post menopause. All done with with the menopause stuff. I am also a little anemic. Why am I still bleeding so much If I am thru with menopause..Dr is sending me to a womans clinic but I can't get in till May 19th. What a bummer... I am sick of this. I feel weak when I am bleeding heavy. My Husband is also sick of this. Someone please tell me what to do...Thank you very much..

Hi Rosebud

Im right with you, i missed my period in Dec & Jan, now my periods are lasting forever in a day! My period in March i had for almost a month and now April period its been over two weeks, heavy and have to wear a tampon and a pad and change every often! Ive had my papsmear and everything came back normal!

It sucks i know, why do we have to go thru all this????? This is what i ask my self everyday, not fair!

Aslo 43 and experiencing irratic and long periods for past year or so. It's so frustrating to be told, "It's normal, it could last up to 10 years". And then what?! Buy stock in feminine product manufacturers to make any seem less than outrageous! Why, I would like to know, is there nothing that doctors seem to be able to do for perimenopausal women except medicate us like we're crazy and bothersome. I recently had a month long period with at least weeks of heavy bleeding and clots. My energy dropped like a rock and my level of irritation and anxiety only climbed. How are you expected to function with any confidence. I'm constantly worried I will bleed through my clothes. When I was younger - bleeding this long was a problem a concern, something to keep the doctor apprised of in case they needed to administer "rescue hormones". Why should this be any different? For many women their 40's are great. Then there are the rest of us who are considered, crabby, harpy, crazy, fat (because the stress hormones cause us to cling to every molecule of fat that enters our bodies) and annoying. It just doesn't seem right. If it happened to men - there would be major studies being done! Also, some of you might want to look into adrenal fatigue - there are some women's health doctor's who specialize in this "syndrome" which can shed some light on what seem like perimenopausal symptoms too.

rosebud, do you happen to be on the pill or have a contraception device at all?

Yours is probably related to your menopause, but I had a period for about 3 months. Not heavy bleeding thankfully, and the occasional break for a few days to a week.

Originally I was on the combined pill but it was giving me serious migraines. The second pill was the one that made me bleed, I forget what it's called, but I was simply taken off it and offered the injection, the implant or the coil.

I was only 16 or 17 at the time so it definitely wasn't premenstrual. But it's definitely another possibility for you to look at.

Just for the record I'm from the UK, so it was on our NHS, and I just got told that I was fine and to sit it out and wait for it to stop. It didn't, so I got taken off of that and given the coil.

This is not true at all i just went through this last year. I kept getting longer and longer periods. did have to get a copospity and hysercopsty for caner but those tests were negative thank god. I just told the docter you have to stop the bleeding. i was stopping in public bathrooms on the way to work changeing pads and clothes at work i could't take it and more.So she said i can have whats called a eblation so i did,it was a one day surgery the whole procdure lasts one min. but does have to be done under anestiha. I was at the hospital a few hours then went home. The surgery was done on a thursday that mon i was at work no pain or anything.It was the best thing i ever did. As of now i have not had a period scince nove of 08 and this is 4/09. She said i might be done for ever.I'm 47 years old and very happey about this.

From Catherine get it done its wonderful

I know what you are going through. I had a period last year that lasted from Jan to July. Sometimes it was light and sometimes it was very heavy. I had several embarrassing episodes in public during that time. My doctor ran every test in the book and could not find anything wrong. Over the last few years, she has put me on several different birth control pills and hormone replacement pills, but nothing worked for very long. Finally in August 08, I found a natural progesterone product that a friend said worked for her. I was very skeptical that a cream you rub in could do more than all the prescription drugs I had been on, but it did! Within 3 months of rubbing in the natural progesterone cream faithfully, my periods became regular and lighter. It helped with the mood swings and night sweats too. It is called Pro-G-Yam 500.

Here's what happened to me. 49 years old, no period for 6 months straight, hot flashes apparently over and done with. Then suddenly, I had light spotting for about 3 weeks, on and off (mostly on). I went to see my gyn, who did an ultrasound and found a one-inch fibroid tumor in my uterus that was rubbing against the lining of my uterus, causing the scanty lining to shed (causing the staining). According to him, it's not a big deal -- just something to watch (I'm going back in 6 months for another ultrasound). If the staining didn't stop, he said he'd put me on medication to hasten the expulsion of the built-up uterine lining (sort of like the lining that builds up during your period, except I'm probably not fertile anymore). A few days after I saw him, the staining stopped and the medication was unnecessary. Since then (about 2-3 weeks), I've been back to normal -- no period, no staining, very slight hot flashes. I hope this helps you.