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Location: Foothills of Maryland Blue Ridge mountains
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OP I sure feel your pain. I had my last period at 53 years, 4 months. It was the worst period of my life....I’ll never forget it. I was all set to beg for a hysterectomy, but I never got another period.
The last five years or so of having periods was awful. Just like you, only a handful of normal days per month.
Menopause as no picnic....I’m 60 now...but beat the heck out of menstruation. Hot flashes lasted several years, weight gain, hair loss. Ugh.
OP, I am not your age anymore but crossing that threshold into freedom from "Auntie Flo" took more than a few years, it isn't pleasurable for some of us that's for certain.
I feel for you, I really do. Perhaps as others have mentioned talk to your Gynecologist and see if they have any alternatives for you. Best wishes in finding some relief.
I've got a Nuva ring. I keep it in for 4 weeks and just change it out rather than taking it out for a week. After a couple months, it stopped my period entirely. It's great. Maybe that's a possible solution for you? I'm 42 btw.
OP I sure feel your pain. I had my last period at 53 years, 4 months. It was the worst period of my life....I’ll never forget it. I was all set to beg for a hysterectomy, but I never got another period.
The last five years or so of having periods was awful. Just like you, only a handful of normal days per month.
Menopause as no picnic....I’m 60 now...but beat the heck out of menstruation. Hot flashes lasted several years, weight gain, hair loss. Ugh.
I hear you. The symptoms before, during and after my period have been getting worse these past 2 years (since the age of 50). I just "ass"-ume my body is winding down and my hormones are all over the place because I am in perimenopause. So by the looks of this thread, I may have another 2-3 years of periods before "Aunt Flo" takes a hike forever. I kind of figured that.
You hear that the average age of menopause (when periods have stopped for 12 months) in the U.S. is age 50. I was kind of hoping for once I could be part of the average, but I guess it is not to be.
I have been having night sweats (before and after my period) for the past 4-5 years, I was so hopeful when the night sweats started that my period was in its final stage, but alas 5 years later my period is as regular as it has ever been (every 26-27 days). I also have had weight gain the past 4-5 years, I am 20 lbs over my ideal weight, it just kind of sticks around my belly and under my arms.
If I live long enough, I guess someday my period will stop (hopefully I won't have my period into my 70's as someone mentioned in this thread!). For now, I am just going to suck it up and deal with it, just another sign one is growing old.
I started "THE BIG M" at age 12 and was finally through in my early 50's. No time off for pregnancy either. And they were killer periods, heavy, painful. I used to take 800mg of Motrin at a time.
As I recall, they got lighter, then stopped. My gyn said after 12 months with no period you are menopausal. Well, I went 13 months, then had ANOTHER period. She freaked out and wanted me to come in and get checked, "post-menopausal bleeding, could be serious, etc." I told her it was EXACTLY like a period and promised to get it checked out if I continued to bleed. That was it. The last one was during a stressful time of my life (DH diagnosed with cancer). I don't know if that had anything to do with it.
Menopause has been not too bad. I had hot flashes for a while, took some supplements including an antidepressant that was supposed to help. I am off everything now, I get maybe one hot flash at night. I attribute my lack of hot flashes to a mostly vegetarian diet. YMMV.
I was 52, so hang in there. You’ve stood it this long. Please think long and hard before you consider taking hormone replacement for symptoms of menopause. I got an enormous DVT that could have killed me.
[quote=goldenlove;52216536I have chapstick all over the house because my lips are always dry and I always have to have something to drink nearby.[/QUOTE]
OMG, I wonder if that's what's going on with my lips. I'm 49, and my lips have been weirdly chapped for some months now, and chap stick doesn't seem to help at all.
OP, I had an endometrial ablation about 5 years ago, so I haven't had a period since then. It's lovely. Though of course I now have no idea where I'm at in the menopause journey. I do notice changes though, some more subtle, and it's hard to know what's hormone-related or not.
I started "THE BIG M" at age 12 and was finally through in my early 50's. No time off for pregnancy either. And they were killer periods, heavy, painful. I used to take 800mg of Motrin at a time.
As I recall, they got lighter, then stopped. My gyn said after 12 months with no period you are menopausal. Well, I went 13 months, then had ANOTHER period. She freaked out and wanted me to come in and get checked, "post-menopausal bleeding, could be serious, etc." I told her it was EXACTLY like a period and promised to get it checked out if I continued to bleed. That was it. The last one was during a stressful time of my life (DH diagnosed with cancer). I don't know if that had anything to do with it.
Menopause has been not too bad. I had hot flashes for a while, took some supplements including an antidepressant that was supposed to help. I am off everything now, I get maybe one hot flash at night. I attribute my lack of hot flashes to a mostly vegetarian diet. YMMV.
IMO stress has a lot to do with the menstrual cycle, the length and "quality"(if you will) of periods. I think the women in our family (my mother's side of the family, those I know more about) go through menopause at a relatively early age, ie, around the mid-40's, I remember my mother having perimenopausal issues around the age of 40, it was the end of the world, I suppose, she wailed and put us all through her wrath, she went on Premarin for a while, but developed a DVT, so had to stop that and finally she had a hysterectomy around age 41, so that was that. My sister said she became perimenopausal around that same time, but also had a hysterectomy in her early 40's, so it's hard to tell how long the process of menopause would have gone for her.
I started the process around my late 30's, ie, periods became irregular in the length of time they lasted as well as the time between periods. The other symptoms such as hot flashes, mood swings started in my early 40's, but compared with what I hear from others they were pretty mild-or perhaps it was a matter of perspective as there was a whole lot of not great stuff going on in our lives that demanded my attention and nobody cared about my menopause.
So the process "dribbled" on and on through my early 40's, I never knew when or if I would get my period, but I thought they were becoming lighter and fewer of them, the hot flashes and other miseries came and went and I figured eventually the whole process would end, but I didn't know when.
Well, on August 24, I992, we were hit with Hurricane Andrew, our house/neighborhood were right in the path of its northern eyewall, we hung on in the house during the storm, and counted ourselves lucky to be alive as the storm (as debris flying at 160+ MPH made its way through our shutters, allowing the wind to get into the house) pretty much destroyed the front of the house. Well, that began a two year process of rebuilding, dealing with insurance companies, contractors, looters, county and state bureaucracies, neighbors and their demands, ie, I'd say we saw both the best and the worst of humanity during those times.
And my menstrual cycle? My last recognizable period had occurred sometime in early July, and I never saw another one at all after that. And I never had hot flashes or other issues after that either. I don't know if it was just coincidental with the arrival of Hurricane Andrew, and my menstrual cycle would have breathed its last at that time in any case, or it was the trauma, shock, grief, and all the other emotions associated with such an experience that short circuited my menopause, but it never made any evidence of a reappearance after that.
Really, in your 50's and still having periods. ugh.... Funny/not funny story, my 14 year old daughter asked me recently when she would stop having periods. When I told her she was disgusted.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lawmom
OP, I had an endometrial ablation about 5 years ago, so I haven't had a period since then. It's lovely. Though of course I now have no idea where I'm at in the menopause journey. I do notice changes though, some more subtle, and it's hard to know what's hormone-related or not.
I have been considering endometrial ablation. My periods are getting worse and I'm just done with the whole process. I don't want to use a hormonal method because of family medical issues.
My “friend” entered my life at age 11 and her last visit was when I was 56. I was totally delighted to end that friendship. I was ready to cut her off before I was 30.
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Funny/not funny story, my 14 year old daughter asked me recently when she would stop having periods. 
When I told her she was disgusted.
