Irregular Periods

[mkoven]

My periods are now coming closer together, and occasionally further apart. Last month-- after fourteen days, today after 22. January was 33 days, November was 20. I'm 41-- so perimenopause? Before this, they were every 26-28 days consistently for years. As my period makes all my any symptoms worse, more often is not a welcome change. Not to mention the sheer unpredictability.

does this sound like something I should get checked out? someone mentioned to me the possibility of fibroids?

[Maxine]

Usually fibroids give symptoms like:

heavy bleeding or painful periods

bleeding between periods

feeling of fullness in the pelvic area (lower abdomen)

urinating often

pain during sex

lower back pain

Some people don't know they have them, as they can be asymptomatic also.

Being perimenopausal can make periods irrregular. The best thing to do is see your Doctor to find out if you may have a problem other then perimenopause.

My periods still come every 28 days like clock work at age 48---and I'll be 49 in May. They are light, lasting only 3-4 days, with maybe 8 hours of moderate bleeding. You would think my hormones would be a mess with everything I have going on, but my numbers always come out good in my blood work. The only thing that is off is almost a non existant progesterone level.

I'm not sure what the symptoms of that is, but I was told that is why I couldn't get pregnant when we tried in my second marriage. I have a 26 year old son from a previous marriage.

I know it makes POTs symptoms worse---------------And if your irregular, I can imagine this makes it even worse.

Sometimes my periods don't bother my POTS, and I'm surprised when it comes---

Maxine :0)

[flop]

Hi, shortened menstrual cycles are a sign of being pre-menopause. Fibroids usually cause heavy painful periods. Remembering back to my "reproductive biology" lessons I think I can explain the shortened cycle length that is related to being pre-menopausal. Basically women's cycles are controlled by three main hormones FSH (follicle stimulating hormone), LH (lutenising hormone) and progestogen (please excuse any spelling mistakes, it is a long time since I learned this stuff!).

On day 1 of your cycle you start to bleed/menstruate, then FSH is secreted and the rising levels cause an follicle and egg in one of the ovaries to mature. Approx day 14 a surge of LH causes the egg to be released. After the egg has been released from the follicle, the follicle forms a corpus luteum which secretes progestrogen which prepares the lining of the womb for the implantation of a fertilised egg. If implantation does not occur then 2 weeks after its formation the corpus luteum dies and there is a sharp drop in hormone levels triggering the shedding of the womb lining (menstruation).

Women have a fixed number of eggs in their ovaries when they are born. When you run out of eggs the ovaries no longer have a mature follicle to turn into a corpus luteum so progestogen is not secreted to mature the lining of the womb. This means that menses often occur early, about day 21 instead of day 28. However during this pre-menopause stage all of the hormone levels are reducing which often causes chaotic menstrual cycles as the hormonse no longer work in sync with each other.

Hope this makes some sort of sense.

Flop

[juliegee]

I'm hopping on to this one late, but definately check out the fibroid angle. While all of the symptoms listed re. perimenopause and fibroids are textbook true. Your eratic cycles sound exactly like mine when my gyno found a 10cm fibroid. In addition to the really shortened cycles, I did have really heavy bleeding, but I came to accept it as my normal and never checked it out. By the time I took action, I was having "bulk symptoms" trouble urinating, etc. I did a relatively new procedure and had the fibroid embolized- much easier recovery than the major surgery of a hysterectomy. Long story short- check it out!

Julie

[lotusflowersusan]

mkoven, I could have written your post just about word for word (except I won't be 41 until July). I recently had my annual exam, along with pelvic ultrasound to follow up on cysts (functional) and no explanation other than age (pre-menopause) could be offered for the fluctuations in cycle length, but definitely should be followed up with your doc.

[mkoven]

Thanks, you guys. Saw the gyne. She did a pelvic and an ultrasound. Nothing untoward-- just wacky hormones. She said I should probably just deal, as my migraines with neuro symptoms make hormones a poor idea. Good to be reassured.

[flop]

Irregular periods can be a real pain but it is good to hear that there is nothing "wrong".

Flop