How many years have you had a period?

Geez, I'm glad this is a women's forum. This has been bugging me.

I started my period with I was 9 years old (rode my bike home from elementary school to change my napkin at lunch - oh what joy.) I'm 52 & still having my period, pretty much on schedule. I also have PMS, but finally found a med that helps so it isn't quite so bad (read: I'm not completely homicidal or suicidal for five days a month.) I read that being exposed to your own estrogen for a long period of time is a precursor to breast cancer and I've been at this for 43 years.

Is this pretty unusual? I know we have some 50'ish women - maybe you could share your experiences?

I read somewhere that, on average, women who start earlier also stop later, while those who start later will stop earlier, which makes no sense to me, but seems to have been true in my case. My periods didn't start until I was 13, about 13 1/2 actually, and by the time I was 51, I was done. I'll be 54 next month (:eek: ) and I've been post-menopausal for about 3 years. Jeez, it's nice to be done with that.

I've had a little in the way of hot flashes, mood swings, and sleepless nights, but never anything bad enough for me to consider HRT. But here's the strange thing: I continue to have some symptoms of pms occasionally--maybe every 3 months or so. No blood, but some of the other indicators: headache (which I never get otherwise), mild cramping, fatigue, even mood swings sometimes. My doc says my system's probably still pumping out some residual estrogen now and then. Weird, eh?

I guess some of this is hereditary. According to a maternal aunt, my experience is pretty typical for the women in my family. Can you ask your mom or maybe an aunt?

My period started when I was 11. I just stopped having them 2 months ago - I'll be 55 in December. It was regular and normal till the day it stopped. Every month after 50 I kept thinking - this is it. This has to be the last one. I'd buy a white nightgown and white underwear. And then it started again the next month......

The upside is I've had no hot flashes or night sweats or any of that stuff. ::::knock wood:::: I did go through about 4 weeks of being a nut. It was like chronic PMS. I was hyper sensitive and very quick to anger and it didn't take much to make me an insane person. Bought some of the over the counter stuff for menopause and it calmed down.

I had no idea about the connection with breast cancer. That's scary. I am going in regularly for mammograms.

I started when i was 14.
Then hotflashes started in my early 40's and continue today. I will be 55 and have been in menopause officially just this season.** I continued to have regular cycles until 2 years ago. Then it just stopped for 10 months. and then it came back for 2 months and then NOTHING... (except amazing hot flashes)
I have learned to live with the hotflashes, at this point I will be very very surprised when they stop. I am glad it's done.

**menopause starts 12 months after the last period**

Started around 13 years old. Am 52 now and still regular, no menopause symptoms yet.
From what friends tell me, menopuase can either be very defined, or it can be a gradual process that take a few years and is sometimes not very clearcut.

I started at 11 and I will be 55 on Sunday. The doctor tells me that I could go on into my 60s. Since I am having a hysterectomy in January, I will go into menopause suddenly.

Drats. Sounds like I'm celebrating too early and need to wait more than a couple of months to be sure it's over.

ARRRRGHHHHHHH

Like a bad dream, isn't it?

I started early (maybe around 11), am 50 now, and been in perimenopause since about 44. Long process. I've have a year with an occassional missed month, a year regular, a year with every other month, a year of irregular (between 2 weeks a 2 months apart), another every other month year, and for the last 2 years have been on a 6 month schedule. I'm eagerly awaiting the 12 month milestone. Getting really tired of perimenopause -- I want the real thing! Hot flashes for 4 or 5 years now. Some bad insomnia at ages 44-46, now only occassionally (like 1-2x per week).

I began around age 9 and I am ready to quit anytime now, although it appears my body is not. SIGH

I bought the 1000 count tampax at Costco thinking maybe I'd hurry up the 'pause. Before this, I figured I'd just buy the smaller boxes because, hey, this can't last forever - right? :confused:

I had read "start early stop late" as well but that didn't happem with me. I started my period around 8 1/2 (yes very early - it scared me to death - I thought I was dying when it started) and stopped at exactly age 50 (two months before my 51 birthday). I was always like clockwork, had a easy period (usually flow was 3 - 4 days), seldom had PMS and menopause was brief. I did have hot flashes for a year (about 6 months before stopping and 6 month after). I don't regret ever stopping my period. Life is just so much easier!!!! All in all had a period around 42 years... a long time!

Started at age twelve and a half, stopped from age 17-18 (hard athletics training), started again near 19. I bled lightly a few hours every 40 days or so. Went on the pill at 20 and now have a monthy cycle and bleed about 3 days. I'm 21.

started at 11ish. had bad periods and bled everyother week. i was miserable. finially got on the pill when i was almost 16 and been on it ever since. makes my life so much easier.

sad thing is i'm sick having my period already (i'm only 25) and i've started taking the pill for 3 consecutive months so i only get my period 4x a year. so much better!

Hey Chick, tell your Dr you don't want periods. They can put you on stuff that makes them GO AWAY. (like bc pills) If I had had that option at your age, believe me, I would have taken it!!

Started at 9. I too thought I was dying and my mom said "No. You just got your period. Go back to bed"............. :(

On the pill for years; . lasted 2 days max nothing ever heavy, super light cramping...

Now, off the pill, cramp like the DEVIL, lasts 5 days, some heavy, and all I want to do is kill something the whole week. I'm 38. Are you guys telling me that I have 15 or more years of this crap???? :eek:

I don't want to grow up/old, but this is getting tiresome......

i want menopause! started at 12.5 ... am 46 and seriously over it! the only time i had regular periods was when i was on the pill. Otherwise i could have 2 a year or 26 a year. Not fun. But, when i was 40 I went for counselling for abuse in my childhood and i kid you not, i started counselling in sept and from oct to now i've had a regular period every single month... almost always 4 weeks to the day. It was absolutely incredible to go from not having a clue which year i was going to have a period to knowing almost the exact day!

But, now i'm getting them every 3 weeks (last few months) and figured maybe i'm reaching menopause. Went to the doc and she tells me they cant tell you you're in menopause til it's over :confused: :confused: ... terrific!

Have had hot flushes for years...i mean since my early thirties. My sister is 50 and her periods became irregular last year. I remember my mother went through menopause at 47 (oh boy do i remember that!). And these days i'm really emotional with PMS... like last friday had major sobbing attack at work... that really sucks :( It never used to happen before :confused:

I can put up with the cramps. I can even put up with the inevitable IBS. The mood stuff is awful. For two weeks, I would become homicidal/suicidal. I knew that this person wasn't me, but I was powerless to stop her. Tried hormones but can't take them because they mess with my lupus. Finally found a shrink who isn't afraid to prescribe stuff other than prozac and things are better.

I used to plan my life around my periods. I even planned my marriage around my period. I would never schedule a vacation during those last two weeks. It was like half of my life was taken over by a strange creature. DH's socks in the middle of the floor would send me into a rage if I didn't watch it. I once chewed out a boss in front of everybody. Not recommended.

I'll be glad when this is finally over!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mimitabby

Hey Chick, tell your Dr you don't want periods. They can put you on stuff that makes them GO AWAY. (like bc pills) If I had had that option at your age, believe me, I would have taken it!!

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and which stuff is this? i'm more than ok with that.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CyclChyk

my mom said "No. You just got your period. Go back to bed"............. :(

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such kind words

Ladies, ladies. We do not have "hot flushes".

We have

Power Surges:D :D :D

I started *late* at 15, and then went on Depo (thinking that was a good thing?) at 18. Depo was bad for me. Hair loss, no libido, dysfunctional in every way you can think of, and no period (but I did manage to cramp)
After all ****in' kinds of fun, I stopped getting the shot. It was a year before I got my period again, and I was *ecstatic*. It seemed unnatural for me not to (just too pagan for my own good, I guess). The Diva is so convenient, etc, that I really don't mind/care...
so I've had my period 5 years. Yay!:p

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Python

Ladies, ladies. We do not have "hot flushes".

We have

Power Surges:D :D :D

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Oh yeah? Where do I pull the plug?

I got mine for my 9th birthday.. seriously.. I'm 45 and I've been irregular all my life. I have been having what I thought perimenopaus symptoms for years and they tell me no, I have polycystic ovary syndrome so that's the culprit of nearly ALL of my problems female wise.
I had polyps removed from my uterus a few years ago. I had a benign lump removed from my left breast the year before that and just a couple years ago I had a angiomyofibroblastoma (thankfully benign as it COULD have been otherwise) removed from my left labia! OUCH was that thing painful, they thought it was a barthlin's cyst and kept trying to lance it, but all they got was blood.
I may end up with a hysterectomy yet it the polyps return.

I started my period when I was 15. I thought it was never going to happen. At 36 I had my first hot flash ,and at 40 (full blown hot flashes,and mood swings) I finally went for help ,and I was already post menopausal. The put me on 2 hormones ,and I continued to have a period till I was 48 ,then they lowered the estragon ,and I haven't had a period since ,and I'm 52. The hot flashes were awful ,and I'm sure if I went off estrogen they would continue. I missed not having a period for a while ,now I don't even think about it. No PMS ,or bloating. I think the whole process is dragging out for me.

Just to be darn sure we won't have any male lurkers here (and sorry to the squeamish) but it doesn't seem right to not have a period due to artificial hormonal input. Could someone explain the medical reason why it's healthy and actually okay to stop one's cycle, where the tissue buildup and slough-off would ordinarily occur (and why it's so GOD AWFUL when one finally goes *off* the hormonal b/c?)

They told me it wasn't a period I was having ,and I couldn't get pregnant...She called it a discharge (which it is anyway ,I guess). I really don't know ,but given the choice of taking estrogen, or dealing with hot flashes ,ill take the low dose of estrogen. She said ,taking the 2 kinds of hormones I was taking, was making the period happen.

Since sometime when I was 13 (now 28), and pretty regularly ever since, having been on the pill for the most part since I've been... hum, 17 or 18 years old. Had a 2-year break at some point. I just can't mentally live with the slight risk of other methods failing, even if I hate myself for throwing so much estrogens in streams and lakes. (It creates an over-feminized pool of fish and lots of problem for these creatures and the environment in general, hence for us all.) I'm hoping to stop that within the next 2 to 5 years to see what the union of DP's genes and mine look like.

In the meantime, my periods have always been SUPER light. I always thought it went with the small breasts, but it might have nothing to do with it!

i started at 15 and stopped at 16!!!!prob as due to weight loss and never started,even when i go on the pill i dont bleed which is ace BUT if im moody it means its part of my personality!i have no scape goat of "time of the month"..how will i know when the menopause hits?????39 now,40 next march,cant wait:D

I luuuuuuuurve my period.

I guess I'm one of the few.

Hey, when you're sexually active and don't want to get pregnant, even if you're on the pill, those few days of bleeding are a LIFESAVER. I am the happiest girl ever on the first day of mine every month.

Celebrate with red wine and a fancy dinner!

:D

Yes, Kimmy, getting that period every month was a happy day...until that vasectomy, which was an even happier day!

A couple of things have been going through my head while I read this thread.

My aunt and my mother both said they went off HRT a few years after menopause and they never had hot flashes again.

My two aunts and my grandmother on my dad's side got to keep all their parts all the way through menopause, and that's my goal, too. My grandmother was 100 when she died last year. One of my aunts died, too, at age 70, of cancerous things, but she was a sun worshipper and a smoker, and I'm not. I want to be like my grandmother. Here's hoping!

Overweight causes too much estrogen to be stored in your body, so if you're overweight and having problems with your periods, (polycystic ovaries, for instance), getting rid of lots of weight will help.

I never could take the pill. I've always thought my mother using the high-dose pills of the '60s (for 20 years after I was born in 62) is what led to her fibroids causing heavy bleeding and eventually hysterectomy. Now I don't think that any more, but it still can't be groovy-cool to skip periods for entire years. I have a fibroid that makes it really hard to pass a curette into my cervix for a biopsy (found that out the hard way in August). So, even though I've never smoked, I may not avoid troublesome fibroids as I'd hoped.

I'm looking ahead now to The Pause and I hope to handle all the symptoms gracefully and with as little intervention as possible. Exercise, diet, weight loss, meditation...it's why I took up cyling. I think it's starting already but others think it's too early. My mother was 45 when she had her uterus removed for bleeding due to fibroids...but I learned recently that fibroids reduce down after menopause (no estrogen to feed them)....I'm not giving in as easily as she did.

I've been bleeding since I was 14. I'm 44. That's 30 years. I'm ready for it to end, but not before I get the weight off.
Karen

KIT - altho I hate having it, I agree with you. The whole period thing is a cleaning out of our goodies right? So if we don't have it, its not being cleaned?? Maybe I am just naive in this area cuz I never wanted kids so pretty much didn't care how it all worked, but I can't imagine never having one is a good thing. (Prior to menopause I mean).

I, too, have a goal of going out with all the parts I came in with. I have lost two wisdom teeth, but I have all the rest of my parts. I tried hormone therapy for
perimenopause symptoms, but it made it WORSE..

When men talk to me about their wives turning into witches, monsters, etc
(mind you, i work with men not women) I like to tell them that i have been going through the change too, right next to them, and the only thing they could have noticed with me was that i often have trouble guessing whether it is hot or cold in here.

the 7 Dwarves of Menopause

Just imagine being a man-person; same same every day every week every mnth year after year and just changing the numbers on your birthday. Give me ups and downs and don't know where I am anytime!
Started in1968 (aged 12 1/2). Stopped after 4 months (of my 7) of chemo (breast cancer) at age 40. Ovaries also "carked out" at this point according to ultrasound. Then 6 months on some weird injection-in-the-bottom for 6 months of suppression. Then 5 years of tamoxifen. Lots of menopausal symptoms eg hot flushes and general madness.Then a while with nothing. Then my daughter started (aged 12) and I had a few "sympathetically" with her for about a year. :cool: Then I had none except in times of extreme stress (deaths in the family and associated international travel and separation from my own family)
I *do* miss them - even the insanely floody ones at the end. What is the point of the Moon? What are my rhythms *now*? How do I navigate thru my life with no monthly signposts? Still have mad cravings for a baby every so often however they are reduced to a fantasy of a foundling in a cane basket outside the door at work :o :o
Haven't had anything for ages ... so I guess what is left of my instability and emotional dynamics is My Own Problem for which I will have to Take Responsibility. :eek:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by margo49

Still have mad cravings for a baby every so often however they are reduced to a fantasy of a foundling in a cane basket outside the door at work :o :o
Haven't had anything for ages ... so I guess what is left of my instability and emotional dynamics is My Own Problem for which I will have to Take Responsibility. :eek:

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Well, Margo, considering where you live your fantasies aren't that far fetched.
That's where the original basket story came from, isn't it?

My mad cravings for babies went away. Now I am resentful about my sons who are going to wait until i am too old to have grandkids.
:(

For women who prefer less frequent menstruation, there are oral contraceptives taken continuously for 6 to 12 weeks — followed by a week of no pills — which are associated with fewer menstrual-related complaints.

I guess you should ask your doctor what it's called. They didn't say.

I wonder about suppressing a menstrual period - Kit said the same thing - it seems like that could cause problems down the road. A woman I work with took those pills for a year. She finally quit them and is having horrible hot flashes and weird periods. She is 46.

It wasn't that long ago that HRT was supposed to be The Answer. Now it is The Problem. They said ERT was better. Now ERT and testosterone is thought to cause breast cancer. Even doctors can't agree. For a short while, I took estrogen only. The gyn said I didn't need progesterone to protect my uterus because I was still having periods. Another doc freaked out & said I absolutely needed progesterone even if I was bleeding.

I say - if men had periods, hot flashes, bad moods, bloating, etc., NIH would be pouring money into research. Bahh!

To answer the question, I started at 13, still going strong at 45.

Question to all you powerful and knowledgeable, what do you do about PMS? The emotional pms part of it? I don't want to go on drugs if I dont' have to, I'm looking for an herb or a tea, or something. Anything?

Oh geez Chick - I am all 7 dwarfs wrapped into one!!! No wonder my a** is so big!

And as far as PMS goes, the only thing that works for me is booze and shop therapy........... torturing something would be REALLY FUN but I might go to jail for that one...........

[QUOTEMy mad cravings for babies went away. Now I am resentful about my sons who are going to wait until i am too old to have grandkids.
:([/QUOTE]

Mine are doing that, too!! How do we hurry them up?? :mad: :D I have so many friends with grandkids and I WANT ONE! :D

On the original question -- started when I was almost 16 and hope every month that I am truly finished. But so far, no. :confused: The longest I've gone, raising my hopes, is 3 months. I know I am in perimenopause, but I would be happy for the full-fledged thing! I will be 52 in Jan. so that comes to over 35 years of dealing with it. Right now, I am experiencing the lovely stage of erratic periods, so I NEVER know when to expect it and must be prepared at all times. I've had such heavy flows that I've been anemic. Or else maybe I'll just have spotting. So weird. Still - I don't have hot flashes (yet) or night sweats, or depression, so I can't really complain too much. I do have episodes of very dry skin (everywhere!) and very low libido. But it passes and then all is normal most of the time. Still - I am so glad I am a woman and this is part of the deal, so I'll put up with it and try my best not to be a bit__ TOO much of the time.

annie

I started at 12 and am now at least three years past the average age of menapause. However, on my last pap my doctor was kind enough to tell me that my ovaries felt like "two small raisons" which gives me hope that I will not have a period in the near future. However, since i bought the Viva cup just last year, and am beyond the definition of frugal; I figure I'll be menstruating well into my seventieth year...just because that the kind of karma I have.:rolleyes: