How many years have you had a period?

[mimitabby]

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
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.

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.

[mimitabby]

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.

[Dogmama]

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!

[ACG]

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?

[CyclChyk]

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...........

[annie]

[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?? I have so many friends with grandkids and I WANT ONE!

On the original question -- started when I was almost 16 and hope every month that I am truly finished. But so far, no. 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

[Raindrop]

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.

[Dogmama]

ACG-

Physical or mental PMS? I suffer from PMDD - PreMenstrual Dysphoric (sp?) Disorder - or in laymen's terms "B*tch from Hell for Two Weeks"

I worked with Andrew Weil for a couple of years (professionally - I was his business manager at the University of AZ (or Univ of OZ, as I say)) and during that time I tried all herbs: Black cohosh, vitex, dong quai, etc. I got a little relief, but not enough. Interestingly, those worked better on the physical aspects than mental.

I finally got a psychiatrist who isn't afraid to try new things. I'd been on everything from Prozac to Lexapro and all of the in-betweens, Welbutrin, Effexor, etc. I'm taking a tiny little speck of Lexapro plus a half of a pill called Provigil. It is for narcolepsy (sp?) but it's also hits norepinephrine whereas Lexapro hits serotonin. I take 1/4 of the regular dose of that.

I, too, didn't want pills. Fought it for years. But I figure it is temporary - just enough to get me through perimenopause and my insane job (my accountant is Sybill, I never know what personality I'm going to get each day, the faculty are 5 years old emotionally and my boss is a Korean woman who doesn't understand the American term "burned out.").

So, it really depends on how bad it is. For me, I was giving up half of my life. If I have to take a couple of pills each day, so be it.

[Kimmyt]

My mom started going into menopause about 10 years ago. I guess now she's through it all finally. But she started around 47 which I guess is fairly young? She had all these symptoms, and went to her doctor to tell her she thought she was starting menopause, and her doctor told her that she should see a psychiatrist because obviously she was too young to go into menopause. I think that's pretty rude, and only a year or so later she was into menopause so obviously she wasn't too young. She was pretty pissed at that!

K.

[mimitabby]

Kimmy, that's a strange story.


I certainly agree, taking pills isn't exactly natural, but neither is having 400 periods in a life time! (low estimate)

In a "natural" state, women got pregnant and nursed their babies as long as they could, easily for 6 years per child. This naturally spaced out pregnancies and kept them amenorrheic. (read bushman ethnologies if you want to know more about this)
The average woman had 3 kids, spaced 6 years apart. Of course if they lost a child, they would start cycling again, and get pregnant again. But the end result was not very many periods at all.

[Bad JuJu]

I had a friend whose doc told her she was too young to be in menopause--she was 49, and this was only about 5 years ago. I told her most of the women in my family, according to my aunt, were in menopause by age 50 or shortly thereafter, so don't believe everything your doc tells you. And sure enough, the woman was in menopause, and the blasted doc didn't have a clue.

It helps to remember that doctors are human too and don't know everything. It's when they pretend that they do know everything that we get into trouble.

[mimitabby]

I had a friend whose doc told her she was too young to be in menopause--she was 49, and this was only about 5 years ago. I told her most of the women in my family, according to my aunt, were in menopause by age 50 or shortly thereafter, so don't believe everything your doc tells you. And sure enough, the woman was in menopause, and the blasted doc didn't have a clue.

It helps to remember that doctors are human too and don't know everything. It's when they pretend that they do know everything that we get into trouble.

on the other hand, when i was at the Doc's for my 51 year old pelvic exam
the young nurse/aide asked me about my cycles which were still normal and she was stunned with my response. You're 51 and still having normal cycles?
And the doctor (also a woman) said to her "yes, this is what healthy looks like...often women keep cycling into their 50's without medication and surgery"

[skibum]

You can actually start perimenopause at a fairly young age. I started having symptoms in my late 30's. Even I thought I was too young and was imagining things so I didn't mention it to my doctor until about a year ago (I'm 42 now). She agreed that I am indeed in perimenopause. I later talked to my mother about it. I had assumed that since she had a hysterectomy due to cervical cancer at age 38 that I couldn't use her as a reference point. It turns out she hit menopause at age 36!

I was talking to my younger sister a few weeks ago and she mentioned all the symptoms she is having. She is having a hard time convincing her doctor that she is entering perimenopause. He thinks she's crazy and that she's too young (she's about to turn 38). I told her to go back and tell him about me and about mom so maybe he will believe her.

So, while it's not common, it can happen. Like Bad JuJu said, doctors are human and they may not recognize it because it is outside of what is considered normal.