How many years have you had a period?

**Thistle** · 10-17-2006, 03:01 PM

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

... 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

**Dogmama** · 10-17-2006, 03:14 PM

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!

**chickwhorips** · 10-17-2006, 03:17 PM

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!!

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

Originally Posted by CyclChyk

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

such kind words

**Python** · 10-17-2006, 05:13 PM

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

We have

Power Surges

Kitsune06 · 10-17-2006, 05:57 PM

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!

**Dogmama** · 10-17-2006, 06:27 PM

Originally Posted by Python

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

We have

Power Surges

Oh yeah? Where do I pull the plug?

**mary9761** · 10-17-2006, 06:35 PM

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.

**suzieqtwa** · 10-17-2006, 07:31 PM

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.

Kitsune06 · 10-17-2006, 07:36 PM

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?)

**suzieqtwa** · 10-17-2006, 07:44 PM

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.

**Grog** · 10-17-2006, 09:04 PM

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!

**hellosunshine** · 10-18-2006, 03:59 AM

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

**Kimmyt** · 10-18-2006, 05:21 AM

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!

**Tuckervill** · 10-18-2006, 09:26 AM

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

**CyclChyk** · 10-18-2006, 09:32 AM

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).

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