I am 53 years old. I still have periods every damn month. Here lately though, I have become so sensitive. I cry at the drop of a hat. I have cramps that last 3 days and are unbearable without painkillers. When will this stop? Make it stop.
Anyone have any advice?
Get pregnant?
StG
Buttercup, you have likely entered “perimenopause”. Welcome to uncertainty. But if you are lucky as all get out, one of your side effects will be lots of horniness. 
If it helps, you aren’t alone. I made it to 50 with few problems, now I alternate between the two weeks of cramps month and the stealth period month. And I got my first bouncing baby fibroid for extra fun.
Ibuprophen seems to work best for me for the pain and I cut out coffee which seems to help with some of the emotional fragility. Unfortunately, looks like I’ll be cutting out wine for other reasons which may put the moodiness right back.
Congrats on making it to 53 without periodic problems!
Firstly, go to your Dr. There are numerous medical conditions, that have nothing whatever to do with menopause or your periods that could be at work here. Get checked out.
Then, when it’s confirmed that you’re just beginning to come into, ‘your time’, we can all say, “Welcome to the club! Sorry about your luck! Get ready for nothing to make any sense! Try to enjoy the ride, if you can!”
Oh yeah
One of nature’s cruel tricks, just when the women are revving up the men are slowing down.
I can still remember my grandmother complaining that my grandfather was stiff in every joint except the one that counted.
Ditto on getting checked out at the doctor.
No, and dreading my own future (I’m 10 years younger than you are).
(passes leftover Halloween candy) Have some chocolate. 
Double Ditto on the DR. thingie. For the emotional part, try taking your daily vitamin pill, if it does help ask dr. to check your potassium. Low p makes me cry too. I’m about 6 years older. and not to scare you but when this happened to me it was a polyp, with adenomia.
Moved to IMHO, the forum for medical advice and anecdotes, from MPSIMS.
Count yourself lucky. I’m 42 and I think perimenopause is just starting. I cried through the entire month of July, and now skipping periods with the next one being extra-heavy, even though I’m on the Pill, and have been on the Pill since I was 17. This skipping and getting heavy enough to need a tampon is new. I’m very unhappy about it.
I saw my GYN dr. about 6 times in the last year but not in the last 6 months. He did 5 sonagrams and said I have a cyst on one ovary, did a blood test to rule out ovarian cancer??
After 5 months of the internal look sees I spoke with my GP who says “a lot of women live with what you have”. I finally quit going 6 months ago when he suggested he do an ablation.
I will just live with it until I go stark raving mad or it ends. I felt like this Dr. was raping my insurance company and I’ve been his patient for at least 15 years.
Maybe I need some herbs or something.
Get a second opinion.
It’s not a crime, don’t feel bad about it, just do it. It’s your health, you deserve it. You’d do the same for someone you loved, if you were suspect of their Dr’s diagnosis, right? Do it!
Speaking of tears, I’ve bored ladies on the Dope to them for years now by recommending this nutritional information; following it and taking Evening Primrose Oil thrice daily starting 7-10 days before CD1 have done wonders for me.
Also, napping and extra exercise helps me; YMMV, but what could it hurt if you can manage it?
“WTF”? Why “WTF”? You mean the fact that you are finally, at 53, most likely experiencing peri-menopause surprises you? Sorry, I don’t mean to sound snotty, though you can imagine me with a slight smile twitching my lips and you would not be wrong.
Don’t be surprised. It’s inevitable. Any woman who lives long enough will eventually go through “the change.” Just like the rest of our womanly “stuff” - periods, pregnancy, whatever - personal experience varies from “hardly notice any inconvenience at all” to “gahh, this is horrible.”
I think it’s fairly routine for doctors to do a lot of tests, in part because this is a time when things like cancer become more common in the population, and - even though it seems highly likely that your symptoms are entirely attributable to normal processes - the symptoms of menopause and the initial symptoms of serious problems like ovarian cancer can be pretty similar. I recall having a bunch of tests (my body started getting wonky at around 46 and I was through menopause by 49; a bit on the early side).
My advice is to read up if you don’t understand what your doctor’s tests are for, and of course be your own advocate if needed, but realize that most likely you are getting decent care. Go ahead and try products that are supposed to mitigate menopause symptoms if you like, but the real solution is just to live through the next few years. Trust me, your body will settle down.
Definitely get a second opinion. Ask your female friends if they would recommend their GYN to you. Don’t be surprised if they also offer an ablation. But do take ovarian cysts seriously.
I’ve gone through something similar recently. Mid-40s, my first year of abnormal periods; went to the doc, got sonograms, and yeah, a water cyst and a fibroid.
The doc at the sonogram gave me the photos, told me this was just a ‘wait and see’ situation <in other words, wait to see if it gets worse or they get bigger> and so I didn’t even bother going back to the regular clinic for an explanation of what the doc already told me. Some searching online seems to support the ‘wait and see’ theory, so unless it gets unbearably painful, or I lose enough blood to pass out, I guess there’s nothing to do except wait for it to get bad enough for a hysterectomy. I’d rather just have the hysto now and get it all over with, but they won’t consider that. Oh well. Not gonna go in to be sandblasted every six months, either.
I began perimenopause at 40, I am now closing in on 53 and it’s still going on. My moods have been all over the place (no wonder they used to lock women up in mental wards until it was over) and the hot flashes and night sweats are just beastly. I have found that taking the B vitamins along with some herbs helps tremendously. There are many herbal products out there, black cohosh is very helpful in my experience, and I second the recommendation for evening primrose. I wish the best for you, and hope that your situation is just menopause and nothing more serious.
“Hormones, cramps and tears”. Isn’t that a song by Cher?
QtM, darn you! Now that is going to be in my head all day. 