I’m 46, and according to my ob/gyn, I’m smack in the middle of the perimenopausal phase.
I’ve been having irregular periods for the past 3-4 years – nothing earth-shattering, but when you’ve been clockwork for a very long time, this whoops-there-it-is-wtf? stuff is a bit disconcerting. The nice thing? I’m down to 3 days max instead of the usual 5. No cramps, no bloating, no screaming-banshee preludes. OTOH, my general mood goes all over the place at any given time.
My cycle’s also become quite short. What used to be roughly 28-30 days now ranges anywhere from 20 to 30, which means sometimes I get my period twice a month without warning. Joy :rolleyes:
Haven’t had any inkling of a hot flash. I’ve been told they won’t come for another few years. From what I’ve observed and have heard/read, I’m not particularly looking forward to them.
I’m turning 48 soon and have had night sweats for a couple of years now. One thing that’s changed is that my cycle shortened–all my life I ran about a 40-45 day cycle, then all of a sudden about eighteen months ago it’s clockwork 28 days, and boy did THAT piss me off! Cramps were fairly normal, sometimes a bit light, and periods would last a normal time–5 days total, but the last two were pretty token. Then I went for almost three months without a period, followed by a regular humdinger–pads AND tampon, heavy as hell and lasted almost eight days. YUCK! Whereas I don’t mind the once every three months part, the Period From Hell at the end gives me pause… I can’t wait 'til it’s done with, and I’ve been careful the past seven or eight years to keep up with my exercise, tank up on calcium and phytoestrogens. I carry a fair amount of fat around so I figure I won’t need HRT–my mom didn’t bother and she’s in great shape aside from her heavy smoking and definite need to lose some weight.
Periods suck, I can’t wait until it’s all done with…
I worked with a woman a couple of years ago who went through menopause at 25. It was a family thing apparently…it happened to both her mother and her grandmother. Other than that she was perfectly healthy though.
My mom started in her early 50’s, and had the hot flashes and night sweats for years. It really pissed her off! But she loved not having periods anymore.
I heard somewhere that if you started your period young, you would have a late menopause. If you were a late bloomer, you would have an earlier menopause. Just the opposite of what you would expect.
I started my period late and had early menopause, so there’s at least one of those cases. I didn’t get bad hot flashes, more like warming trends, and not until 3 or 4 years after the end of periods. In my experience (and that of some of my friends) vitamin E helps a lot with hot flashes. Even after nearly 15 years of menopause I still get warmer if I skip the E for a few days.