Menopause Matters Forum
Menopause Discussion => All things menopause => Topic started by: Sarai on May 03, 2016, 07:06:41 PM
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Oh dear silly me, been doing so well no panicking. Just read an article from a lady who had a long gap 7 months, then got one, then a month later got a massive clot, then a month later pain now she was endo cancer.
So me panics, I went 7 months then the day after a terrible shock, though boobs had been hurting for a few weeks, I got one heavy and normal. That was February, nothing since totally dry, but flushes are having great fun. But this article scared me as she says we should get checked.
I told my new GP, in March that had had happened and she was unconcerned and just said , no not in meno yet.
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I had lots of gaps. I'm OK ;).
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Hi Sarai - it is so so easy to read things and create worry for ourselves. If I am lucky I catch myself and say these sorts of things to myself which sometimes helps me gain perspective.
1) Was the report from a reliable source? Was it fear mongering? (in which case it has worked and many other women will be worried too)
2) When we read about these things, we are not reading about the many many other women that had similar pattern of symptoms etc who were perfectly fine.
3) From what I read it is really really common to go a long time without a period and then get one.
4) Have you had any tests in the past that can reassure you? Are you having any untoward symptoms?
From what I know if you had some breast tenderness before your bleed, it was hormonal activity showing up and not a cancer. It is horrible to get worried and I hope this article doesn't spook you for too long. If it does and you have cause for concern continuing, maybe go back to your doctor and have a chat x
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I agree with BrightLight Sarai. It depends on how old the woman was as well. If she experienced a long gap but was younger then this would be cause for concern and would need investigating. During peri the most common symptom is a changing cycle. Where did you find the article?
Taz x
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Hello Sarai.
This peri meno stuff really plays with our minds and emotions as well as our cycles. I understand your feelings of anxiety but you only need to read the comments on this forum to see that your experience is nothing unusual.
My periods were always clotty, heavy and regular until they stopped suddenly. Six months later I had a very light bleed and that was it, nothing since and that was nearly six years ago.
Hormonal anxiety is horrible because it's both irrational and very real but I'm sure you have nothing to worry about.
Take care and I wish you well.
K.
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I read it on another meno group. The woman most likely is genuine, I believe it was a story to help others. She is 50.
I think I had my hormones tested last year and yes I had plenty floating around, if it was last year. I think 2014 I had internal scan and ultrasound. Just a few fibroids back then.
I think because she reported assuming it was meno, as I assume, though I am 54. I think I thought bleeding showing cancer would be continuous, please don't write any stories to the contrary.
Anyway it's obviously my stupid anxiety which had been great for months kicking me.
If I had another blood test would that prove the odd period was meno
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Sarai - did it *feel* like a period in the lead-up to the bleed and after?
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CKLD I did have sore boobs for month before and blamed it on changing from star flower oil to primrose oil. But I had a massive disruptive shock the night before, a relative died suddenly of a heart attack alone in a car, and sleep was lost and the fall out was immense.
It performed exactly like the period I had 7 months before, and tailed off over the week as normal. Now nearly 3 months of nothing but flushes increasing.
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HORMONES >:( ::)
How awful - such a shock! which can of course, cause all kinds of body functional upheavals!
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Flippin heck so my body is trying again to produce a period, I had day and night sweats so started on sage tablets, also been drinking soya milk now today it's trying again, nothing at all since February. Bloody hell all this shit scares me.
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and I have no hrt to muddy the waters. I could accept that is is par for the course if I was sure it is. Why did somebody tell me about cancer. I have a Dr appointment on Friday, so I cant get bloods till Monday then oh my if he wants a scan it will be weeks. This is cruel.
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I wouldnt worry about it! I had gaps of 2-3 months, then 6 months and then bled really heavily for 12 weeks,had scans etc then it stopped. Gap of 9 months then nothing for 5 yrs now. Im 49 but had been in peri for 7-8 yrs before they finally stopped!!
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clare663 are you saying you had the 9 months you mentioned, then a period, then 5 years?
I have been so calm lately no anxiety at all, no monthly symptoms, then so far this little 'show' which obviously could all progress. Damn my anxiety is back.
Its not even the periods themselves its the 'thought' it might be cancer. Ive worked my self all the way to a hysterectomy this morning already.
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Oh Sarai, this is such a trying stage and it's so difficult to make sense of what our bodies are doing. All of our experiences of peri are different, our bodies just handle things in different ways. Try not to compare yourself with the woman in the other forum who will have had a completely different life experience to you.
My cycles have been all over the place for years, anything between 9 and 145 days. The only pattern is, there is no pattern! In late stage peri FSH is unchecked and often very high and trying to desperately stimulate any old follicle. This can raise oestrogen to very high levels some times and this causes my breasts to swell and become very painful sometimes for months at a time. I think this is a very common experience and often the bleeds you can have at this stage are anovulatory. Our reproductive systems are just closing down. We're suffering the effects of a grand finale!
I too am getting ridiculously frequent hot flushes and night sweats, but only when I'm not having an oestrogen surge. I've got to the stage, after so many years of peri, where I almost embrace each new step as one step closer to getting this pesky thing over!
I really wish you well, and I know it's no help having someone say to you 'don't worry' but I think airing/sharing your angst is often the best therapy in the world. Talk to your GP see if they can reassure you. Sadly hormone tests tell you pretty much nothing at this stage because everything is changing so fast they just get a differing reading every time until you are well through.
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hI SARAI. I had 2 years where i would miss a period for months, the longest being 9 months. That was my last period 5 yrs ago. Your hormones dont just steadily drop, they fluctuate so you can have a regular cycle for months, then stop, then have a period then stop,go a few months in between then stop etc. My hot flushes started years and years ago, I thought I had a virus! This has continued on for 8+years but I am now officially postmenopaus due to not having a period for 5 years but I still get the fluctuation of hormones, just not enough to cause a bleed, but enough to give me all the symptoms.
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Yep. It's likely to be oestrogen levels dropping off. 'within normal limits' .
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Sarai I really feel for you. Last week I had what felt like ovulation- fertile mucus and a speck of pink discharge, it wasn't I know as I take my temp each morning, and there was no sustained rise. Yesterday yellow brown staining and I am in a bad mood. Also worried to if this is normal. Think I am trying to have a period but nothing so far yet today. So are you saying you have had one period normal length after a long gap of a few months and now a few days later another is trying to start?
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I went through that too. Because I had 'pre-menstrual' symptoms B4 each un-expected bleed, I didn't take much notice. Maybe speak with your Practice Nurse?
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Thank you CLKD I am planning to go to the doctors by the end of the summer for a thorough check up if I am not finished by then, as I will be 56 and a half. My periods, if you can call them that, are getting lighter and lighter, but no sign of the end of fertile looking mucus so presume still have excess oestrogen. Did you have periods at the end that were really just spotting?
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Machair, no I had just over 7 month gap, then the day after a massive shock, I got a very heavy period that then behaved like normal and tailed off over a week. That was February, now today I got basically a spot mixed with a small amount of liquid. Basically from nowhere. I'd be fine about it if I'd not been told this sort of thing can be cancer 😥
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It might be another period coming.
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Yep. I didn't have mucus for years ::). Low back pain, irritability, weepyness then hey presto! a bleed. Red or sometimes brown flow for a few days. The most irritating thing was that the flow would be on and off for days ::) which meant I needed a panty liner >:(. In case. I didn't stop carrying sanitary protection until 5 years after my last bleed ::)
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Do you mean that you would say bleed or have brown staining for 2 days let's say, then have a day or even several apart without, then start again - that type of thing but very light? Was this at the final stage before that final bleed?
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Mine were intermittent for 2+ years, I didn't really notice because iwas caring for several sick/elderly pets. It was a relief not to get a bleed ::). I had red blood as a 'normal for me' period, sometimes it was brown for a few days then maybe a gap of months. Then low back pain etc. and within a few days a bleed or brown discharge would appear. Until then my periods had been 32 days apart regular with INTENSE pains which is why I went onto the Pill and was eventually sterilised.
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Oh I see what you mean- more irregular gaps, rather than stop start on one episode of bleeding which is also what I have.
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I had that as a teen - also I would bleed for 10 days, have 5 free, then another 10 days of heavy periods. Bugga :-\