[greeneyes]

I'm 46.
My periods have gotten heavier in the past year.
Or at least they seem so.
I'm having lots of clots. And by clots, I mean globs.
I can feel them pass out of me.
They slide past a tampon. What a mess!
I'm using a super+ tampon and a pad just to make sure I don't leave a mess behind.

I told my Dr. during my regular pap in October.
He checked me for anemia, hormone level, thyroid and everything came back normal.
He asked when my Mom went thru the change.
She didn't. (Shoulda seen the look on the Dr's face. )
She had a hysterectomy. She was 42 when I was born, and had 2 mastectomies and the hysterectomy before I started school. So if there were any hormonal related changes, I wouldn't have been aware of them.
He asked about night sweats, hot flashes, mood swings.
I haven't had those. At least nothing new. (There are still times I'd just as soon slit your gizzard as look at you. But I've always been that way.)

I guess I'm looking for a menopausal or post-menopausal woman to tell me if this is just part of getting older or not. I thought peri-menopause meant lighter, less frequent periods. Mine were always fairly light before. And regular could mean anywhere from 4 to 6 weeks with 33-34 days being the norm. Now its 28-29 days.

I've looked on the internet and menorrhagia/clots seems to be associated with fibroids, but I have no pain.

I'm due to go back to the Dr. this spring for my regular follow-up and want some information to go with.

Anybody been through this?

Thanks.

[operalady]

I was going to say it sounds like fibroids to me,...
but it could just be part of things changing before the big change.

My periods used to be very light, and every 28 days, down to the hour!
Now, I never know when I'll have one, and have lots of clots and sometimes it is heavier and some times very very light.
I'm 48, and have been having perimenopausal symptoms for a good 6 years.

The best thing is to go to your dr prepared with concerns and questions.
Let us know how things turn out for you.

[DebB]

Hi greeneyes ~

I'm 51 and peri-menopausal (still menstruating), but I think my body is trying to wind on down as far as menstruating is concenrned. I'm on bio-identical hormones.

I've always had what I consider heavy periods. I will pass clots (have for years) about the size of a pencil eraser (diameter). For the most part, my periods are still pretty regular, although I've now missed 3-4 separate months in the past 18 months.

Wish I could be of more help! *Ü*
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Started Somersizing Feb. 2001

[wiredfoxterror]

I am also 51 and peri-menopausal. My periods have gotten VERY HEAVY. I don't have sweats or a lot of other stuff yet, and I skipped one period in the past 12 months. Unfortunately, they come more often, with 5 days less in between. OB brand Ultra is the only tampon that works, plus a super pad.
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[egglover]

Greeneyes,

My sympathies to you, I know what you are going thru is indeed feeling gross! I myself had something similar, and I hope that it will comfort your mind to know that the bleeding does end, and for me, at least, it WAS associated with going thru the change of life, menopause.

I did seek medical attention, and let the Doctor do surgery on my uterus, but he let the bleeding continue by not giving me the hysterectomy that I wanted. Perhaps he knew that would cause me other problems. The doctors around my area usually do two uterus scraping operations, and biopsy, and then a hysterectomy possibly.

When I read that fibroid tumors shrink up on their own at menopause, then I waited for that to happen. When it did, the bleeding stopped.

I hope that my experience helps you to not feel alone! This is the perfect time for you to pamper yourself!

[greeneyes]

Thanks everyone.

I think at my next Dr. visit, I will ask about an ultrasound to determine if it is fibroids.

[egglover]

deleated

[jkmfrog]

Greeneyes - feel free to send me an email because I'd be glad to describe my experiences which mirror yours.

I do not have fibriods, never did, but you would need an ultrasound to be sure (been there, got the t shirt).

I'm 39, I've been peri-menopausal for at least 5 years. Every woman responds differently, but heavy periods are not unusual. I won't descibe my problems here, but happy to discuss privately. My doctor told me that the heavy periods were caused by a lack of progesterone that caused the lining of the uterus to build up to extreme levels. The clots are large pieces of the uterine lining sloughing off - a normal part of TOM, but not at the ammounts I was experiencing.

She prescribed sythetic progesterone, and later a progest/estrogen combo to even out my hormones. It totally helped with the bleeding - HOWEVER my reaction to the hormones was pretty serious: severe anxiety and depression, panic attacks, horrible debilitating migranes every couple of weeks, cervical changes that mimiced cancer (that was fun, not.), a weight gain of 35lbs in 2 months (also related to the depression and anxiety). In the end I was on 4 different meds to deal with the side effects, and the side efects from those meds...and so on... and I felt like utter crap.

After months of testing and doctor's visits I did some research about hormones and the way my body responds. Ultimately I decided to get off them, and all the other meds, make a bunch of life style changes (including eliminating as many foods grown with pesticides/hormones as possible, reducing or eliminating dairy, losing weight, and adding some vitamin supplements), and use a natural progesterone cream (which I seem to tolerate better than the synthetic).

Aside from the first few months of my weight loss when my estrogen levels spiked up from losing the fat, my TOM is very manageable and I am not ahving any "accidents." Clotting is reduced (back to levels that are normal for me - but not really normal- lol.)

Everyone has to make different decisions on what to do about this based on thier own situation. Regardless of what you do, ask your doctor a lot of questions, ask if there are other things you can do, don't just accept the doctor's hurried, medication based solution if it turns out its not working for you. I accepted all thier advice thinking it was my only option - It caused a lot of grief and problems for myself and everyone around me that 2.5 years later I am still sorting out.

Jennifer