Perimenopause..at 44?

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SandyInNJ63
SandyInNJ63 Member Posts: 104
edited June 2014 in Life After Breast Cancer
Perimenopause..at 44?
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  • SandyInNJ63
    SandyInNJ63 Member Posts: 104
    edited January 2008

    I'm not sure what's going on with me, but my period for the past year and a half has been very irregular.  I sometimes get it after only 15 days, and right now, it's been 44 days since my last period.  I even took a pregnancy test yesterday because it's never been so late.

    I have a hard time believing that this is early menopause because I'm not experiencing any other symptoms.  And I know what the symptoms feel like because I was on Tamoxifen and Lupron for 2 years...but that was over 3 years ago since I stopped any hormonal treatments.  After i stopped them, my period resumed to a normal cycle, and stayed that way until a year or so ago.  Also, when it does come, it lasts anywhere from 24 to 48 hours and its over.

    Could there be any other explanation why this is happening, or could I really be simply starting the change?

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  • Member_of_the_Club
    Member_of_the_Club Member Posts: 3,646
    edited January 2008

    Perimenopause starts a good ten years before actual menopause, so it is very likely that is what is going on but it takes a while. I have had irregualr periods for years now (I'm 45) and I recently had my hormone levels tested and I am still solidly premenopausal, just perimenopausal.

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  • roseg
    roseg Member Posts: 3,133
    edited January 2008

    I was just reading in Oprah magazine that once you get to a 35+ day cycle that you are within 3-4 years of menopause. If you are alternating short and long cycles then probably your average is not beyond 35 days. 

    I thought that was interesting because most literature is very non-commital about what will actually happen.  Of course there are younger women with similarly irregular cycles and they're way more than 3-4 years before menopause.

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  • Beesie
    Beesie Member Posts: 12,240
    edited January 2008

    After being regular from the time I was about 14, I started having irregular periods when I was 43-44.  Sometimes I wouldn't get my period for 3 months, then I'd get 14 days apart.  It drove me nuts because I never had any idea when it would come.  That also meant that if I was feeling cranky, I didn't know if was regular old PMS or if I was just cranky! 

    I went to a gyne and got confirmation that it was peri-menopause.  She didn't seem shocked at all by my age - in fact my recollection is that she said it was quite normal to start at that age.  My periods continued like that until I was 48 and then stopped completely.  So by 49 I was officially in menopause.  That's early but not extraordinarily so.

    It sounds like you may be on a similar schedule.

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  • Member_of_the_Club
    Member_of_the_Club Member Posts: 3,646
    edited January 2008

    Interesting about the 35+ day cycle, but I wonder if the time frame is the same for those of us on tamoxifen. I alternate between periods that are months apart and tehn I will have a few months in which I am regular. So i assume I am getting near to the end, but i wonder if the tamoxifen is throwing it all off.

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  • misslu
    misslu Member Posts: 62
    edited January 2008

    For whatever it's worth... I am 45 and have been having irregular periods and now one VERY heavy one.  I read about a book called The Change Before The Change.  It is written by a doctor and is very informative. 

    Shonda

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  • SandyInNJ63
    SandyInNJ63 Member Posts: 104
    edited January 2008

    Thanks all.  Guess what finally showed up. 

    My biggest problem with all of this right now is birth control.  With a regular cycle, we were able to easily use the calendar as a way to be more careful, but I can't rely on that now.  I've asked my husband for years now to please consider a vasectomy, and all I get is "yeah, I know", but he never does anything about it.  It may have to end up being me that gets my tubes tied because I realized with this latest scare that an unplanned pregnancy at this point in my life would really suck.  I should tell him no sex until he gets it snipped..that'll wake him up..lol

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  • Member_of_the_Club
    Member_of_the_Club Member Posts: 3,646
    edited January 2008

    I had my tubes tied. It was easy.

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  • PSK07
    PSK07 Member Posts: 781
    edited January 2008

    Sandy-after being on BCP for 13 years after the birth of my 2nd child, I had to stop immediately once diagnosed with DCIS at 46. Fun times. First few periods were right on schedule. Then it was 1 week on, 2 weeks off. Then I ended up with the 3 week period from hell. A visit to my PCP, a transvaginal ultrasound, and a session with a gynecologist later, I'm diagnosed with adenomyosis and cysts on my ovaries. The gyn wants me to consider a Mirena IUD, saying that the synthetic progestin does not circulate in the bloodstream in quantities sufficient to affect BC risk. It would help the adenomyosis (endometrial tissue buildup in the muscle of the uterus) and be a reasonable birth control option. Still trying to figure it all out.Like you, pregnancy isn't exactly on my agenda. 

    You'd think after all we go through preg, childbirth, PMS, breast cancer, and all, the d...husbands would be lining up to be snipped. Wink Instead it's like we're imposing.

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  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Member Posts: 1,376
    edited January 2008

    the average age for menopause is 51 and perimenopause can last  up to 13 years, so it could theorectically start as early as 38.

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  • Member_of_the_Club
    Member_of_the_Club Member Posts: 3,646
    edited January 2008

    I should have said more. My husband didn't want a vasectomy, which was annoying, but it is his body and I wouldn't want him dictating what I should do with my body. So I decided to honor his choice and make my own and get my tubes tied, which is more involved than a vasectomy but was still an easy procedure for me.

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  • SandyInNJ63
    SandyInNJ63 Member Posts: 104
    edited January 2008

    Believe it or not, that IUD thingy kinda freaks me out.  First, it's so hard to imagine just a little piece of plastic prevents pregnancy.  Also, the idea of them placing inside my uterus sounds unpleasant.  I had the doctor once trying to get a sample of my uterus to biopsy and I was ready to give him a kick to the head..it hurt so bad.  "A little cramping" my a$$! lol

    For the past couple years, every time I visit the gyn I talk to him about getting a tubal and he gives me the literature and then I think about it.  Still can't seem to just make the damn appointment, which I guess, makes me no different than my husband.

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  • roseg
    roseg Member Posts: 3,133
    edited January 2008

    At 44 your chances of getting pregneant aren't real high.

    Why not just use condoms/foam or one of those vaginal inserts?  

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  • Sassa
    Sassa Member Posts: 1,588
    edited January 2008

    I started in with the period changes at 40.  Here I am, 57, and still perimenopausal. 

    I thought the AC chemo last year would throw me into menopause; no such luck.  Three months after finishing chemo, my period came back.  ARRRRRRGH!!!Yell

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