| Author | |
mom2mpr
Forum All-Star
Joined: May 16 2006
Location: N/A
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1550
|
| Posted: Sept 15 2011 at 5:49pm | IP Logged
|
 |
|
I haven't been charting for over a year and have no reason to believe I'm pregnant. I'm 48. I can't remember my last cycle--I'm thinking the beginning of July. I'm feeling fine. Occasionally crampy-but nothing is happening.
Is it the start of menopause? Might I get my "friend" at some time again? It doesn't just stop, does it? Will it be heavy if I get it again? I'm worried because I don't want any surprizes. Any older ladies out there that can talk me through this?
I don't want to call my midwife because the one I have now will probably make me come in. And I feel fine and except for being a little sad about the loss of childbearing years(even though I wasn't too good at that) I don't want to make a big deal of it.
My mom is no help because she had a hysterectomy at 35.
__________________
Anne, married to dh 16 years!, ds,(97), Little One (02), and dd (02).
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
JodieLyn
Forum Moderator
Joined: Sept 06 2006
Location: Oregon
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 12234
|
| Posted: Sept 15 2011 at 6:02pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
I can't advise you with btdt stories. but I think I've heard from some friends that while you could certainly be getting close to menopause that it's a year without cycles that is the deciding factor and that they could go 6 months or even more and then get a cycle. So you may be done or may not be.
 I hope you're able to get the answers you need.
__________________
Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
-Sir Walter Scott
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
St. Ann
Forum All-Star
Joined: Oct 20 2006
Location: Germany
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 2137
|
| Posted: Sept 16 2011 at 1:43am | IP Logged
|
|
|
Anne, I am also 48  and also stopped "charting" 2 or 3 years ago, so I was never really sure of the exact day of the beginning of my cycle. I know that in the last year I did not have a cycle every month. I have also started carrying pads in my purse to be prepared just in case. In my case the heavier bleeding is caused by the %#@%## fibroids I have and nothing else. I have heard many different stories of how menopause begins, so you really can't know for sure ahead of time. Outside stress has a big impact on how this time is for a woman (from what I've heard).
Dear Anne , we are slowly beginning a new phase of our life! I am sure God has great things in store for us!
__________________
Stephanie
Wife and mother to Hannah '96, Maria '99, Dorothea '01, Helena '03
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
mom2mpr
Forum All-Star
Joined: May 16 2006
Location: N/A
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1550
|
| Posted: Sept 16 2011 at 4:32am | IP Logged
|
|
|
Thanks, ladies.
Stephanie, I am the least stressed I have been in years. I think.  I'll pack the pads and try to enjoy my new freedom for as long as it lasts 
__________________
Anne, married to dh 16 years!, ds,(97), Little One (02), and dd (02).
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
SallyT
Forum All-Star
Joined: Aug 08 2007
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 2489
|
| Posted: Sept 16 2011 at 2:53pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
My cycles stopped in very much that same pattern (I was 44 when my last one occurred). I'd had several years of slightly strange cycles -- longer, mostly, though I didn't chart and don't remember now with any accuracy. They were mostly lighter, too. I never had the surprise heavy bleeding that some women have. Gradually the cycles just lengthened out, until I wasn't having them any more.
Apparently this is totally normal -- at least according to the various doctors I've seen, during and since that time. I would describe what was going on, and nobody batted an eye. I wish I could tell you how long I was going without a period towards the end -- at first I might skip a month here and there (and think I was pregnant, since I was only 41 when all this started, and I'd had a baby at 39), but gradually it got to be more like several months, then more like six months, then that was it. Once it had been a year, I was officially in menopause (or post-menopause, or whatever the correct term is).
Just be sure you're taking good vitamins and generally good care of yourself -- I've had a harder time adjusting to the fact that my body isn't really all that maintenance-free any more than to any other aspect of aging. It's a good time to have things like thyroid checked, and also vitamin-D levels (says the girl who just found out she's severely D-deficient). Even if you don't feel like going in or think anything's wrong (as it probably isn't), this is a good time to have a physical and to evaluate where you are in terms of your overall health. Doing that now can make a definite difference to your health later on.
Anyway, it sounds as though you don't have anything to worry about, other than the obvious and not-easy adjustment of bidding fertility goodbye. And I won't downplay that! I was relatively young when all this began for me, and it was HARD. Physically, though, what you describe sounds pretty familiar to me and probably isn't anything to be worried about, in and of itself.
Sally
__________________
Castle in the Sea
Abandon Hopefully
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
stacykay
Forum All-Star
Joined: April 08 2006
Location: Michigan
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1858
|
| Posted: Sept 16 2011 at 6:59pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
Mine are definitely waning, here, at 48 years, too. And I can't ask my family, as both my sisters had hysterectomies in late 30's and early 40's.
I do have a friend, though, who went 11 months without her period, and then boom!, it showed up again, reappearing for a few months. She's back to almost a year without.
It certainly is an interesting time!
In Christ,
Stacy in MI
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Angie Mc
Board Moderator
Joined: Jan 31 2005
Location: Arizona
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 11400
|
| Posted: Sept 20 2011 at 9:56pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
No I wouldn't worry. Let me rephrase, I'm not worrying. I've talked with my doc and she says this is normal...and that there is a wide range of "normal." I'm getting used to less than regular cycles.
Love,
__________________
Angie Mc
Maimeo to Henry! Dave's wife, mom to Mrs. Devin+Michael Pope, Aiden 20,Ian 17,John Paul 11,Catherine (heaven 6/07)
About Me
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
guitarnan
Forum Moderator
Joined: Feb 07 2005
Location: Maryland
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 10883
|
| Posted: Sept 20 2011 at 10:03pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
My doctor says that such irregularities are typical during the late 40's and that I should not consider myself in true menopause until I've gone 12 months without a cycle.
And, please take Sally's good advice re: vitamin D. I'm in the same boat. This can be a serious issue for women of our generation, as low vitamin D can lead not only to bone loss but also to muscle tissue loss.
__________________
Nancy in MD. Mom of ds (24) & dd (18); 31-year Navy wife, move coordinator and keeper of home fires. Writer and dance mom.
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
|
|
4Real Forums : St. Anne's Tearoom: Growing in Wisdom over 40
Topic: Would you worry?
