Menopause: Not with a bang but with a whimper?

January 27, 2016 7:52 AM

I know, you're not my doctor. But is this what menopause / perimenopause looks like, or something else?

I'm 46 and my period is about 3 weeks late. I've always been fairly irregular, but it's far more likely to come early than late, and other than during pregnancies it's never been more than a week late. I took a pregnancy test at 1 week late and it was negative. I'm having none of the pregnancy symptoms I experienced in past pregnancies, and also no menopause symptoms - I feel normal. So is it safe assuming this is perimenopause? Or is this a test again situation (we have had unprotected sex, but infrequently and I've had 5 years of secondary infertility even with IVF, so it seems unlikely)? Or am I being too zen about this and it's actually a call-my-doctor warning?

posted by my left sock to Health & Fitness (12 answers total)

It could be perimenopause. However, your doctor would be able to let you know for sure.

But yeah, I'm finding that perimenopause had a quiet start with me - I put a period-tracking app on my ipad when I first got it 4 years ago just to be all organized-like, and it wasn't until I reviewed all the records recently that I noticed that my periods were already kinda getting funky back then, before I started getting the obvious "oh, hey, this must be a hot flash" signs that I'd started that process.

I'm gonna say this is a "call your doctor" situation, but not because I think there's anything wrong, but more because they can run hormone tests and tell you "yeah, that's what your deal is now".
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:00 AM on January 27, 2016

Well... it doesn't look like my menopause, but every woman is different [understatement]. It doesn't sound alarming to me, but if you check with your doc you'll know for sure.
posted by probably not that Karen Blair at 8:04 AM on January 27, 2016

At 46 years old with limited unprotected sex and five years of infertility, my non-expert opinion is that it is highly unlikely that you are pregnant. I agree with seeing your gyn and getting your hormone levels tested.
posted by amro at 8:05 AM on January 27, 2016

Yeah, go get your bloodwork done. I need to do the same because I'm about a year into periods that went from "set your watch" to something that happens every 3-8 weeks and might last a day or might be a horrorshow of a week and it's probably perimenopause but could also very well be my thyroid or some other bullshit.

Anyway, get your bloodwork done now just so you can get it done again in 6 months/a year and have something to compare it to.
posted by Lyn Never at 8:07 AM on January 27, 2016 [1 favorite]

Well, anecdotally, I'm the product of a woman who had unprotected sex at 45 and ended up pregnant after not getting pregnant for fourteen years. But I also have had a sudden bout of wonky period issues that turned out to be related to insulin resistance (a few years younger than you). So yeah, go get checked out just to be sure, but it doesn't sound worrisome.
posted by dpx.mfx at 8:26 AM on January 27, 2016

I think it's always a good idea to have your hormones tested just so you know what's going on in your body (I personally find my body to be endlessly fascinating), but this is more like my initial experience with menopause than not. Mostly, what it was like for me was that my periods got shorter and shorter and further and further apart, and after about six months of no period I'd be all YAY no more periods! and then I'd get one or two or three in a row, then nothing for a long while. But honestly no typical symptoms. I have a tiny problem with temperature regulation, but nothing like what my sister has gone through.
posted by janey47 at 8:54 AM on January 27, 2016 [1 favorite]

I'm 46. I just had a seventy day cycle or something like that. I do keep track of them. I've had a couple last for weeks. I have had a few really long cycles, a couple of short ones, a few normal ones. Some hot flashes. They started about two years ago. I haven't gone to get my hormone levels tested. It's pretty clear it's perimenopause and I don't really feel like I need any verification--it's not like I'm going to do something differently. At first it was kind of weird but now it's meh. We have a joke in our house that I have my period either 'always' or 'never'. I mentioned it to my doctor a couple of times and he was like, 'yeah, perimenopause' but didn't suggest *doing* anything about it, which is good, because I'm not inclined to.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 1:38 PM on January 27, 2016

To be clear, seventy days without a period. I did not menstruate for seventy days straight.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 1:39 PM on January 27, 2016 [1 favorite]

I've had a 90-day cycle in the past year, and I've also had a period that lasted for two whole weeks. (It was light, but yeah.) I called my doctor about that one and she said "oh. Yeah, that happens with perimenopause."
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 2:07 PM on January 27, 2016 [1 favorite]

This seems quite standard to me. A longer cycle and then hot flushes and/or night sweats follow. Mine when from rare to common.

Also I don't know if this is one of those things you're not supposed to know about until you're inducted into the coven, but I had no idea and was horrified so I'll just warn you in advance in case this happens to you too: my night sweats are not just sweaty, they REEK. Charming.
posted by DarlingBri at 2:08 PM on January 27, 2016 [2 favorites]

I'm a dude who doesn't know much about these things so take my question with a huge grain of salt but have you taken a pregnancy test again since the first one?
posted by I-baLL at 5:01 PM on January 27, 2016

I think all these answers are right, that you are probably not pregnant. But it is possible, so you should check again to be sure.
posted by CathyG at 1:27 PM on January 28, 2016