The other "P" word...Perimenopause

jennh75b

Hello ladies.  I was active until several months ago when I had to leave to take a much needed break from all things TTC, but I lurk from time to time.  I probably will stick to lurking, as my BSC increases the more I talk about TTC and I've pretty much started the grieving process that I will not become a mother.  

Over the past several cycles, I've noticed a few things:  

• my periods are heavier - I have to change my tampons more often and have upgraded to super size
• my cycles have gone from about 29 days down to just 26 or 27 days 
• my cramps are getting worse
• I get overheated easily during the nights (not every night, but several times) from O time until AF comes.  I turned 41 in November.  I'm assuming I'm entering perimenopause.  

Anyone else experiencing similar changes?  My cycle was so predictable and so I had my O time down to an exact science, but now I'm wondering if I need to start using OPKs again to figure out if the O time is changing along with my cycle length. 

PoeMasque

Welcome back! (Sort of ) those can all be signs of Peri-menopause, but the only real way to know is by doing bloodwork. My understanding is that once your AMH levels are below 1 you have ~10 years until full menopause, this will struggle with fertility during those years as your body prepares to shut down the reproductive process. 

BUT! During that time you can have periods of "super fertility" as your body does a last-ditch effort to produce offspring. As always, science is still way behind on the details of all of this stuff so all of the above is general and may not apply directly to you, but there it is! 

vlagrl29

Yeah I've heard you can drop your eggs much faster as you near menopause. Good to see you again! I hear you about the bsc - I haven't had it again since I let go of all control.

Momifbysea

Good to see you @jennh75b ! I'm a little bsc myself these days...miss you around here!

jennh75b

Hi ladies ...miss you all, too!  I'm still rooting for you all!

I scheduled to see my OBGYN for an annual exam next month, so we will see what she says.  I guess I can hope that maybe there will be some super fertile times, otherwise, the cramps and extra tampons don't make this much fun.  I just feel like this is truly the beginning of the end of TTC for me.  Before it was just based on a feeling of being too old that I wanted to stop TTC, but now these signs/symptoms are making me feel old.

vlagrl29

oh I'm so sorry your feeling like that @jennh75b -  I'm hoping a miracle happens to you.  I can't remember did you  have any medical intervention like IUI IVF?

jennh75b

Thanks so much @vlagrl29.  We tried one IUI and decided that we weren't going to go any further with treatments.  Before that I tried clomid alone for several months.  

I am just reading up and read about your loss, I am so very sorry.  *hugs*

vlagrl29

thanks @jennh75b - I can't wait to hear about my progesterone results.  I really hope I hear from the nurse today and I hope they are in normal levels I really don't want to take clomid right now and the only reason I would take P suppositories is if it really did come back low.  But I've let go of all that worry and tracking and I'm just over it and don't want to go back to that mind frame.  I've already convinced myself I'm not pregnant this cycle.