Oh, sorry, I see now that you said how old you were in your first post and I just read right over it.
I wish we could just make it stop. It probably will have to run its course, at least this cycle. But it most likely is a symptom of perimenopause, which means you're in for more of the same.
Stress, changes in the weather (like how hot it has gotten recently), changes in your level of activity or in the kinds of medicine you take can all affect your hormones. Has anything big changed for you in the last few weeks?
If not, check out the Mayo Clinic's page on perimenopause and see if it sounds like it's what you are dealing with. There are blue links down the left-hand side that will take you to more pages with symptoms, causes, and treatments:
If this happens again next month, you might talk to your doctor about it. Many recommend the use of low-dose birth control pills to help regulate periods that are wildly irregular due to pre-menopause (even though you don't need it for birth control itself).
Perimenopause is different for every woman. Some have many symptoms and they last for up to 10 years; others go through it in two or three years. Some have severe hot flashes and night sweats, others sort of breeze through that part. It's a time of life when we have to weigh each symptom as it begins happening and decide how to handle them.
You might also be interested in this Discovery Health article on solutions for seven symptoms of perimenopause. It deals with hot flashes, lower libido, vaginal dryness, sleep disturbances, weight gain, dry skin and mood swings. Unfortunately it doesn't deal with the spotting and long period that you're experiencing now, but it's very good info that might be helpful in the near future:
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Oh, sorry, I see now that you said how old you were in your first post and I just read right over it.
I wish we could just make it stop. It probably will have to run its course, at least this cycle. But it most likely is a symptom of perimenopause, which means you're in for more of the same.
Stress, changes in the weather (like how hot it has gotten recently), changes in your level of activity or in the kinds of medicine you take can all affect your hormones. Has anything big changed for you in the last few weeks?
If not, check out the Mayo Clinic's page on perimenopause and see if it sounds like it's what you are dealing with. There are blue links down the left-hand side that will take you to more pages with symptoms, causes, and treatments:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/perimenopause/ds00554
If this happens again next month, you might talk to your doctor about it. Many recommend the use of low-dose birth control pills to help regulate periods that are wildly irregular due to pre-menopause (even though you don't need it for birth control itself).
Here are a couple of pages that discuss this:
http://familydoctor.org/online/famdocen/home/women/reproductive/menopause/326.html
http://health.msn.com/womens-health/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100058035
Perimenopause is different for every woman. Some have many symptoms and they last for up to 10 years; others go through it in two or three years. Some have severe hot flashes and night sweats, others sort of breeze through that part. It's a time of life when we have to weigh each symptom as it begins happening and decide how to handle them.
You might also be interested in this Discovery Health article on solutions for seven symptoms of perimenopause. It deals with hot flashes, lower libido, vaginal dryness, sleep disturbances, weight gain, dry skin and mood swings. Unfortunately it doesn't deal with the spotting and long period that you're experiencing now, but it's very good info that might be helpful in the near future:
http://health.discovery.com/centers/womens/perimenopause/perimenopause.html
June 25, 2009 - 6:28pmThis Comment
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