6 months with no period...fsh level tested 70.6

ok so hello, I'm new here...I have been having period issues now for the past 2 years or so....my cycles slowly became further and further apart, I would skip a period or even two then I would have 2 regular cycles in a row followed by skipping and so on...well it has progressed and today 2 days ago I GOT A EXTREMEMLY HEAVY HEAVY CRAMPY Period...this period is 6 MONTHS OVERDUE! yes I went 6 months without a period and then wham here it is with a vengeance. I went to my ob/gyn she did a pelvic/rectal exam didn't feel or see anything abnormal, pap was normal....thyroid function normal, fsh level was 70.6...so at the age of 41 I was told probably menopause...but still needed to go another 6 months to be sure....well here I am hemorraging! This entire past year I have always felt like I was ovulating a weird ache in front of my right hip with movement (which reminds me of ovulation pain)...lower back aches tenderness up my right side, more constipation, swollen breasts that feel weird and sometimes both of them ache in the same spots under my arms and to my nipples....lots more bloating..lets put it this way....the pms never leaves me! I am not cranky but I feel cruddy not getting any break from the worst physical parts I have known of pms...is this normal? plus I have gained weight around my middle..I just don't even know what to think anymore or what my next step should be.....sometimes I think I might be thinking about all of this way too much....thanks for any help or advice.

[Machelle Seibel, MD]

What you are experiencing sounds very usual. In the time around menopause, it is common to feel bloated, have PMS symptoms, breast tenderness and the other things you are experiencing. It happens because your FSH is trying to make your ovary mature an egg and have it ovulate. The ovary starts to develop several eggs due to the high FSH level, but usually none actually fully mature or ovulate. So there isn't any progesterone. The estrogen causes the uterine lining to build up and eventually it is so thick it 'breaks through' and sheds partially. This can be heavy. Without the progesterone, there is never the release from the PMS or a completed shedding of the uterine lining. The heavy period is the buildup of all those 6 months of estrogen only.

Do be diagnosed with menopause, you will have to wait a year from that last period, not 6 months. In the meantime, women often experience the symptoms you are describing. You can talk with your doctor about taking progesterone every month or two or even less often. This will cause the lining to shed and relieve some of the symptoms. Eventually, the progesterone will not work because your body will not make enough estrogen for either your symptoms or your lining to shed. You can also take an estrogen progesterone combination to help. Be sure to take a multivitamin. If the bleeding continues, your doctor might want to check the uterine lining with an endometrial biopsy to be sure there is no abnormal build up of the tissue there. All of this might go on for a year or even longer.
Machelle Seibel, MD

[Chaz28]

I know exactly how you feel this started happening when i was 23 at first I thought I was pregnant for the first time. Then all those symtoms (symptoms) happened to me I am now nearly 7 months without a period. Its slowly getting longer between periods and they are getting lighter. I get so frustrated with having to wait to know I am now 28 and have only been 7 months without a priod so far. I have been tested and told there is nothing wrong its just stress it would be nice to finaly know what is going on.