Irregular Periods for 8 months (age: 34)

[borninquisitive]

Current:

Last year: missed two periods.
This year: these last 7 periods have been different. For starters, they’ve been right on time for the first time in my life (28 day cycle as apposed to my average 40 day cycle). They’ve been shorter (3 days apposed to 7 days) and heavier with the exception of the last two.
June or July: I passed a clot the size of a ping-pong ball. It wasn’t painful but felt strange.

January-May I had night sweats days prior to and first day of my period as did I this month.

I've been flushing frequently and after months of drier skin (normaly mixed) have been experiencing oily hair and complexion.

I gave birth to my last son June of 2004. My hair has continued to fall out since and have cut my very long hair to short on account of it.

I did have 3 TSH tests done: August 05: 1.54 Feb. 1.19 Aug. 06: 2.1
Normal



Reproductive history

Started period at age 15
Hit and miss periods for 2 years and at 17 had severe menstrual pain on the first day of periods. Would break out in sweats, vomit-along with diarrhea. Would also pass clots.
This stopped after the birth of my first child.
For the most part, I’ve always been two weeks late starting my period. Would occasionally miss one in the distant past if I were either very stressed or sick.

All 4 children were born 2 weeks “late.” This followed my typical 2 week late menstrual cycle.
No abortions or miscarriages.

As a side-note, never was able to nurse my babies. My right breast lacks the necessary means to have been able to.

Any thoughts?

Thanks much,
~Kate

[Machelle Seibel, MD]

A. It is difficult to be certain what has caused your cycles to be different.  It could be perimenopause and that is worth determining.  Ask your doctor to run a blood test for FSH.  If that value is starting to increase, it typically means you are nearing perimenopause.  As menopause approaches, cycles typically get shorter.  The fact that you have gone from 40 day cycles to 28 day cycles could be just that � a shortening due to perimenopause.  A blood test for the hormone prolactin might also be helpful in finding out why your cycles have changed.

An increase in other hormones such as testosterone or DHEA-S could lead to oily skin or even hair loss on your scalp. Checking those hormones would be a reasonable idea as well.  Those results along with a gyn exam should help to tell the cause of your problem.  
Machelle M. Seibel, MD

[borninquisitive]

As an aside, recently spoke to my sister about this and she is going through the very same and has for about 4 years. She is 38.
Having said this, my mother didn't have any issues such as these. In fact, in going through Menopause (50s) she didn't have a difficult time at all.

[borninquisitive]

Thanks so much for your reply. I will be printing it out for my doctor.

Much appreciated,
~Kate