I am now forty nine years old. I had my first menstrual cycle ten days before I turned eleven so it was no shock to me when I started having signs of perimenopause in my mid forties.
It started off easy enough with my monthly cycle changing its pattern, occasional night sweats, not sleeping as well and finding myself being more emotional than normal. All things you would expect can happen.
During the past six to twelve months it has taken on some new changes. I have many nights that I can not sleep for more than five hours. My cycles have been about two weeks apart; averaging one and a half cycles per month. My period flow is heavier and longer than before. When I miss a cycle, the next one lasts twice as long.
I missed the month before last so I expected the next one to be longer. What I did not expect was for it to last for a month or for it to keep getting heavier as that month went on. Flooding of the heaviest over night pads started to occur. I also passed larger than normal blood clots that got worse as the bleeding continued.
During the fourth week I began taking iron supplements, every other day, because I was worried about becoming anemic due to the blood loss. In hindsight, I should have called my Physician sooner but I waited until near the end of the fourth week.
When I seen my Doctor, he confirmed that it can make you anemic. They tested me and I was borderline anemic, even though I had taken the iron supplements.
Anemia is a serious condition and it may not be the only one you have to worry about. An estrogen-progesterone imbalance, polyps, and fibroid growth during perimenopause can also cause heavy prolonged menstrual bleeding.
About twenty five percent of woman experience this type of extreme heavy bleeding during perimenopause. I was not aware of this fact until it happened to me.
The moral of this story is to make women aware this can happen and that you should see your Physician if it happens to you.
