3 months and no period

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-06-2003
3 months and no period
5
Fri, 12-19-2003 - 11:58pm
My last period was Oct 7, 2003. I have had problems before, but never 3 months. I had a son in 1995 after stopping the Depro Provera birth control and I bled for 26-28 days a month for almost 2 years. My Dr. seemed to think that was o.k. ....needless to say, I found a new Dr. and got divorced too...those grumpy moods and being tired,.Anyway, after being put on the pill, my periods were more regular. Sometimes every other month, but I always got it. I went off the pill in Sept and behold,,no period. I saw my Dr. in October to obtain birth control again. I figured I'd try the patch. Only I couldn't use it until the 1st Sunday after my period. I AM STILL WAITING. I went back to the Dr. and had a pregnancy test..not pregnant. He told me if I didn't get it in December, to come back and he would administer some type of drug to try and bring it on. I just turned 40 in Oct. Am I beginning Menopause, or is something else wrong. I am a bit scared. My social life is suffering too. I also have noticed that I am experiencing some pain during intercourse. It does stop after a while, but it hurts like the dickens for at least the first 3-5 minutes. Can anyone give me a clue as to what might be happening to me. I would appreciate your response.

Debi C

Avatar for cl_opheliabug
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-22-2003
Sat, 12-20-2003 - 3:33am

Hi!

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-21-2003
Sun, 12-21-2003 - 2:25pm
My last period was Oct. 17th and I, too, just got off the pill. So...I'm RIGHT there with you! I have read that it may take several months to get your period back. I am 29 and have gone off the pill once before in the last 10 years and didn't have this happen. You seem to have a lot going on right now and I'm sure the holiday stress isn't helping! It's hard, but I"m trying to relax and not stress about it.......(almost impossible, I know!).

But..I just wanted to let you know that I am in the same boat, girl! Misery loves company! I"m sure everything will be ok. Stress can really mess up your cycles, so...try to do something calming!

Good luck!

(Isn't it funny...the ONLY time in my life I've ever WISHED for a period is now...trying to conceive!)
iVillage Member
Registered: 05-14-2003
Mon, 12-22-2003 - 11:30am

Hi Debi!


Have you been tested for menopause?

 


 


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iVillage Member
Registered: 12-30-2003
Tue, 12-30-2003 - 10:34pm
I am also right there with you! I have only had 6 periods this year! I have always had irregular periods but never this bad. I am some what concerned because my husband and I are wanting to try to have a baby sometime soon. My doctor didn't seem all that concerned, but I have recently relocated to a different state, so I don't even have a doctor now. Hopefully everything will work out with ALL of us!!!!
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-15-2003
Thu, 01-01-2004 - 2:49pm
Hi Debi,

This is a really long post, and I apologize, but maybe the info will help someone. It's possible its early menopause, but your history sounds an awful lot like mine, so you may want to see an endocrinologist and have a hormone work-up done.

I've had menstrual problems for YEARS. I started my period when I was 10 and had completely normal predictable cycles until I was about 16, when things started to change. It started with some very heavy and very painful periods....and I mean put me to bed pain. I went to the dr, and he misdiagnosed me with polycystic ovaries, but never ordered any blood work. He put me on the BC pill to "regulate" my cycle. But I just continued to have problems, so he kept changing my pill trying to find one that regulated my cycle. Either I would completely skip periods, or I would have breakthrough bleeding throughout the month.

Then I got pregnant. After my son was born, my breasts never completely dried up. I was able to squeeze a few drops of milk out even years after I had stopped breastfeeding. And my cycle continued to be all over the map, most frequently skipping periods. It then took me almost a year to conceive my second child. After she was born, my milk production was like a cow....I had to pump my breasts AFTER my daughter was full, just to get relief. And again, my breasts never dried up. And my menses were only once every 2-3 months. Other symptoms that accompanied this were headache, MAJOR mood swings/depression, unexplained uncontrolled anger (my poor family….its surprising I am still married), vaginal irritation (from dryness to extreme itching and burning), and low libido. And all this time I was in and out of drs offices and never got any answers. Most often they just examined me, said everything was fine and sent me home. They never ordered any blood work. But I knew my body and I KNEW something was wrong. But darned if I could convince a dr of that!

I had the Norplant put in in 1992 on the advice of an OB-GYN. For the first year and a half I had no periods at all. Then things started changing, where I would spot for a few days a month.....and the number of days I spotted kept getting longer until I was spotting continually. After 6 months of this, I had the Norplant removed, and an IUD inserted, so I could get off all hormonal BC. I continued to spot. The dr gave me a 2 week course of high dose estrogen trying to force my system into cycling. It didn't work. So he just kind of left me hanging and acted like it wasn't a big deal. After a year and a half, I finally stopped spotting....I then had fairly regular periods, but they were pretty light, even though the IUD is supposed to cause heavy periods. A year and a half ago, I had the IUD removed after DH had a vasectomy. And my cycle changed again, going lighter and lighter and shorter and shorter until I only had about 12 hours of dark brown discharge every 29 days. I also developed a whole lot or premenopause symptoms like insomnia, vaginal dryness, itching and irritation, hot flashes, headache, mood swings/PMS, and days of really bad anger for no reason. I’m 33 years old….too young for menopause! I saw a new OB-GYN who sent me to an endocrinologist.

So the root of my whole problem was elevated prolactin levels from a pituitary tumor. It was never polycystic ovaries (my LH/FSH ratio is 1.5, and both tend to be low) The prolactin is a pregnancy hormone responsible for milk production. And it messes up the other hormone levels, particularly estrogen and progesterone (which is why most women who are breast feeding don't have periods and don't get pregnant). And over the years I have been misdiagnosed and misdiagnosed by OB-GYN after OB-GYN. I’ve had drs treat me like a hypochondriac and like a hysterical female who was obsessed with her cycle. It wasn’t until I saw an endocrinologist that my problem was properly diagnosed.

While most women occasionally miss a period, or have hiccups in their cycles, it is NOT normal to regularly skip periods, to only have a couple of periods a year or to bleed for long periods. Regularly missing periods or never having periods can have long term health problems….long term elevated prolactin causes osteoporosis, heart ischemia, obesity and diabetes, and possibly breast cancer. So while your problem may not be prolactin (the key symptom for prolactin was breast milk when not pregnant and the uncontrolled anger), it may be that you have another hormone imbalance that results in irregular cycles and the mood swings.

Whatever the problem, it is NOT normal to skip months of periods. I would see an endocrinologist. I suggest you do an internet search on these diseases: Hypothyroidism, hyperprolactinemia, polycystic ovarian syndrome, leutial phase dysfunction. All of these can mess up your cycles. Hormones you might want to have checked: thyroid, follicle stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone, estradiol, estrogen, progesterone, and prolactin. These can all be tested simply from a blood draw.

The good news for me is I was placed on Dostinex, a drug to shrink the tumor and lower my prolactin, and ALL of my symptoms have disappeared. My cycles are back to normal, my headaches, insomnia, vaginal irritation, and most importantly, my mood swings and uncontrolled anger GONE! I feel a hundred percent better! Good luck and come back and let us know how things go!

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