Are periods supposed to get "worse" as you get older?

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HeroOfHyrule
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17 May 2021, 5:53 pm

I am wondering if my period getting "worse" is supposed to be normal or not. I used to not get many cramps or blood clots, but for awhile I've had such bad cramps that Tylenol and NSAIDs don't affect the pain much at all + the cramps make me nauseous, and now I sometimes get quarter-sized clots (they're not bigger than that though). My periods also seem to get slightly heavier every other period or so. They're not irregular though in the sense that they happen at a normal time, and there's no bleeding between periods or anything.

I have been worried that it's not normal, but nothing about my period has been "bad" enough where things online say I should go to the doctor about it. I'm also (FtM) trans, so I have been putting off going to a gyno for the first time since I've heard about trans men having bad experiences with them. I've also heard about women not being taken seriously and being treated like they're crazy by gynos for mentioning things like this.



IsabellaLinton
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17 May 2021, 5:54 pm

First thoughts: Endometriosis?

Do you know if your mother or sister have Endo?



HeroOfHyrule
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17 May 2021, 6:04 pm

IsabellaLinton wrote:
First thoughts: Endometriosis?

Do you know if your mother or sister have Endo?

I don't know about endo, but my sister might have PCOS, though she does have a different dad than me and I don't know if anyone in my mom's family had that. I will ask my mom if she or anyone in her family had endo or PCOS.

I have honestly considered it being endo, but I think that worries me more since I've heard it's hard to get gynos to take concerns about possible endo seriously, at least in the U.S.



HeroOfHyrule
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18 May 2021, 8:32 pm

My mom said she had the same issues I'm having when she still had periods. She wouldn't specify what it was from though. :scratch:

I'm going to try to go to a gynecologist, this is getting irritating and is starting to contribute to my fatigue. Hopefully they take my concerns seriously.



StickBugette
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19 May 2021, 7:29 am

Hi, I got an IUD to deal with too much bleeding. My periods have mostly stopped. I know some people have bad reactions to them, but it's really working for me. I know a non-binary person who got the seasonale birth control so they only get a few periods a year. I prefer no periods, but they were concerned about getting a foreign object inserted inside them.

Sometimes people don't know that birth control can be used for managing periods and not just preventing pregnancy.
I don't know whether these strategies work for endo, though.

In my experience, gynos love to prescribe birth control and you should have no problems getting it. You don't even have to convince someone your periods are bad. Good luck.



HeroOfHyrule
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19 May 2021, 6:34 pm

StickBugette wrote:
Hi, I got an IUD to deal with too much bleeding. My periods have mostly stopped. I know some people have bad reactions to them, but it's really working for me. I know a non-binary person who got the seasonale birth control so they only get a few periods a year. I prefer no periods, but they were concerned about getting a foreign object inserted inside them.

Sometimes people don't know that birth control can be used for managing periods and not just preventing pregnancy.
I don't know whether these strategies work for endo, though.

In my experience, gynos love to prescribe birth control and you should have no problems getting it. You don't even have to convince someone your periods are bad. Good luck.

I think I've heard of people with endo using birth control for it, though I'm not sure. I'll certainly look into going on it if this continues to be a problem.

Thank you for your response!



ArtsyFarsty
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21 May 2021, 10:29 pm

Mine were always super light and mildly-symptomatic until my 40s, at which point they have become almost debilitating. At my last exam, I asked to try the pill were you only get a few periods each year, but the clinician was really pushing for an IUD instead. I’ve never taken hormonal birth control, so I am not keen on my introduction being in the form of an object that needs to be removed, as opposed to simply discontinuing pills. So, I left with nothing.



HeroOfHyrule
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25 May 2021, 12:47 am

ArtsyFarsty wrote:
Mine were always super light and mildly-symptomatic until my 40s, at which point they have become almost debilitating. At my last exam, I asked to try the pill were you only get a few periods each year, but the clinician was really pushing for an IUD instead. I’ve never taken hormonal birth control, so I am not keen on my introduction being in the form of an object that needs to be removed, as opposed to simply discontinuing pills. So, I left with nothing.

I'm sorry to hear that you weren't able to get birth control that you were comfortable using. I also feel uneasy about the idea of having something that needs to be removed from my body as birth control, so I don't know if I'd feel comfortable using an IUD.

My periods were also very light up until a couple years ago. They got a bit heavier and shorter then, but it is more recent that I'm having an issue with very heavy, short, and painful ones.



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25 May 2021, 1:15 am

I was always on birth control since the age of 13. Then I was off them and I did fine and then my cramps would come back once a month feeling like I was constipated, I was in my early twenties then. I would solve it by popping in a tylenol or something and then I would feel normal again. Then I got pregnant and then was breastfeeding so no more period pain and then they started to come back when I was done nursing but it took months and sometimes the pain would be so bad, it would get into my upper legs but I always took a tylonel pill. Then I was pregnant again and had a IUD this time and nursed so I have not dealt with cramps except for on occasion and one day I woke up thinking I was sick but nope, it was my period and I thought I was going to throw up and thought I had gotten the bug but it only lasted a day. I plan to stay on the IUD to avoid any period pain.


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SharonB
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08 Jun 2021, 12:04 am

Personal experiences: (1) My cramps were awful early in my life and are nearly non existent in my late 40s. Come to think of it, I did have some fibroids removed along the way. I don't recall if the decrease in cramping correlated to that. (2) My sister had it go the opposite way: nary a cramp early in life and severe cramps in her 40s. In her case, she changed her diet and the cramps lessened, coincidentally or not.

Wishing you good doctor care and relief.



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13 Jun 2021, 10:23 pm

You shouldn't put off going to the doctor. I don't think it's anything scary like cancer but why be in that much discomfort?

Feel better soon. :)


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robotrecall
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08 Jul 2021, 5:16 pm

What about irregular periods? I had a late period by 2 weeks in April, and I skipped completely in June. Today, my period is spotty.



IsabellaLinton
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08 Jul 2021, 7:43 pm

robotrecall wrote:
What about irregular periods? I had a late period by 2 weeks in April, and I skipped completely in June. Today, my period is spotty.


Did you get Covid vaccines in those months?

They mess with women's cycles.



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09 Jul 2021, 11:14 am

Every hormonal changes seem to get worse in my case. Pre- and post-menstrual more so.

In fact, my periods by itself seem to get better while ovulations getting worse.


My sister's periods get worse.
At least we knew why and found out at random during her work (she's a radiologist and her boss had her checked). It's been treated.
Still more painful than mine.

Not my case though. Never checked it, never had any treatments for it. Yet.
And barely minded any pain.


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robotrecall
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09 Jul 2021, 2:08 pm

IsabellaLinton wrote:
robotrecall wrote:
What about irregular periods? I had a late period by 2 weeks in April, and I skipped completely in June. Today, my period is spotty.


Did you get Covid vaccines in those months?

They mess with women's cycles.

No, I haven't gotten it yet, since I've read stories of Astraveneca and Pfzier. I want to wait a while longer to take a vaccine. My periods have been irregular for so long that I've stopped tracking them.



HeroOfHyrule
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09 Jul 2021, 4:02 pm

League_Girl wrote:
I was always on birth control since the age of 13. Then I was off them and I did fine and then my cramps would come back once a month feeling like I was constipated, I was in my early twenties then. I would solve it by popping in a tylenol or something and then I would feel normal again. Then I got pregnant and then was breastfeeding so no more period pain and then they started to come back when I was done nursing but it took months and sometimes the pain would be so bad, it would get into my upper legs but I always took a tylonel pill. Then I was pregnant again and had a IUD this time and nursed so I have not dealt with cramps except for on occasion and one day I woke up thinking I was sick but nope, it was my period and I thought I was going to throw up and thought I had gotten the bug but it only lasted a day. I plan to stay on the IUD to avoid any period pain.

My cramps feel like they can go almost all the way through my abdomen and groin sometimes, and it makes me feel very ill. After thinking about it more if I were to go on birth control I would probably get an IUD, even though I'm not fond of the fact it'd have to be inserted and removed from me. I'm glad to hear you find that an IUD helps you.