Can you stop your period? Help please.

Go and see your Doctor gillybob, there are tablets you can take to stop the period for the duration of your holiday. I had the same problem with heavy periods towards the menopause and took the tablets to prevent being unwell whilst on holiday.

As harrigran says see your doctor. He can prescribe Norethisterone which will stop your period.

It's also worth mentioning your heavy periods as there are a couple of drugs which can help Mefenamic Acid and Tranexamic Acid. They work in different ways so if one doesn't work for you the other might.

Thanks harrigran and Cressida. I really appreciate it. I was beginning to think that the holiday would be a complete disaster and I would spend the entire time in my hotel room. I will make an appointment with my GP as soon as I can. Thanks again for your help.

Miserable for you gillybob. I remember those heavy ones - I think it was just before they started to peter out. Messy, expensive and rather debilitating.
Give me a few hot flushes any day of the month!

So it could be that you are just having a final few gushy months before your ovaries say "enough already". On the other hand it could be something like fibroids so worth discussing with your GP whether or not you were going on holiday.

Hope you have a lovely cuddly sanitary-towel-free holiday

If your periods are getting heavier...have not always been so, it probably a good idea to get checked out....they can go that way in the build up to the menopause...can always remember one lady at work having a complete flood....forwarned is forarmed. Hope you get it sorted for the holiday and have a great time!,

Hi gillybob

Cressida is spot on. Noresthesterone will certainly do the trick and it was fantastic for me as I was well-known in my family for getting a period on holiday, expected or not, and way before the peri-menopause. I took this hormone for several years virtually non-stop and when I stopped taking it I had a couple of light periods and then no more so the menopause was very smooth.

I do agree though that while requesting Noresthesterone you should mention your heavy periods. Can I suggest that you give Noresthesterone a test run before your big vacation - your GP is unlikely to reject your request or a little white lie about a holiday sooner rather than later would not go amiss. I don't know whether or not I was lucky having access to it for several years but it is not a hormone associated with, for example, breast cancer.

Best of luck. Have fun.

Thank you all for such wonderful advice. I have booked an appointment with my GP and will be mentioning the very heavy periods aswell as asking for Noresthesterone which will hopefully allow me to have a pleasant holiday without worrying about the dreaded leaking !

.....I am thinking perhaps I will ask for a trial run before my holidays just to see how it works. Also I was wondering are you able to minipulate the dates of your perio with this drug? for example could I take it for x amount of weeks to force my cycle into a different (more convenient) pattern?

Thanks again ladies you are all stars.

If I remember correctly you take the tablets for as long as required and when you stop taking them you will have a period in about 48 hours.

There is a really good article about this issue in July edition of Woman and Home.

While on this subject, could we do a survey of the age you were when periods stopped. I wonder if the age given in books is still correct as it's never a question generally asked & I wonder what survey produced the results and how old it is. My final period was 7 months after my 60th birthday after a pattern of very heavy periods and migraine followed by lighter irregular ones for several years. (I was checked to see if there was anything amiss but there wasn't). My last period began on the day I learnt my daughter was pregnant and it felt like one of those weird female coincidences.

well im 56 in October and my last period ws about 3 yrs ago ! not sure if that is classed as early? I don't really know...I think the menopause is something that if it doesnt bother you too much then you don't really think about it.....

Hi gillybob, I've always been prescribed Noresthesterone to stop my periods on holiday. You take 3 tablets a day and as harrigran says you get a period about 48 hours after you stop taking them. For me it's usually much heavier than normal but well worth it.

Wow GadaboutGran. Is that a record? Any advance on 60 and 7 months?
Super-ovary gran!
Bet you had a party.

I think i must have been in early 50s. I know I have been having hot flushes for years now. Still they are preferable to periods!

I could never get fitter when i had periods as 2 weeks out of every 4, I was either pre-menstrual, having one or suffering from yukky feeling you get afterwards if you have endometriosis. Miss the mid cycle highs though.

Hi Everyone

I am 49 and still regular as clockwork in the period department. Not sure whether these things are genetically linked but my mum had a hysterectomy at 38 and my gran had a baby at 50 ! So glad the hubbie has had the snip!!

I was 55 and 7 months, what a relief to be shot of heavy periods and pain.

I was a mere child of 43. This seemed to run in the family. My doctor didn't like HRT so I never had it, but, having said that, I was lucky that I only had hot flushes for about six weeks and, as it was a hot summer that year, I couldn't be quite sure if that was the real reason...Oh and my (now ex-) husband was beginning to play away.

I think I was about 50, and good riddance as I started quite early, aged 10. My sister and I were at boarding school. She is 11 months older than me so she was very jealous! Not for long...........

As some of the other Gransnet say do gets things checked out as well as getting tablets to stop the period, any changes at our "young" age needs to be checked in case of problems. Probably just your body having a last fling.
I stopped periods when I was 55 but then felt really odd and was worried I might be pregnant. At that time you went to the chemist who did the test. When I went back for the result, the young girl said she was so sorry but it was negative, she couldn't believe the smile, I was so relieved.
Have a great holiday.

ok have a different perspective. intimacy is not always about sex. it maybe about him being romantic and nurturing even in your most vulnerable state. being emotional or bleeding or tired or poorly he can always be at the very least beautifully romantic. xxxx

I had my last period at 45! due to the fact that I had a hysterectomy. I had fibroids for a long while but gradually got worse and worse. I was dangerously aneamic and having a constant period. My stomach swelled to the size of a 6 month pregancy and when the fibroid was removed my consultant told me that it was the size of a football!! I am now 65 and fit and well and not missing periods one little bit. My ovaries were left intact and the menopause passed without me noticing it. No hot sweats or other side effects. I know that now hysterectomys are not so common, great advances have been made in treatment of cases like mine.

My periods stopped in my early forties - stopped for 6 months; restarted for 6 months, then stopped. My cycle was always fairly regular, but short - 24 days, so I assumed I had got through my quota early!

Annah. Whilst I agree "intimacy is not always about sex" and in my case very rarely about sex, but having not had a proper holiday for some time I don't want the entire first week to be ruined (and I mean ruined) with painful cramps and constant dashing to the loo (just incase). Also we lead very hectic lives and just hoped that maybe the sun and sea might lead to something extra special.

Do get it checked. I had similar problems and it was discovered that I had fibroids. So I had the op at 50.

Just on age of menopause these days- I'm still as regular as clockwork at 56, hoping for a reprieve soon! Very annoying when we go on long cycling and camping trips and am never sure of the facilities at the next camp site. Last year stranded by the Kiel canal with a shower that managed a cold dribble- awful!

btw I eat linseeds every day and wondering if plant hormones are delaying things. Certainly not much grey yet and no glasses (but that's sometimes borderline). First grandchild due Sept, but good thing baby books have big print!