This is what a crone looks like (131/365)

[white_hart]

I am 47 years and 3 days old, and as of today I am officially a crone*. I went swimming this morning to celebrate.



It's strange, not knowing that your last period is the last. I knew I'd been perimenopausal for years; when I came off the Pill in 2014, my cycles were significantly shorter than they had been in the past (around 21 days); then they got more erratic and there were a couple of 2-3 month gaps interspersed with stretches when they were more regular. A couple of years ago I started getting hot flushes, and then I had a period in January 2020, a gap long enough that I had started to wonder if that had been the last one, and one more in May. When it got to six months, I started counting seriously, and for the last couple of months I've been keeping my fingers firmly crossed that my body wouldn't chuck one last surprise my way. (To be honest, if I had started bleeding after 11 months, I'd have been getting it checked out medically anyway.)

I've always loathed being lumbered with a female reproductive system. I started my periods when I was 10 years and 11 months old, which is far too young, and spent my teens struggling with horrendous PMS. (The first time I went on the Pill was to try to regulate my hormones so that PMS wouldn't affect my A-level performance.) I spent years running packs of pills back-to-back so I didn't have periods, and worrying about accidental pregnancy despite being an almost perfect Pill user. And now I am utterly delighted to be done with the whole thing. No more cramps, no more PMS, no more dripping gore all over the bathroom, no more even theoretical possibility of pregnancy. Menstruation was a burden I never wanted, and I'm glad to have lost it so soon.

*post-menopausal

Comments

[cmcmck]

Being sixtysomething, I think I beat you to cronitude! :o)

[sartorias]

You look like a wonderful young woman to me!

[maia]

Congratulations and Belated Happy Birthday, white_hart!!!

(I'm hoping very much that I shall join you in crone-dome sooner rather than later!)

[white_hart]

Thank you!

[mrs_redboots]

I am nearly 21 years older than you, but I still remember the utter relief of stopping! It is the one thing that reconciled me to getting old.

[white_hart]

It is such a freeing feeling, isn't it?

[norfolkian]

Hurrah for no more periods! I'm 37 but have noticed periods getting slightly lighter and 4 days instead of 5 days. Plus I feel hotter at night in the week leading up to my periods. Even though I'm still relatively young for perimenopause, I'm hoping it's an indication that things are starting to change.

[white_hart]

Fingers crossed!

[cybik]

Hurrah! Congratulations on cronehood.

[white_hart]

Thank you!

[(Anonymous)]

OYOH... I just had a surprise period after three years not. I'm 50.

[white_hart]

Not wanting to alarm you unnecessarily, anonymous commenter, but you might want to talk to your GP. Post-menopausal bleeding can be a sign of more serious problems, though it could also just be your reproductive system playing nasty tricks on you!

[occasionalhope]

It seemed perfectly normal, just very unexpected. (Sorry I wasn't logged in earlier.)

[white_hart]

I did just see something suggesting that some people have reported menstrual irregularities after having the COVID vaccine, including post-menopausal women having periods, so maybe it's that?

[occasionalhope]

That seems possible.

[sfred]

Congratulations!

[white_hart]

Thank you!

[muninnhuginn]

Welcome, indeed, to the joys of post-menopause!

[white_hart]

Thank you!

[hilarita]

Hooray!

It has just occurred to me that it may be difficult to work out when I'm hitting peri- and post-menopause. I take a progesterone-only pill that has completely stopped my periods. So, I guess I get to work this out from random hot flushes? Yay? Or possibly from a random breakthrough bleed as my hormones change? I guess I get to play menopause roulette...

[white_hart]

I don't know - I stopped taking the progesterone-only pill in 2014 and realised once I did that I was in early perimenopause, but some of the POP formulas are similar to HRT so it might just mean you don't notice anything?