Re: @@ Looking for reassurance, has anyone had similar symptoms????

Me too - crazy periods. I'm 53 now, but it's been going for about ... 4 years now? And first I was very regular, but my periods got very light, like 3 days long instead of the usual 5. Then for 2 years, they got quite irregular, 3 months on and 3 months off. And sometimes very heavy - this was particularly strange after such light periods. And sometimes I would spot often at irregular times. And sometimes the periods lasted a really long time, like 42 days. But mostly just slight spotting. Also some menstrual blood that was more brown than usual and also sort of stringy brown mucus-like.

I went to a gynecologist. She was very young. I asked if my symptoms might just be completely normal - not an indication of anything wrong. She gave me ... what was it - the test for fibroids - an ultrasound? Where you have to drink 64 ounces of water after you get up and keep your stomach empty and then not pee till they are done - I didn't enjoy it! I had no fibroids. After I asked her for about the 20th time, she finally reluctantly admitted that possibly my experiences were not unheard-of for normal perimenopause.

I think that menopause is just something that women have not talked about much in earlier generations, so what is normal isn't so well-known!!

So I no longer worry about it. It's happening again.

After 44 days of no period, I got a regular period in June, except that it sort of never stopped. It's been going on for 6 weeks. a bit on and off, but mostly I use a pantyliner every day.

I think that this is the sort of thing that made doctors give women hysterectomies in the 60's! They suggested that this was too much trouble for women to put up with. (Pantyliners are a great invention!)

But, as long as it is not an indication of anything bad, it's not particuarly irritating.

One theory is that if you do not ovulate, the uterine lining doesn't know when it is time to slough and it just keeps building itself. So that when you do get a period, there is much more to slough.

also, I have been using natural progesterone cream and also, sometimes, natural estrogen cream, which have been helpful.
(for information on natural progesterone cream, see the yahoo group NaturalAlternativestoHRT.)

Keep us posted.

Sue-B