<p>I admit I haven’t been since- um this younger child was born.
I have had a whole lot of practitioners over the years.
I prefer naturopaths, but they keep moving to the San Juan Islands.
When I was pregnant with my youngest( who is 19- lol) , I was seeing a family practitioner & would have continued to see him, except he said that the hospital he was affiliated with, wouldn’t see me.
( stinky ins companies- my high risk was non- repeating- so I went to the teaching hospital who was thrilled to have me since I had ins! )</p>
<p>Anyway, most recently I have been seeing an internist, since there weren’t a lot of docs on our ins plan, but while I don’t * think* I am an alarmist, every symptom I mention she says that it doesn’t mean anything.
So- I am wondering if I should maybe see an gyn- cause while I am still having * very* regular periods ( every 26 days), currently my period has been going on for thirteen days which is very unusual although it has happened before.</p>
<p>I am confused because the menopausal type info just mentions shorter, irregular periods and frankly, I am ready to be done with them.</p>
<p>I go every 6 months (I have ovarian cancer in my family).
Do yourself a favor and get an Ob/gyn check you out, it’s probably nothing, but you should at least have a baseline exam.</p>
<p>I had never heard of it either but apparently it is not uncommon in menopause to have the period that never ends. My very pedestrian understanding of the process is this: you have two hormones involved in periods–one to start it each month and one to end it. When you enter menopause those hormones stop but they don’t necessarily stop at the same time. So your period starts but you are now missing the hormone that stops it. So I would say get thee to an ob/gyn.</p>
<p>I had been going to a Nurse Practitioner but the office she worked in was not friendly to my insurance. I didn’t see anyone for a couple of years but decided I really needed to go. With no recommendations to go on, I called the OB/GYN group closest to my house and made an appt… </p>
<p>I ended up with the nicest (really) young female OB/GYN just by dumb luck. She was so realxed and easy going. I’ll def. go back next yr.
I’m entering the menopause territory too. My periods are every 25 days but are getting shorter, only 2-3 days and gone. She told me this was normal as long as there wasn’t bleeding in between.</p>
<p>What you are experiencing, per my experience, is perfectly normal. I went through the process with a Family Practicioner. Everything went great.</p>
<p>During menopause and the years before, anything is possible when it comes to periods. You may get one two weeks after the last one or skip six months. Your periods may be heavier or lighter than they used to be. They may start abruptly with a flow heavier than you have ever experienced before (I mean going from nothing to soaking through your clothes in a couple of minutes). Or you may just spot from time to time. You may have periods without the premenstrual symptoms that used to alert you to the fact that a period was coming, and premenstrual symptoms without a period.</p>
<p>Do you need to see an ob/gyn? I think it depends on what your primary care physician does with regard to problems in that department. My primary care doctor does Pap smears and other routine gynecology, which is one of the reasons why I go to her. She has been able to give me knowledgeable answers to my questions about menopause. So I haven’t seen an ob/gyn in about 10 years. But if she didn’t provide routine gynecological care or didn’t seem interested in gynecological issues, I would definitely want to see an ob/gyn.</p>
<p>I have both an internist and an Ob/Gyn. I am having the issue with the period that never ends … and my Ob/Gyn is the one that can fix it. My internist, a female doc, is perfectly happy to do my annual pelvic and pap, but she doens’t really have much of an answer for the bleeding issue.</p>
<p>OTOH … a visit to the gyn, which I do after 2 weeks of bleeding (14 days) and I get full discussion and workup including ultrasound. She can and will do a uterine biopsy in her office if necessary. And she fixes the problem. </p>
<p>I still don’t dare the white pants thing! Actually … that’s how I know I am about to get my period. I have a irrepressible desire to wear white pants!</p>
<p>I put up with the very heavy, never-ending periods for 4 years because I didn’t want to undergo surgery. Until one period lasted 28 days and I became severely anemic. By then my OB/gyn was offering endometrial ablation. Outpatient procedure, no pain, back to normal routine the next day. No more periods. It was an answer to prayers.</p>
<p>I go to one because i don’t have a period unless i’m on the pill. which is actually really great since i don’t have to deal with it if i don’t want to . it’s basically optional for me lol</p>
<p>This is a time NOT to listen to medical advice from your internet friends and to see an actual GYN for evaluation. While the likely diagnosis is normal perimenopause or other benign disorders, endometrial cancer or its precursors are also on the list of possibilities and need to be ruled out.</p>
<p>I will go to my naturopath- I know I can get in to see her a lot quicker than I can find an OB/GYN.
I also got some natural progesterone- I had forgotten all about it- but I know I have a deficiency, I even had to have weekly injections when I was pregnant with my first.
OUCH.</p>
<p>In my opinion, even if nothing was going on, I would see a gyn yearly. This is their specialty. Your symptoms may be normal for pre-menopause, but there is no way to know that. I would see a gyn if I were you. I see one every year and have for many years, along with mammograms.</p>
<p>By the way, you should be able to get into a gyn if you are not merely making an appointment for a yearly exam but say you are experiencing unusual symptoms (for you).</p>
<p>“By the way, you should be able to get into a gyn if you are not merely making an appointment for a yearly exam but say you are experiencing unusual symptoms (for you).”</p>
<p>You would think that’s the case, but I just needed to see a gyn for unusual symptoms & my internist could only get me in to see the midwife. Like others on this thread, my female internist has done my paps & exams so I no longer had a gyn I saw regularly. To get an appointment with the gyn would’ve taken 2 months (even with my internist calling herself). Fortunately, the midwife was able to perform the necessary test & everything was normal, but if you’re not one of the gyn’s regular patients, it’s not so easy getting in to see one.</p>
<p>When I called a few weeks ago with abnormal bleeding the receptionist tried to put me off for 3 weeks. When I insisted that I had <strong>ABNORMAL</strong> bleeding and I needed to be seen sooner rather than later, she kept finding spots open slightly earlier and slightly earlier until I finally only had to wait a day or two. Treatment and two ultrasounds later the bleeding is stopped and I am recovering (still on iron pills) … and it’s still before the original appointment that was offered me.</p>
<p>If it’s abnormal you need to be seen. And you need to insist in relatively strong language that it may not be an emergency, but it is urgent.</p>
<p>I see an internist an an OB-GYN since my insurance covers both. I prefer to have an OB-GYN do the breast exam as I assume he does more of them and I think experience counts. Same for feeling the ovaries – I just think the more you do something, the more you know what you’re looking for.</p>
<p>I used to see a CNM (Certified Nurse Midwife) who I loved, since we moved I use a family practice doctor and I like her a great deal as well. However, if I felt she was not taking me seriously I would not hesitate to go see an OB/GYN.</p>
<p>Just a friendly reminder, women in their 40s have the second highest rate of unplanned pregnancies. I’ve been to a whole lot of baby showers for women who thought they were too old for that to happen.</p>
<p>LOL PMK- I would be surprised if that happened since my H is " fixed".
( I am also in my 50’s but I am very flattered )</p>
<p>However my * sister* has a 4 yr old * and* a 26yr old ( and a few inbetween)-
I like the babies but I don’t think I could do that again- it makes me tired just thinking about it.</p>
<p>Don’t mean to pry but I thought the norm was to get an annual pap from an ob/gyn. Are people not getting annual paps or are they going to doctors other than an ob/gyn to get this done? I wouldn’t dream of my primary care doctor giving me that exam, but that’s just me.</p>
<p>My female internist will do the annual pelvic and pap. And then send you onward if there is a problem. I personally prefer to visit my OB/GYN annually as well as the internist.</p>
)</p>
every symptom I mention she says that it doesn’t mean anything.