Mahcair - PMT or rather PMS encompasses all the symptoms women can experience during the second half of the menstrual cycle and in our fertile years, what happens from week 14 onwards for the next fortnight in an average 28 day cycle is: Oestrogen drops dramatically after ovulation and then rises a little a few days later and then drops away until Day 28. Bleed starts Day 1 and oestrogen starts to rise - many women not experiencing the benefit of the rise until several days into the cycle.
Also after ovulation progesterone rises rapidly to a peak around day 21 and then decreases quickly if the egg isn't fertilised which triggers the bleed (ie the reduction in progesterone).
Different women are sensitive to different aspects of this and pms can be a combination of the reduction in oestrogen (causing low mood, anxiety) the increase in progesterone (fatigue, depression, headaches, bloating) or the progesterone withdrawal just before the bleed and perhaps a couple of days into it - classic pmt - tension, irritability, headache etc.
Sensitive and painful boobs in the second half of the cycle will be due to the progesterone increase. However during early peri-menopause there are sometimes large sudden increases in oestrogen - more than usual which can also cause painful boobs!
Minefield innit?!
Angelindskiexx - sorry to hear your biopsy was painful > i had one a couple of years ago and barely felt a thing. Did they ask you to take Ibuprofen and paracetamol an hour before your appt - my leaflet said this and I'm sure that prevented my feeling any pain. From what I gather reading on here women's experience of this is partly down to the skill of the doctor. How strange for the doctor to say this. If the average age on menopause is 51-52 then this is what it says - an average - at which age a certain percentage of women will have reached menopause. An average means there will be women above and below this as can be seen from the posts below!! My last natural period was just under 54 and I didn't bat an eyelid nor did I seek help. I didn't go the doctor about it despite not having had a period for 5 months - I just thought I was menopausal. I went onto HRT 5 months after that but may well have had more periods. Good to get checked out if you are offered it though anyway just in case.
I assume they also did a hysteroscopy as well to look at the lining? Heavy bleeding can be caused by small fibroids or polyps - and fibroids are usually ignored if they are small. When I had mine I gave consent for polyps to be removed if they found any while doing the hyster, but only a small fibroid was found.
I hope you feel better soon and your results come back normal!
Hurdity x
