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[kdee69]

I've been reading variously about people on two week cycles of Progesterone etc and it got me wondering.
I've noticed that I sleep really really well for about two weeks of the month (out like a light styley) and then for the other two, I wake sporadically and can't get back to sleep for long periods. But, it does seem to be this pattern. 2 weeks on, 2 weeks off.
I'm on oestrogel and Provera (2 pumps and continuous 2.5mg tabs) and am meno and 54.
I just assumed when my periods stopped that so did the cycle. Is that the case? Do I indeed still have cycles but just no periods?
It would be great to understand what my body is actually doing...

[SV66]

Hi kdee69

I would love to know the answer to !

My body is doing weird and wonderful things (not)

I have a Mirena Coil and also on Estrodet Patches and I'm 53, I don't or shouldn't have bleeds with this coil, although I did start to have slight bleeds but not every month and now I have nothing but my body feels like it's going through the cycle - you don't know whether you are coming or going

I can have a couple of great weeks and then a couple of bad weeks

So I would love to know and understand more also

[CLKD]

HORMONES 

[Hurdity]

Hi there kdee69

Reading about the stages of peri-menopause etc I gather there is still some ovarian activity for some years following the menopause so although they won't be proper big cycles like when you ovulate - I presume there must be some cyclicity ( is that a word even?). So - as the ovaries fail they don't respond properly to hormones from the brain (FSH) so this rises to try to get them to ovulate. Even after the last ovulation -  it's not sudden an complete death (cessation of all activity)so the ovaries continue to be stimulated and I presume some earely follicles start to gorw but they never mature. As they start to grow they produce oestrogen but as they can't ripen ( due to menopause and ovarian failure) the follicles presumably just get reabsorbed and then it starts again. Not sure if this would still be actually regular if no ovulation but this is how I understand it. There's a technical paper called "Stages of Reproductive Ageing" where this is all explained. This one: https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/430187 . This might be a better link: http://www.menopause.org/docs/default-document-library/straw10.pdf'sfvrsn=67b7c029_2

The period of time following the initial fall in oestrogen following menopause (which lasts for two years) - apparently can last for 3-6 years and during this time FSH stabilises as does oestrogen.

I imagine it as a small saucepan of thick porridge! If you've ever cooked it - once it's cooked if it's very hot and you turn it to low you get these really thick bubbles and every now and again one of them pops. I think of the underlying bubbles as eggs starting to ripen and the ones that pop - ovulation (well only one should pop but I'm sure you get what I mean?). As the porridge cools down you still get the bubbling but not hot enough to pop and then gradually there are no bubbles when it's too cool. This is how I imagine the post-menopausal few years!!! Where there is still a bit of bubbling - oestrogen is produced, but in the absence of ovulation you do not get the progesterone so not sure it would be two weekly exactly but depends how long it takes to partly develop a follicle into an egg etc?

I'm probably taking absolute rubbish but some of it is based on what is known to occur!!!

Did you have 12 months without a natural period ( no mirena, no mini pill) before starting HRT?

SV66 - if you have a Mirena it is not possible to tell where you are in menopause really so if you feel like you are having a cycle then you probably are - although could be just post-menopausal slight fluctuations as I mentioned - the porridge effect?!

Hurdity x

[SV66]

Thank you x

[kdee69]

Wow Hurdity. What a comprehensive and visual reply. I have porridge every morning and will now only imagine my eggs 😂.
What you say does make perfect sense and would fit with what I go through. I'm going to start a diary just to make sure I'm not imagining things too. Thank you so much , as always, for taking the trouble to reply. Xxx

[CLKD]

That's a really good description.  I never visualised what was happening each month and was never aware of ovulation ....... it was 'natural' apart from the intense awful pain.  I suppose too that we know a lot more about what occurs internally.

[Hurdity]

haha! Thanks.  I hasten to add I don't really know whether this is what happens post-menopause but according to the info about ovarian activity, it is how I imagine it (the ovary) slowly cooling down re eggs etc and finally giving out! There are definitely still follicles left during early post-menopause for several years but they are very low so not enough or good enough to develp into eggs...

Hurdity x