Menopause menstruation

[chacha2chins]

My question is about mentrual changes when menopause starts.
My cycle started when I was 11, I am now 45. Up until last year I was 28 days regular with a few hiccups in between. Now, it's changed to spotting at the regular time with nothing until the next month...or spotting with heavy stuff a week later.
All I know about menopause is hot flashes with the gradual loss of menstruation.
Is what I'm going through normal?

[ethandron]

that's all i thought there was to it too, and how wrong i was.
google up 'healthboards' and then go to 'menopause' and you'll find a very useful forum which will answer all your questions and give you lots of support.
there are loads of sites where you can find out all you need to know, you just need to browse around on your computer.
just so you know, there are 35 symptoms of menopause (yes, really, 35!!) and finding out what they are will put your mind at rest about some of the things you may already be experiencing. because of your age, you are probably in peri-menopause, which can be up to 10 years before full menopause hits, and brings with it a load of stuff you'd probably not even connected with being a woman.
hope this helps, but ask away if you have any other questions about it.

[Ethel]

Go to your GP and ask for an FSH test - this will show if you are in menopause, early menopause or not in menopause.

[ethandron]

be awarer that the fsh test can be misleading though, as it depends on the state of your hormones at the time your blood is taken, and hormones can change hourly during peri-menopause.

[ethandron]

have a look at power-surge.com too.

[Robinia]

It certainly sounds like the onset. You can buy home testing kits now but they're expensive & may not be accurate.
I agree with Ethel, go to your gp & tell him/her you think it may be the menopause. That way he/she will probably run a few more tests at the same time to rule out any other problems.

[chacha2chins]

Thank you for the advice. I'll do more research and see the doc.