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Has anyone else had abnormal menstrual cycles coicide with FM?

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Posted 4/22/2013 8:13 PM (GMT 0)
(Warning, girl TMI)

From adolescence to age 26 my menstrual cycle was very predictable. 28 day cycles give or take a day. Started with heavy bleeding on the first day of menses and slowly decreased over 5-6 days... pretty much like clockwork. Thanks mother nature. - (not sarcastic) :)

And then, suddenly in my mid twenties, things went haywire.. and it coincided with the rest of my FM issues. For this reason, I believe the hormonal imbalance is related to FM, though I'm not sure if the hormone imbalance is the cause or the effect of the FM syndrome.

It started with spotting a few days before my period. Then my period flipped backwards, light at the beginning heavy at the end, and then a little spotting after. And then spotting directly on day 14 of my cycle after ovulation. (I can 'feel' the day I ovulate). My cycle is still around 28 days but I have been bleeding from ovulation on to my "period" when it gets its heaviest. Sometimes menses lasts for 10 days. Sometimes two weeks. Sometimes 3 weeks. Rarely, 3 days. Pap smears are normal. A sonogram showed no problems years ago.

I wonder if my early bleeding after ovulation is a sign of low progesterone or estrogen dominance? And I wonder if this is caused by what is causing my FM or the hormone issues could be causing my FM. A lot of the symptoms of low progesterone and estrogen dominance look a lot like the FM symptoms. And hormone imbalance can cause sleep-disturbance and sleep abnormalities. And sleep abnormalities can cause FM-like issues to develop. (or vice versa)

I'm just wondering if others have experienced a similar phenomena with a wacky period or early bleeding and FM.

I want to get my hormones checked. I wonder if there is anything I can do to balance them out and eliminate some of the FM symptoms?

Thanks. :)
Posted 4/22/2013 10:05 PM (GMT 0)
My menstrual issues have no observed connection with fibromyalgia. Correlation does not mean causation.

Finding answers can be hard.

Post Edited (Myself 09) : 4/22/2013 4:37:55 PM (GMT-6)

Posted 4/22/2013 10:55 PM (GMT 0)
While in my early twenties, I had no predictable cycle.  I had painful, hard periods with barely three days in between.  I ended up having a hysterectomy at 23 years old because of the anemia that insued from losing so much blood.  I had countless D&C's before the hysteretcomy and birth control pills did nothing to correct the situation.  As a matter of fact, they gave me migraines.

I have no idea if there is a correlation but I have read many posts on this forum by people who have had the same issues...so maybe?

Donna

Posted 4/22/2013 11:11 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks, @myself. I'm wondering though, are you saying that you did or have had abnormal menstrual issues?

@vestabula. Thanks for your feedback. That sounds like it must have been difficult.

Another thing I wanted to add is that I know that as people reach perimenopause and menopause, abnormal menstruating may be considered normal. But I suppose what I am referring to is something out of the ordinary for one's age, whether teens, 20's, 30's, 40's, 50's, etc. I believe my early bleeding after ovulation was abnormal for mid 20's.


FM is considered a syndrome and I believe the puzzle pieces that connect together to create it may be a bit different for each of us or may vary person to person. I also believe the causes might be different as well... but I know the jury is still out on all of this. But because I believe the cause may be different, I suspect the solution to managing FM may also be different person to person.
Posted 4/23/2013 12:03 AM (GMT 0)
Light and normal menstruation. No children. Birth control since age 20. Currently 44. Normal pap-smears. After three years on a no-period BC, I started getting my period, more or less constantly. Since October, at this point. Had a transvaginal ultrasound, no issue. Just had a vaginal biopsy, and awaiting results.

Sister had heavy, painful periods that were irregular. She had no children, used no birth control, and a normal, if unpleasant, menopause.

There was a post not long ago asking people about, what's the thingie called, female surgery to block pregnancy. Hysterectomy. That's it. I am having trouble tonight.

Women will report within all spectrum of menstrual issues. I guess
I just would just caution you from trying to make puzzle pieces fit. If fibro is nervous-system related, and affects both genders, I
don't see how hormonal levels could be related. In any population, there will be commonalities.
Posted 4/23/2013 3:32 AM (GMT 0)
@myself

I believe the nervous system and sex hormones are connected because hormones cause your brain and body to go into various stages of sleep and are therefore connected in the restorative process of sleep... which is related to FM.

As I see it (for some, perhaps): hormonal imbalance = can sleep disturbance = can cause a tendency towards FM

OR

FM = less slow wave sleep = the pituitary gland releases abnormal or insufficient levels of certain hormones = hormone abnormalities. Another possibility.

^these could be equations in some FM cases, though not all... is my theory. Also, I thought that experts hypothesized that because the majority of FM sufferers are women, women's hormones are thought to play a role in FM. Men also have their own hormones and share similar hormones as women though in different quantities, so I believe that hormone irregularities could play a role in both, theoretically.

Whatever the case, one system of the body is connected to the next. If one thing is thrown off, there will be consequences in another. I believe my issues are likely to have stemmed from the same cause since they happened after a severe physical infection, and may or may not be interrelated.

But, I don't know... just hypothesizing based off of what I've read and observed.
Posted 4/24/2013 10:17 PM (GMT 0)
Yes, it was so bad that I had an endometrial ablation last year
Posted 4/24/2013 11:04 PM (GMT 0)
Mine has always been predictable and normal. Sometimes a couple days late, but that'a ur. Now that I'm 47, my periods last only 3-4 days.

I have felt ovulation since I've had Fibro. It could be enhanced feeling because of Fibro, but my gynecologist says feeling ovulation is more common as a woman gets older because the fallopian tubes aren't as flexible as they used to be.
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