Hi cindy,
sounds familiar to me. I was about your age when that happened to me. I too was very regular, not very heavy period either, but very regular. All of sudden no period. Two months later, no period. I went to my doctor when I missed the first one because I was so regular I could set my clock by it almost. She scoffed at me and acted like I was wasting her time. Anyway, I went home and worried. After missing month number 2 I really started to worry more, but no way was I going back to the doctor to be treated like that again. Stupid me should have went to another doctor. But I didn't. A week or two later after the second missed period, I started bleeding. Only this time it wasn't my normal flow. It was a gusher with huge blood clots and cramping. I never had that before. I couldn't go anywhere, I couldn't even stand up and walk without gushing all over the place. It was horrible, but no way was I going to be embarrassed at my doctor's office again. So I put up with it for almost 2 more months. It got so bad I couldn't go to work or anyplace else and I was getting weaker and weaker, then started getting dizzy and my vision started blurring where sometimes I couldn't see anything but blackness or spots. I had lost about 20 pounds too and felt horrible all the time. Finally, I went to another doctor and she referred me directly to a gynecologist. He ran bloodwork and found that I had lost so much blood I had become extremely anemic. I had half the red blood cells I was supposed to have. He did a biopsy of my uterus (very painful). Tests came back that I had hyperplasia. They did an ultrasound of my uterus and also found I had a large tumor in the wall of the uterus which my doctor says caused the hyperplasia (constant shedding of blood cells and tissue of the uterus). Wound up having to have a partial hysterectomy.
I'm not telling you all this to scare you. Maybe I am. I'm just trying to say that your period stopping could be menopause. My best friend's just stopped one day and she didn't have any other symptoms, except now she get hot flashes. Just don't let your doctor pass this off like it was nothing. My first doctor was a female and she was not sympathetic to female problems. The second doctor was also female and she knew something was wrong.
I've had a few hot flashes and night sweats since my surgery (about 2 or 3 month's worth) and then it went away. Also be careful about hormone replacement therapy. I still have my ovaries. My hormone level is slightly lower than normal, but I wouldn't go on the hormones because i've read so many bad things about them. Educate yourself about them before deciding whether to take them or not.
Hope you have an easy time of menopause, if that is what you're going through. My point from this story is just to make sure you get the best advice from doctors and know what you're going through and how you should be treated. Don't go into it blindly like I did and don't let the doctor's imtimidate you. I don't anymore.
