Hi charlotte_vale,

I'm not sure if phantom periods are real or not, but I'll tell you that this is interesting to me. I'm 42 and was told I'm in perimenopause. My cycles were like yours for the last year until this past April. April was my last cycle. I had, as you said, an intimate encounter the first part of May and we used protection, so when my cycle hadn't shown up by the end of May, I just blew it off as being irregular. Then June comes, mid June and my mind went back to that "encounter" so I took a hpt which was neg. Since then, I've experienced sore nipples, weight gain, which are both symptoms of menopause BUT, I feel flutters in my stomach.

Now listen, I'll be the first to admit what actually makes sense, but I keep getting weird feelings that something is not right. While the docs keep saying, you're not preg b/c your hormone levels don't add up, they're too low, and my age of being menopausal range, yet I haven't had a physical. So, I've done hills, and hills of research which shows that women have shown being pregnant even after tons and tons of negative tests from hpt to blood tests at the docs office. So, it is always possible. They say that it comes back neg. b/c of low or undetectable hcg which shows up in the blood made by the placenta. But some women show this sometimes late in pregnancy. While with my 2 sons (teenagers) I tested positive almost immediately, it would indeed surprise me if I am pregnant, but anything is possible and the way I feel, psychologically and physically, I'd feel more at peace after I've had my physical on the 6th.

Yes they are real. It took awhile for the feelings to go away. I had my last period at 50.

My neighbour was born when her mother was 44. She had not had a period in two years and thought she was well into menopause, so she attributed her symptoms to that. But when she began to feel 'fluttering' she scheduled a doctor's appointment.

She was shocked to find out she'd be giving a sibling to her 24 year old daughter, since she had given up trying to conceive a second child many years earlier. Just goes to show, one can never assume when it comes to Mother Nature, lol!