I'm 43 years old and I'm on the cerazette variant of the Pill. I'm having periods every 2-3 weeks, which are very painful. Whilst having my period, it also feels as though I have a urine infection as well as I am always running to the toilet. I've only had a couple of hot flushes/night-sweats but my palpitations and feelings of dizziness are getting worse. According to my doctor, my bloods are all normal. Do you think that I am menopausal?

Cerazette is a progesterone-only contraceptive, so it should theoretically stop your periods coming so frequently.

If you have not been on it for very long then this might be why it hasn't achieved this yet, but if you have been on it for several months then you really need to talk to your doctor again about your cycle, which is way too short - you'll become anaemic (lacking in iron) through the blood loss if you bleed every 2-3 weeks.

The flushes, palpitations and dizziness could be caused by low oestrogen from the progesterone pill, so it's very difficult to say for sure what is happening.

Hormone tests are sometimes not very subtle - they only show what is happening at one point in the cycle. I think your doctor needs to do some more investigating to see what's going on, and also to stop the short cycle, which will make you ill if it goes on.

Eileen Durward