I am 52 years old and my period is overdue. For the last 10 days or so, I've had a feeling of heaviness in my tummy but I have not bled at all. Could this be a symptom of the menopause?

Missing periods are usually one of the first signs of the approach to the menopause so it is possible.

You may find that you miss a couple of periods, then they come back for a while, then stop again and so on. This can continue for quite a while before they finally stop!

The reason you can still get period pain/discomfort is that there is still a hormonal cycle every month, sometimes not high enough to trigger a bleed, but still high enough to give the usual symptoms!

You may find a magnesium supplement 200mg twice a day helps with this.

Eileen Durward