I am 49, have 2 kids, 18 and 15. I never had insurance so I never had my tubes tied. I had an irregular period in September -had 2 in one month. Then October normal, usually a couple of days heavy and then 4-5 days regular. November was for 5 days exactly 21 days from my last. I usually go 21 to 28 days from period to period. I figured I should have started my Dec. period on the 11th but nothing. My husband is working out of town so we had sex twice over Thanksgiving and once on the 7th of Dec. Never unprotected! We have used condoms for 15 years. Could this be menopause? I'm making myself sick but I have no insurance to go to the doctor! My kids are my life but they are grown? This is NOT what I want at this time in my life! Any suggestions?

You could most certainly be starting menopause, but that is nothing to worry about. All women go through it. It's not like a bad medical condition or anything that's going to kill or injure you.

It could even be possible that it's just stress causing you to have irregular periods. The more you stress out about this, the more irregular your cycles may become.

I definately recommend that you see a gynecologist if it's been over a year since your last exam. You need papsmeres to keep an eye out for ovarian cancer and things like that which can go unseen.

If you need assistance with medical bills, you can go to planned parenthood and pay on an income based scale. It's not just for teenagers. You can also go to your local health department for the same thing if you are in the US. Another option is that some hospitals have payment options that are also based on a sliding income scale. You only pay a percentage of your bill. I am in Ohio and I know that "Children's Hospital" has one of those and they will see you for anything (not just for children). So there are resources out there for people without insurance. You just have look for them.