Someone help-periods!!

[Willow8]

Hi everyone, I hope you're all well.
I was wondering if any of you have any suggestions or reassurance. My DD14 is having EXTREMELY heavy and painful periods. She completely floods after 1 hour of keeping a super tampon in. And I mean flood! It's painful for her too, she can't get out of bed. This is making her so anxious and low, she can't do anything. She is distraught about it and can't sees a light at the end of the tunnel. She also has a long list of other health problems. As this is only her fourth, drs are hesitant to do anything. All the others have been the same too, lasting 2 weeks. I just don't know how long she can go on like this. Sorry to ramble. As I say, if any of you have any suggestions we would really appreciate them. Thank you x

[Hidingtonothing]

Definitely go back to the GP and tell them she can't go on like this, it must be impacting her education apart from anything else but she shouldn't be expected to just put up with it in any case. Is there another GP at your surgery you could see or is it maybe even worth looking into changing surgeries? It's hard being pushy with doctors because you do tend to feel they know best but it's you who is witnessing the effect it's having on her life so I think you have to just keep pushing until they do something for her.

[Gannicusthemannicus]

Definitely go back to the GP, flooding after 1 hour for 2 weeks is not normal and she doesn't have to put up with it. She must be exhausted with the heaviness of bleeding, and I'm sure it will be affecting her studies. Make sure she is getting a lot of iron and eating well to keep her strength up.

I had awful awful periods, and ended up on the implant, which stopped them completely. Your daughter is probably too young for that, but it may be an idea for the future. As for the pain, the only thing that would really help me was Ibuprofen. She needs to begin taking it before the pain starts, ideally the night before, in order to give the painkillers a head start on the cramps. Then take it at 4 hour intervals as long as needed. I have no idea how it works this way, but it does.

Another strange tip I use is that when a cramp comes, squeeze your bumcheeks together (sorry!) I know it sounds odd, but it really does work.

Apparently cutting dairy, salt and caffeine can also help, and bananas are meant to relax cramps. Good luck to your DD!

[Willow8]

Thank you everyone so much. We really do appreciate it. I think maybe we could try going to another gp as ours really wasn't keen. Thank you all for the tips xx

[Hidingtonothing]

Just a tip if you are going to change surgeries altogether OP, they usually ask why you want to move and it's better not to say you're unhappy with your current GP because they sometimes want to investigate and try to resolve the issue rather than just letting you move. If you can find a practical reason which applies it's usually easier all round so for instance if there's a female GP at the new surgery but not at your current one you could say that's the reason, or more convenient surgery hours, new surgery easier to get to for you, that sort of thing. Hope you manage to get DD sorted OP

[JustDanceAddict]

Go back to GP. Def not normal.

[Mychildcouldnotbreaatfeed]

Deffo back to the gp. My DD had this at 13/14 horrendous flooding huge clots lasting 10 days and coming every 2 weeks.

We got a locum - young lady doc - who put her on the pill and she has been on it since and it sorted the problem. She has one that she takes every day so she doesn't need to remember to take a break.

Hope you get it sorted.

[MaverickSnoopy]

Your poor daughter. She sounds just like me at that age. It was such a struggle and I regularly needed 2 or 3 days off school during my period. I vividly remember lying in bed curled up in pain and watching TV wondering how the female actresses were upright and not writhing around in pain. My periods started aged 10 but it was really between 13 - 17 years old that I was mostly effected. For most of that time I took mefenamic acid and something else that reduced the flow. Eventually when it got worse again my mum took me to a homeopath. Somehow it worked and my periods became normal. Then when I went on the pill for contraception at age 19 I stopped the remedy. After having children my periods have settled somewhat and now I rely on normal painkillers.

Honestly the early years were brutal and impacted my studies. I did a gcse exam doubled in pain and running off to the toilet to be sick. Get your daughter the help she needs.

[Lizibet]

Definitely go back to a gp.
Even if they are reluctant to give her contraceptive there are painkillers and medicine they can give her that will help her with the pain and the heavy flow.
That's what mine did for me as teenager and it made a massive difference.

[paganmolloy]

Hugs for your daughter. Mine is similar but thankfully our GP was quite happy to put her on contraceptive pill continually to stop them. She's all over the place hormonal too and am keeping a watchful eye to see if this helps. The NHS online has a questionnaire about heavy periods. I think there are about 18 questions. I was 1/18 daughter was 13/18 with score stating to get thee to a doctor. So you could try doing it with her and giving the results to go when you next go.

[bengalcat]

Your poor daughter . Get back to the GP ask for tranexamic acid ( similar to mefenamic acid ) - there are other hormonal alternatives that may be appropriate in the short term as it's likely this is a temporary problem .