Heavy period - tmi incoming.

[OfMe]

Ok so on day 2 of period - started using a menstrual cup last month, as a) environmentally better, b) periods have been either really heavy or light, and thought it would show the blood loss better. Last month was a doddle, cup hardly filled up to the quarter or half point and only changed it every 12 hours. This month, I've bled over 175ml over 2 days. Every cup's been full, or overflowing, and I'm changing it every 2-4 hours. This must be perimenopause, right? (I'm 44, btw). Would you be worried by it?

Yes that does sound peri menopausal. My periods were like that for years. Get to the Drs and get some medication. I had transexamic acid. You only take them on the days you are very heavy, they really do work.

Yes - sounds like me.

Some months my flow is pretty light and short lived - or months it is more abundant and I fear for the amount the cup can contain.

It's useful to be able to calculate the volume of blood though for when you want to report to Drs.

Same for me. 44 seems a bit young though. Are you sure you didn't just have anaemia for a while? That's what used to trigger the super heavy periods for me when pre-peri-menopause.

maybe - although it's hard to tell which came first, the heavy bleeding or the being anaemic! I've just had some bloods done though as I thought I had a kidney infection, started antibiotics, but the pain was so bad I had to do as the GP had advised and go to A&E - only to find out there was no infection, so I've been waiting at home since last Friday for a scan to see if it's stones. So I would have though anaemia would have come up. But as my period's started and is so heavy, I thought maybe it could be fibroids again.

@OfMe mooncups are fab aren't they?!! I started using one about 10 years ago and had Very Heavy Periods - like you loosing in excess of 150ml over 2 days and they started every 4-5 weeks. I had all sorts of tests and scans and ended up having to accept that I just had heavy periods. Had a coil fitted two years ago and periods are really light - its great. They were also really regular for the first time in my life but the past few months have become annoyingly irregular again with small amounts of bleeding in between periods so I don't know if I'm starting or not!

Hope you manage to get something sorted out - heavy periods are awful.

thanks Blobby10 - I do think the world of mooncups and just wish I'd started using them sooner! I'm still getting used to the insertion method, but when I first saw it I wondered whether it was going to 'seal' properly, as I thought I was much bigger than I actually am, iykwim!

@OfMe I don't know if it was a coincidence but my periods did become less heavy and certainly less painful as I used the mooncup more - its difficult to be certain as I am of That Age where peri-menopause has to be considered . However I did read that some scientist somewhere had made a connection between bits of cotton from tampons being left inside (talking teeny tiny microscopic bits here) and heavy periods- so maybe yours will settle down over the next few months? x

You're not too young for peri at all. I think I'm in peri at 41. My periods are ridiculously heavy. I had Mirena coil for 18 months but it had side effects for me so had it out and now back on tranaxamic acid. They work as long as you religiously take two three times a day on the days you would be heavy. Don't wait for it to get heavy. Also taking two ibuprofen at the same time helps it to work. Try ovulation tests to see if the lighter periods are happening on months when you've not ovulated. If you're not ovulating every month that suggests getting nearer to menopause. I stopped ovulating every month while on the coil so just waiting to see if it was that or just peri.