Hysterectomy for heavy periods

[ImFree2doasiwant]

TMI alert. Has anyone had experience of this? I have incredibly heavy periods since my 2nd child. He's 3.5 now. I first saw the GP when he was about 13 months as I was due to return to work and honestly didn't know how I'd cope working in a busy office, when my periods were so bad.

I had blood tests and was very anaemic, and also diagnosed as having hypothyroidism. Apparently this can cause heavy periods. I've been taking 75mg levothyroxine , the heaviness has eased somewhat, but actually, it's still horrendous. I tried the depo injection for 12 months, as had no periods on that before. No change. I'm currently taking the mini pill and thought I'd seen a slight improvement, and now this.

I think I've kidded myself that because it's so much better than 2 yrs ago, that it's ok. It's really not ok. As an example, I'm ending my 3rd week of bleeding. I had a 12 day period, 1 light day, 9 heavy days, 2 light. 3 days no bleeding. 4 days light. Now 2 days heavy again.

Since 8.45pm i have been to the loo 6 times as I've had flooding/passed large clots.

I'm really at the end of my ability to cope with this. I've had to leave work after flooding so badly it went through a very large washable pad, pants and tights. By the time I'd shuffled to the loo it was by my knees. I missed weekly swimming for 4 months as was bleeding every Wednesday for that time. I've ruined clothes and bedsheets. My mattress is stained, and I've bled onto the carpet.

If a hysterectomy was an option, I'd jump at the chance. I wont be having any more children.

I'm interested to hear from others who have been through this

Levothyroxine didnt work for me. My blood tests said I was treated but I was still ill. After years of research and badgering my doctor I got put on a different mix of meds and it worked wonders. I take a variety of supplements too which help my absorbtion and uptake of meds. I still have crazy heavy periods though, but its only flooding for the first 2 or 3 days. I can't take tranxemic acid cos it makes me feel awful, and the coil didnt sit well with me.

same as Tobee - hysterectomy at 44 - nothing I tried before worked to stop the bleeding. Zero pain (I mean zero) after the op, and was up and normal within 24 hours, and itching to go back to work but forced myself to stay at home for two weeks.

No problems since - a new lease of life. Life changing in fact. Wish I’d had it done at 30 after my second child. So many pointless years of suffering!

@ImFree2doasiwant I've got under active thyroid too! I think my levels are ok but I wasn't able to find out how much they effected my periods.

Definitely explore the options with a gynaecologist; each patient is different.

They'll be far happier to do an ablation than a hysterectomy as it's less complicated and you'd be a day patient. I had one 6 or 7 years ago. I could barely leave the house on heavy days and I haven't had a period since the ablation. It was as a pp said life changing.

Yeah I got to the point where I was meeting my dd at university and had to lie down getting my breath back/stop feeling dizzy with the anemia. One night I went for pizza with Dh and ds and leaked all over the place (sorry tmi), looked like I'd be shot, despite wearing incontinence pads. Poor teen ds had to cope with me nearly fainting when Dh had to rush to get the car. My ds sat outside the bathroom door to check I didn't pass out in the bath I had when we got back.

Totally frivolous, but I bought tons of frilly knickers after my hysterectomy scar healed and chucked out all my big pants!

Great advice but please book an appointment and get back in ask for an immediate referral to a Specialist that's not normal and not acceptable to be suffering with and just told to go away.

It's one if the signs of endometriosis, so please make sure you get checked for everything, endometriosis doesn't always show on scans, but causes fatigue, heavy bleed in some cases, you may have painful sex, cramps and it's a common age for this condition to flare when hormones are changing so much.

I know the fleeing only too well of getting a hysterectomy, I'm just recovering from endo surgery and I'm wishing I'd asked him to remove my uterus 🙈

I had one of those flooding experiences in January. Horrendous. Luckily I was at home. Although it had been very heavy at work and a struggle to cope with it.

I am on a back to back pill now, azalia. The first couple of months, I still got a period, every 28 days or so. But I took Cyklokapron or whatever it's called to stop it getting too heavy.

Now after 6 or 7 months on the back to back progesterone pill I am not getting periods anymore thankfully.

I have really noticed an increase in breathlessness too. I am a bit overweight but am very active on a daily basis (low level but lots of it) yet am puffing by the time I climb the 2 flights of stairs at work .

I was just thinking about the knickers @Tobee. I've just got ready for bed, I have huge black pants on, a washable maternity pad, a large disposable pad horizontally across my bum, a dry nites bed pad on, and a towel to sleep on. I know I'm single, but I can't see me ever even eating to let someone when this is normal life for me

I have horrific periods and had an ablation - two months of no periods was bliss but then they returned with a vengeance so the op clearly didn’t work for me .

I’m now also considering a hysterectomy.

Another ex-flooder whose life has been changed for the better since undergoing ablation. It was truly unbearable before and I can wholeheartedly recommend it. I hope you sort yours out ASAP!

@GoingtotheWinchester oh no!! Are they as bad as before?

I do find myself often thinking back to the hellish days so I can appreciate being period free now. It's great not having to have to always carry a coat or jumper to tie around my waist in case of emergencies.

There's a website called HysterSisters that I remember finding good for support and info.

If you're more breathless, you're probably extremely anaemic, and that should be discussed too. From the pp, it sounds as if there is a path through, where your GP can refer you to a gynae with a 2ww, and this would def be appropriate I would think in your circumstances.

PS - A good gynae wil admit that ablation has about a 70% success rate, but it's absolutely worth trying before hysterectomy.

I was exactly the same. Horrendous periods from 19 until I was 35. I'd go through a packet of super nighttime pads every day, and just going to work was awful because I had to be near a toilet all the time.

Went to see the gynaecologist when I was 35, and just sick of it. He asked " were you intending to use your uterus again ?" to which I said no way .

I had a vaginal hysterectomy the following week. No big incision so I recovered very quickly and was back at work in exactly 4 weeks. It was , hands down, the BEST thing I ever did for myself. Never had to look at the calendar and dread what was in store. Never had to cancel events because of my period coming. Never had to tell the kids "Sorry Mummy can't come to that function / party ".

I went on HRT and never had a problem. I'm in my 60's now and still say it's the best thing I ever did. Changed my life .

Are you sure this is not perimenopause?

It can do the most awful things including that.

I had the same problem, eventually saw GP, tried medication but that has its own side effects. Had ablation, not effective after 2nd month so had keyhole partial hysterectomy, easy recovery and should have had it done 10 years earlier. That was 6 years ago now.

@ImFree2doasiwant, first thing monday morning get a prescription for tranexamic acid (cycklapron) The have a few brand names .

I would have bled to death I sometimes think if I hadn't had these tablets
.
Also, I know it took a few months for it to stabilise but taking the back to back progesterone pill has just stopped my periods now.
altogether now!

I had an ablation for this reason. Like you I just wanted a hysterectomy.

My Gynae consultant is actually A friend and he said no way To the hysterectomy. He said it’s a major op with associated risks and while it’s rare sometimes there’s a bad outcome. He also talked about how even if the ovaries are left most people will go into the menopause within 5 years. I was mid 30s so younger than you.

I had the ablation, must be nearly 10 years ago now and it’s done everything I wanted.

I had this from age 38 to 51, I was too embarrassed to go to gp initially and ended up admitted as an emergency as went into shock which the gp thought was sepsis. I tried high dose ibuprofen, tranexamic acid, norethistetone. I had a fibroid which was removed, but still didn't resolve the bleeding so was offered the coil, which I didn't want and offered an ablation or hysterectomy. I had total hysterectomy with ovaries and loads of adhesions removed. I suffered hot sweats for a while but haven't taken hrt and feel like a new woman. I hope you get it resolved, I wish I hadn't wasted so many years not getting it sorted.

I had an ablation but mine failed. I had it on 5th March and on 17th March, my period started and was just as bad. I went back to the consultant and was told I needed to keep a 6 month diary. I did that. Hysterectomy offered and taken. That was 8 years ago.

If you chose this route think seriously about it. Look into the long term after the operation, not just the immediate results.

I had a hysterectomy in 2017 after about 18 months of constant bleeding. I'm now 51.

I had the mirena fitted at the time and thought it had fallen out. Scans showed it was still there and I had loads of fibroids.

I was given an ablation - wish I'd never bothered as it did nothing. I took Northisterone for months and months just so I could function.

Had my hysterectomy (left my ovaries) and have never looked back. Keyhole surgery, recovery was good. Was driving after a month and back at work after 6 weeks.

I'm now on a low dose of HRT as I was suffering night sweats. But I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

I have had flooding like that as well.,At work. ...I stood up and whoosh. ..All down my green trousers. ..I thought my period had finished as no bleeding for two days.

I have a massive fibroid, I had a uterine fibroid embolisation at end of June. .its a bit earlier to tell if it's worked. I also had tried tranexamic acid to no avail. I gave up work at one point because it was so bad.

as for the mirena .,It did work for me. .It made such a difference. ..but I was still passing big clots and the mirena came out with one of them (twice in fact)

good luck OP

I had the ablatuation. It was 5 yrs ago and no periods since.
It was a much quicker recovery but like you i was so desperate i wanted it out.
Definitely the best option but make sure your finished your family

oh wow, I cannot believe you had to endure it for that long.

The first time it happened to me I was straight down to the women's clinic. So I only had one flood. But it was frightening. They gave me a scan at the appt to see if I had a fibroid. I didn't. It was 115 euro on top of the 55e apt charge to have the scan right there on the same day. They could see I had no fibroid but told me I'd ovulated, at 49, I was shocked. I got provera for 10 days to end period finally. That is a mucher higher dose of progesterone. I got a skrip for tranexamic acid and I got prescription for back to back pill. So glad I got it sorted before lockdown!

I think the NHS is amazing and I'm so jealous of you all in the UK with access to such an amazing service, but I notice on here that because you're not paying for it, there is a slightly higher tendency to accept being FOBBED OFF BY GPs.

Pretend you've just paid 55euro and you will not stand up out of that chair and say thank you to the GP until you know what the solution is.

The nerve of some of these lazy GPs. Oh well, go home and just suck up another five years of periods so heavy you have anaemia and are afraid to leave the house without a black jacket around your waist. omg.