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Original poster

If you have heavy periods.....

102 replies

Aperolontherocks · 26/04/2021 15:19

......how heavy are we talking?

I would post this on the General Health board, but am posting here for traffic.

I know this is a bit of a personal question to ask, but I figured an anonymous forum was an acceptable place to ask Smile Not that periods are anything to be ashamed of!

Mine are ridiculously heavy. I wear the super PLUS tampons, along with pads and at my peak, am probably needing to change every 40 minutes or so. Huge clots (sorry 😬) and quite a bit of pain or though that isn't constant. Usually have a bit of pre period cramping and then around half a day of cramping when I'm on.

The peak only tends to last a day and a half. The rest of my period is still quite heavy, but manageable and overall lasts around 5 days.

I am on iron tablets as you can imagine and whereas I'm no longer anaemic, I am still iron deficient, although not dangerously so and am trying to really build up the iron in my diet recently, so hopefully my ferritin levels will be slowly rising.

I don't want to take hormones and I suspect at some stage I will consider having a hysterectomy.

GPS never seem concerned and say that it's basically just the way it is.

I hear people saying they have very heavy periods, but I do wonder if they mean this heavy.

I can cope. They don't destroy my life, but it is an alarming amount of blood to be losing.

So, if you don't mind sharing....

TIA

OP posts:
MusicWithRocksIn1t · 27/04/2021 10:24

Mine are what I'd consider heavy but not as bad as yours, they got much worse after DC2. They last about 4 or 5 days but only 3 of those are normally really heavy and I was changing pads and Tampons hourly at least.
I swapped to a menstrual cup and that helped a huge amount. I've since swapped to reusable pads with period pads underneath for very heavy days. The worse night I wear a huge pad and my super absorbant period pants and I've never had a leak yet.
I still use the menstrual cup with period pants if I'm working on my heavy days it doesn't need emptied as often as I had to change my tampons.
Someone once told me that some disposable pads and tampons have hormones in them that make you bleed more but I'm not sure if that's true as I keep forgetting to look into it.
But changing the products I use was a game changer for me.

HazeyJaneII · 27/04/2021 10:29

Pretty bad.
The last few months have been awful and each period has lasted a couple of weeks.
Waiting for an ultrasound appointment, on liquid iron, just started progesterone.
Feel like shit!

movinggoalposts · 27/04/2021 10:30

I was referred to gynae as mine meant I had to change a super plus tampon and towel at least once an hour. I’d go back to your GP.

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about these subjects:

General health Women's health
Milomonster · 27/04/2021 10:33

Very similar to your situation. Leaks have been hideous as is the increase in washing. I complained to Always that their products were shit and they sent me laundry vouchers and and vouchers for more products.
Anyway, I became very anemic and had iron infusions. I went private for all my investigations and they took it very seriously. Fibroids and endo were found. Had the fibroids removed a couple of weeks ago but endo is on bowel and requires bowel surgeon to operate with my gynae surgeon. As long as the heavy bleeding has stopped, I’ll live with the endo pain. The heavy bleeding was truly debilitating and women should not just have to put up with it. I couldn’t leave my house for 3-4 days due to the constant flooding and tiredness. I had a mirena put in at the time of surgery to prevent uterus walls from collapsing. I was very much against any hormonal intervention but if I don’t react negatively to it, I may keep it.
Please please get properly investigated. You’ll realize after things improve what a tough condition you lived with.

FizzyPink · 27/04/2021 10:37

God that sounds horrendous OP.

I don’t have heavy periods but a friend did and they were slowly getting worse. It turns out it was a cyst on her ovary causing them so may be worth getting checked out

Ticketybooboo · 27/04/2021 10:40

Mine were heavier peak flow and massive clots and even an iron infusion. Couldn’t have lived without tranexamic acid but even then they were still debilitating. Now have the merena and it’s life changing. Late 40’s and after reading this wondered why I put up with it all for so long. Dr was never interested.

Original poster
Aperolontherocks · 27/04/2021 10:54

@Autumn101, ah, ok. I actually have had that when having a cervical cyst removed. Not the nicest experience, but still probably better than recent smears.

OP posts:
sadpapercourtesan · 27/04/2021 10:59

I'm pretty sure I'm perimenopausal, and mine have been horrific for months now. Last month there was a horrible incident where I was wearing a super plus tampon, super pad, plus tights, and when I felt it leaking and got up to go and change, blood streamed down my legs and all over the floor. DH had to shout at DS1 to stay where he was so he didn't see the pool of blood Sad

Added to the constant itching, night sweats, fatigue, mood swings, thinning hair etc....pretty miserable. I'm only 43

Original poster
Aperolontherocks · 27/04/2021 11:00

@itsgettingwierd, I've had external and internal scans and no cysts were shown and I was under the impression that fibroids could be detected this way, unlike endometriosis, which I suspect is what we're looking at.

@Milomonster, I do wonder if this pain I was investigated for is actually bowel endometriosis pain. GP has signed it off as suspected IBS, even though I don't have any other symptoms. The pain is just above my right ovary and doesn't feel like ovulation. More like a very dull ache, which comes and goes.

OP posts:
steppemum · 27/04/2021 11:04

Mine were like yours.

Always been heavy, but post kids got ridiculous.
I literally didn't leave the house on day 1.

super plus tampon and pad lasted 1 hour.

I got the Mirena coil and have never looked back. Zero periods now, but when I do get them it is a couple of days of light spotting

snygghygge · 27/04/2021 11:05

You need to book a gynae exam in order to rule out fibroids. I was on tranexamic acid for two months while waiting to have fibroids surgically removed. Surgery was a complete game changer, I now have "normal" periods after not being able to leave the house for a couple of days every month.

Milomonster · 27/04/2021 11:12

I knew my was bowel endo due to the horrific pain when passing wind or BM during period. Surgeon put a probe up my bum and I think endo may have penetrated bowel walls. Endo showed up on ultrasound also. I also had endo on ovaries, which he lasered. So, I think each of my symptoms had a cause. I really hope you find an explanation for yours and are treated.
I will opt for hysterectomy if things haven’t resolved. I had a heavy period 3 days after surgery. There were no clots or painful as previously. Best of luck!

Milomonster · 27/04/2021 11:14

Forgot to add, your pain may be ovary endo. Do you have pain when having a bowel movement or wind? My pain was enough for me to almost pass out on the loo - very sharp.

Original poster
Aperolontherocks · 27/04/2021 11:14

@snygghygge, did you have a general anaesthetic? What kind of exam did you have to diagnose them? I have had several internal exams.

OP posts:
Original poster
Aperolontherocks · 27/04/2021 11:22

@Milomonster, no pain during a BM. I do feel quite bloated a bit gassy, usually at night time, but put that down to my iron supplements.

I suppose ovary endo might make more sense. I did have an emergency c section over a decade ago, so also wondered if it was that. The scar tissue is very thick on that side. Obviously that wouldn't explain my heavy periods though, so I'm hoping it's the former or basically anything that can be treated!

OP posts:
snygghygge · 27/04/2021 11:22

[quote Aperolontherocks]@snygghygge, did you have a general anaesthetic? What kind of exam did you have to diagnose them? I have had several internal exams.[/quote]
I had surgery twice a month apart because I had so many fibroids. The first time I was wide awake and following the surgeon's work on the screen - I'm a big of a surgery geek! However the second time I had general anaesthesia because the last fibroids were deeply embedded in tissue making it difficult to administer analgesics appropriately. While I "preferred" being wide awake, the down time was much shorter after GA and post-surgery blues were also considerably reduced the second time.

snygghygge · 27/04/2021 11:26

[quote Aperolontherocks]@snygghygge, did you have a general anaesthetic? What kind of exam did you have to diagnose them? I have had several internal exams.[/quote]
Sorry! I didn't read your second question. My gynaecologist diagnosed the fibroids during a regular checkup including an internal scan. He referred me to hospital for another internal scan prior to the actual surgery. I'm not in the UK, so I don't know about wait times in your system, but my life was completely changed in a total of ten weeks from first check up to having completed surgery twice.

Milomonster · 27/04/2021 11:27

Could be adhesions also - surgeon found my ovary stuck to uterus wall.
I think bloating around period is normal due to hormones.

Socksorter · 27/04/2021 11:33

@Aperolontherocks.
Yes thats how it was explained to me, that the progesterone was localised in the womb, I had used mefenamic acid and noresthisterine (?) from my gp but it didnt suit me and didn't work, the mirena really was the last resort for me and i was nervous but it worked and it was worth it. It stopped my periods within 3 months and thats what i hoped for. I was fed up, flooding every three weeks, ruined my car seat and it was so depressing and exhausting
Its was fitted very quick, its felt like a nip but was done and finished before i had time to register any discomfort
Get all the info you can, what persuaded me was the nurse saying that all her colleagues had it too

Original poster
Aperolontherocks · 27/04/2021 13:40

@snygghygge, ok. Yes, I would much prefer to be awake. Interesting you had quicker down time with a GA though. I would have thought if I had fibroids,
it would have been picked up by now, given the amount of exams I've had. Really glad to hear it's worked so well for you Smile

@Socksorter, I think I will definitely do more research. It's hard when you basically drew a line under it for so long, as a definite no. It didn't help recently seeing one inserted on GPs Behind Closed Doors. That one didn't look like a "nip" Confused

Also going to look into these cups, although with the amount of giant clots I get, I'm not sure how practical it would be. Plus it looks like a huge faff to insert and a messy job to extract.

I've hit my peak Sad Last night I was up 4 times to change. Think I got 2 or 3 broken hours. Oh how refreshed I feel today 🙄

OP posts:
snygghygge · 27/04/2021 13:46

@Aperolontherocks

......how heavy are we talking?

I would post this on the General Health board, but am posting here for traffic.

I know this is a bit of a personal question to ask, but I figured an anonymous forum was an acceptable place to ask Smile Not that periods are anything to be ashamed of!

Mine are ridiculously heavy. I wear the super PLUS tampons, along with pads and at my peak, am probably needing to change every 40 minutes or so. Huge clots (sorry 😬) and quite a bit of pain or though that isn't constant. Usually have a bit of pre period cramping and then around half a day of cramping when I'm on.

The peak only tends to last a day and a half. The rest of my period is still quite heavy, but manageable and overall lasts around 5 days.

I am on iron tablets as you can imagine and whereas I'm no longer anaemic, I am still iron deficient, although not dangerously so and am trying to really build up the iron in my diet recently, so hopefully my ferritin levels will be slowly rising.

I don't want to take hormones and I suspect at some stage I will consider having a hysterectomy.

GPS never seem concerned and say that it's basically just the way it is.

I hear people saying they have very heavy periods, but I do wonder if they mean this heavy.

I can cope. They don't destroy my life, but it is an alarming amount of blood to be losing.

So, if you don't mind sharing....

TIA

Best of luck, Aperol! Flooding and clotting is really horrible and exhausting. Nobody should have to put up with this. I hope you're able to book an appointment with a great gynaecologist so you can get to the bottom of this!
Hdoodley · 27/04/2021 15:41

Very similar here... None of my friends have anywhere near my experience. I have 2-4 days a month I can't leave the house really.. lillets ultra tampon and huge pads each half hour not up to dealing with it... It's debilitating. Nightmare when work meant travel and visits to customer offices. Mirena no good for me as caused the worst depression ever and migraines. GP and gynecologist were helpful. Had polyp and fibroids removed.. No better. I do think it's worse in the last few years due to age (I'm 46) and weight creeping up. My way of dealing with it is ibuprofen which lessens it somewhat and using the Modibodi classic boyshorts as insurance.. www.modibodi.co.uk/collections/boyshort/products/classic-boyshort-heavy-overnight ..with a tampon and pad if I have to go out it has never let me down :) I honestly think having things flow naturally those first days causes me less pain and gets it over faster.. Couldn't cope without the Modibodi and I may try the mega cup mentioned earlier. The anaemia and tiredness is the worst..I'm supposed to get 600mg iron tablets down each day but that is awful in itself! Roll on menopause in my case.

Socksorter · 27/04/2021 16:59

@Aperolontherocks. I think I saw that too 😳 Yes it does hurt but it was over very very quickly, by the time i had said “ouch” she was saying “all done” and it wasnt painful enough to put me off getting a second one. It may not be for everyone but i wish I had mine sooner 100%

Good luck with getting sorted

lovablequalities · 27/04/2021 17:04

Can I ask those of you on the Mirena if you had fibroids? Do you have to get rid of big fibroids before you can have a Mirena?

I'm seeing a gynaecologist tomorrow and I'm worried they will say Mirena is my only option.

poppycat10 · 27/04/2021 17:34

I've got to say this all sounds horrific and I think we need to make more noise about it. It can't be normal for so many women to be so disabled by a normal bodily function (I know a lady further up said it's not a disability but it is a disability when you can't leave the house for 3-4 days a month).

I consider mine to be heavy but nothing like many of you on this thread experience. I have one or two nights a month when I have to get up once or twice to change pads, but otherwise it's manageable (made much easier by being able to WFH and not having to travel anywhere, so I am always near a loo).