If you have heavy periods.....

[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 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

@lovablequalities. No fibroids here but I do know someone who had it fitted with them

I double up the jam rags at night, sleep on a thick towel and hope for the best. Been like this for years. I had spoken to the GP about it in 2019 and was on the list for the Mirena coil to be fitted but changed my mind when they phoned several weeks later with an appointment. Will be 40 next year. 24 years of heavy periods. It's shit OP. I hear you.

Mine aren't as bad as yours but I do have to change every few hours on day 2 and 3. I swapped to a cup and although it is a bit of a faff, you can get organised with a pack of wipes in your bag and job's a goodun.

The benefit of the cups is that you know their volume and so you can keep a tally of how much blood you lose over the course of your period. So I think mine is 15ml volume, I change it 4-5x a day on my heaviest day. Add it up and use it to explain to the GP. I've got a feeling that 'normal' blood loss during a period is 45ml, whereas I was often reaching double that in just a day. It's also worth looking at the NICE guidelines for dysmenorrhoea and suchlike and know what treatment options you should be being offered.

Like someone said upthread, this is medical misogyny. You can bet that if blokes had periods, this misery would have been dealt with years ago.

Mine are heavy since I got sterilised 3 years ago. They've always been on the heavy side but since this they've gone heavier and more painful. The second day of my period I need to change pad every half hour as I fill the pad and I pass a huge clot or 2, then I'm light.

Just checked. My mooncup is approx 30ml. I change it 4-5x on day 2 alone. So that's already 120-150ml just on the first day.

Yes - I have endometriosis and adenomyosis and this sounds like my periods, although I can’t wear anything internal as it’s just too painful. Before I went on the pill at 13, my periods were 21 days long and at least the first week was this heavy. It’s absolutely brutal and I envy those for whom it’s 3-5 days of moderate bleeding.

Definitely try transexamic acid, if you don’t want hormones.

On my heaviest days I have lean over as far as I can and sort of stumble to the toilet when I get up in the morning so I don’t flood and bleed everywhere. The clots are awful. They’ve been like this since I started as a teenager (they were actually worse in high school) so I don’t think it’s fibroids or anything like that.

I use to take the combined pill and only have a few withdrawal bleeds a year but had to stop due to migraine auras. The mini pill just made me have one long period.

I’ve got a GP appointment this week to talk about my low iron levels (what a shock, not) and will ask about trans examined acid.

Not sure if this has been mentioned but I had an ablation 4 years ago. It removes the top layer of the womb and is a day patient rather than major surgery of a hysterectomy. It’s not an option if you still want children.

I was a super plus and towel every hour. I now use a normal tampon and change it once a day.

Mine is really heavy from day 2 through to day 5 then tapers off. I change pads every two hours throughout the day and night from 2nd night until middle of day 5 and where two at a time.
It's exhausting and if I'm out then I have to be really mindful of where the toilets are to change regularly. My iron levels do drop but I take iron tablets for around two weeks every month so not drastically.
Even when I had the coil in my periods still remained really heavy.

I was told by the GP I saw that she would not refer onto gynae as I need to try Mirena first. She said gynae would only say the same thing. I would have to try this before they would entertain surgical intervention.

That’s appalling. I would make a complaint, citing NICE guidelines which say GPs should consider medical treatment before investigation if risk of an underlying cause is low, not that you must agree to this.

www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng88/chapter/Recommendations#investigations-for-the-cause-of-hmb

I got a gynae referral from gp as periods lasted 10 days in every 40 and were so heavy that I couldn't leave the house for 3 of those

Internal scan showed ovarian cysts and a much thicker womb lining than would normally be expected . I deckined pill and mirena, mefanic acid didn't help

Decided ablation was the solution for me as my family was complete. 2 year waiting list so chose to go private at a cost of £3500. We didn't have a family holiday that year but Dh agrees that it was worth every penny

Since then I no longer have periods. Just one day a month where I get a slightly brown wipe on the loo roll. It has been life changing . I'm almost 6 years post op , going into peri-menopause and do still get ovulation pain and some pmt type mood swings.!

Below are the nhs nice guidelines for heavy bleeding . GPs are heavily pushed to mirena and pill but they are then told to refer you to gynae for surgical options if you decline.

Might be useful to print off and show if they tell you that you can't have a referral until trying pill or mirena

www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng88/resources/heavy-menstrual-bleeding-assessment-and-management-pdf-1837701412549

[quote SinkGirl]That’s appalling. I would make a complaint, citing NICE guidelines which say GPs should consider medical treatment before investigation if risk of an underlying cause is low, not that you must agree to this.

www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng88/chapter/Recommendations#investigations-for-the-cause-of-hmb[/quote]
Cross post - great minds etc

I was constantly flooding. Transexamic tablets did nothing. Went to GP and asked for a gynae referral. Gynae suggested endometrial ablation. Had that and it has been amazing, the difference really is incredible. Would totally recommend.

To those who have had endometrial ablation, did you have a LA or GA? Research shows depending on which type you have, you could have either.

Also, I've had a c section and think my internal scarring is quite bad. I can feel it very thick on the right side, so it looks as though I might not be eligible

If you have adhesions internally this could be exacerbating matters - I have had extensive adhesions from Endo and they caused so much trouble.

Sorry, that wasn't very clear.

I meant, after doing some research myself, it looks as though depending on which kind of ablation you have, you could have either a LA or GA.

I was in a similar situation, after 15 years with a MIrena coil, and without a period. My last MIrena came out, and I decided to have a break before getting a new one in. Then covid hit, no chance of getting a new coil, and all hell was promptly let loose by my uterus.
I was very lucky, as my (male) doctor was absolutely brilliant, he prescribed tranexamic acid, monitored how things were going, and decided pretty quickly that my quality of life was unacceptable - so he referred me to a gynaecologist as an urgent case.
I went in for an ablation 3 weeks ago, but while I was under, the surgeon decided to do a resection instead. I still have no idea what he found/why he decided to do a resection, but I'm just happy to have been dealt with!

I had novasure which heats the lining out via radio waves .

Went in at 1pm after fasting since 7am, down to theatre at 2:30 and home by 7 that night. Took paracetamol, had 4 days of spotting and that was it

Cants comment re adhesions as had vaginial births

Was a general anaesthetic

This is not normal and fits the NHS definition of heavy periods. I used to get through super plus tampons in an hour on the worst days. They need to investigate if you have an underlying cause such as fibroids which could be treated but in the meantime you should not have to just grin and bear it. There are various options which usually starts with tranexamic acid and I'd surprised they've not suggested a mirena to you by now.

Thanks Racingadmin and SinkGirl I was a bit surprised at the appointment. Women should be given choices to see a gynaecologist if they have suffered with heavy periods for years. I may try another GP. Thank you for linking NICE guidelines. Just about to read...👍

Nothing about your periods is normal OP. I only found out in my mid 30s that periods should involve no more than 4 tampons a day, you shouldn’t be getting up to change pads overnight, and you shouldn’t need anything stronger than paracetamol. Large clots are also abnormal.

Unless you’re in peri menopause it is usually one of fibroids, endometriosis and/or adenomyosis. Adenomyosis is more likely to cause heavy bleeding than endometriosis.

It’s possible to have endometriosis in your c section scar. I’d push for a gynae consultant appointment, and at that appointment, ask some pointed questions about those 3 conditions.

Given they estimate 1 in 10 women have endometriosis to varying degrees it should not be accepted as something you can “manage”.

@blowinahoolie

I was told by the GP I saw that she would not refer onto gynae as I need to try Mirena first. She said gynae would only say the same thing. I would have to try this before they would entertain surgical intervention.

Same here.

I've had 2 now and both came out after 3 months and I never got any lighter bleeding on them either!

I had general anaesthetic for my ablation.