Period from hell, when to worry? Warning gross content.

[siriusblackcat]

I've gone 3 months without a period, thought brilliant they're stopping, I'm mid 40s and been in peri menopause for ages.
Last Saturday period came, heavy as always. Well it's just not stopped.
Usually I'm heavy for 2 to 3 days, then light for another 4 to 5 days then stop.
This time it's horrendous, I'm flooding every time I stand up, I can literally feel it pouring out of me (sorry tmi). I'm heavier now on day 8 than I was on day 1 and passing black clots too and it's showing no signs of slowing down
My back is hurting so much too and pain down below and the top of my legs.
I just want to curl in a ball and cry 😭

DH reckons I need to seek medical attention, I'm of the "your arm needs to be hanging off" school of thought.

Has anyone else had similar?

You need to phone 111 right now. If you feel faint and breathless you need to go to A & E by whatever means is quickest.

Agreed - 111 now.

I actually agree with your husband. That kind of blood loss, along with clots, doesn't sound normal. Not after 8 days. Are you using tampons? I use ultra ones on my heavy days and they only last a couple of hours. My doctor thought this was very heavy, and has put me on iron tablets - my point being that she was concerned at a much lower level of blood loss than you're currently experiencing.

I agree with PP.
You need to seek medical help to reduce the bleeding.

I'd go A&E this sound very bizarre especially with the pain too

Yes, you need medical attention I'm afraid. Very heavy bleeding can make you pretty unwell.
They can give you meds to stop this. You really don't need to keep suffering.

How many heavy duty pads are you filling in an hour? This is the main question they will ask at a&e. If you fill 1-2 in an hour they will want to admit you. And by filling I mean top to bottom.

I had a very heavy period similar to this and left it thinking it would stop on its own- I ended up in hospital for an iron, and ultimately, blood transfusion. Please call 111, if it's not normal for you, it needs to be looked into.

Yep. 111 too. We had a poster years ago who was persuaded by MN to go to A&E after a particularly heavy period. It literally saved her life

I don't feel dizzy or faint, I'm tired but I've been rushing around all week (work, sen child, elderly parents).
I use reusable pads which hold more flow and changing them every 2 hours or when I stand up after sitting a while as they then flood and leak.

I'd be getting seen, the clots could indicate fibroids. And you are potentially running the risk of an infection and low iron.

Like to other poster said, try and measure the pads and the volume and timeframe they are filling, that can be a great indicator.

Heavy blood loss is a medical emergency.

So you need to start with 111. Tell them how many days, how many soaked pads. They will want to estimate total blood loss.

If you were a man bleeding like that you would have got help well before now.

Ring 111- don’t take a risk

infection can cause sepsis, and blood loss can happen very quickly

this may not be normal - even during peri.

Is there any chance you were pregnant?

Try 111 and they'll probably get you seen. Be prepared for the doctors to shrug and do nothing though - that was my experience with a similarly heavy period for 11 days straight. I was soaking through a super tampon and a super pad every hour and it left me anaemic. Doctors couldn't have been less interested.

I’m a similar age to you, and I have had very similar periods to this for the past 3 months. I finally decided to call the GP when I leaked through my clothes within 10 minutes of changing my pad. Sent a photo of one of my massive clots to the GP too, and they got me an appointment for a couple of weeks later. They think it’s hormonal, although also spotted a polyp, but have booked me in for a transvaginal ultrasound, so we’ll wait and see what that shows.

@siriusblackcat I was like this during perimenopause, it was horrendous. Longer and heavier and sometimes more frequent. Then stopped for ages then they came back and did the same - arrrgh. I didn’t contact anyone as googling I found it is apparently quite common; that is not to say you shouldn’t check in with 111 as I was over 50 when this was going on … in any case you should seek reassurance/get checked out if you are worried in case it’s something else.

Don't want to scare or worry you, but you sure this isn't a miscarriage?

DH has had the snip so highly doubt I was pregnant.

I kind of thought this was probably normal for my age Tbh. If I start to feel ill or faint etc I'll ring 111, if not I'll contact GP first thing on Monday I promise.

This isn't medical advice on how to manage the period but from a fellow extreme heavy bleeder - Tena pants have saved so many of my clothes and bedsheets and actually let me sleep through the night (the bottom area is padded too so you don't even need to worry about it leaking out from behind!)

Why would you post asking for advice when you’re clearly concerned and then say you won’t ring 111 when everyone agrees that’s the best thing to do? It’s daft. If you’re losing a lot of blood it’s very serious and needs sorting.

I have also had this.

My periods used to be 5 days for my whole entire life

The minute I hit 40, my periods became 8 days long.

I've said I'll ring if I feel worse.

DH is currently out so I can't get anywhere tonight, I can't leave my son with ASD home alone.
I'll ring tomorrow, I'm not passing out or dizzy, I don't feel ill so it's not an emergency that needs seeing to right away.

I was posting to see if anyone else had had similar which a few people have. I agree it needs looking into and I will seek medical advice about it.