Will I ever stop bleeding?

[ShowOfHands]

I have had a lifetime of predictable periods. 28 day cycle and manageable. Over the last 18 months or so, they've become slowly closer together and I now have a 21 day cycle and bleed for 8 days, often heavy with flooding and clots and it's more painful. I don't think I'm ovulating anymore either as I used to have clear signs.

I'm currently 16 days into bleeding and for the first 13 days it was so heavy. I'm on norethisterone from the GP to try and stop it but after 3 days, it's slowed down massively but still there when wiping.

I'm clearly anaemic and the GP has given me iron tablets and referred me for blood tests for everything she can think of (no appointments for 2 weeks for that), and ultrasound but that will take a few weeks and she's recommended a Mirena but the GP can't do them and the clinics have a 6 month waiting list and will only give them for contraception. So I have to lie given that DH has had a vasectomy and I don't think I'm fertile anyway.

Meanwhile, I swing between thinking this is normal and just the perimenopause and being terrified that it's something sinister.

I am so so so so done with bleeding. I feel grey and lifeless and exhausted and I don't understand what is happening and if it will ever stop.

I don't even know what I want from this thread.

I am very stressed in myriad ways but I don't know that I can attribute this to that as I've been pretty busy/stressed for quite some time.

@ShowOfHands probably around 47 or 48

What would breathlessness and chest pains indicate? Just asking because I'm anaemic and been having chest pain.

This was me, @ShowOfHands. I ended up having an endometrial ablation and a mirena coil fitted at the same time under GA, which worked for a bit and then didn’t, and I actually bled out the mirena coil. Did it again, and fitted a new coil, and I’ve not had the slightest bleed since. Unfortunately found my GP in England useless about it all. He just kept prescribing tranaexemic acid. It was after I moved to Ireland, that my new GP took me seriously, sent me for a transvaginal scan, and even though it was during Covid, I had the day surgeries that sorted it.

ETA : my total sympathy. It was absolutely godawful for a few years. I remember setting off to an academic conference with a rucksack full of pads and a full change of clothes and having to get off the train and go back home because I’d already soaked through the second outfit by the time I hit there.

Have you rang the sexual health clinic and see if you can get them to fit a Mirena?

Urgh just caught up that it’s the clinic with the 6 month list.

I too got referred urgently and had womb ablation, utterly life changing.

44 is young to just assume it’s “peri” especially if you haven’t told them you don’t think you ovulate anymore.

I have told them I don't think I ovulate anymore. My cycle is shortening, sleep affected, mild hot flushes, some brain fog, irritability, restless legs. All started over the last 18 months but nothing too marked. My Mum started having similar heavy periods and a short cycle at the same age and was found to have fibroids. She had them removed, an ablation which worked for a while and then a hysterectomy at 46

I am now at 12 weeks of bleeding. I've tried norethisterone, tranexamic acid, Desogestrel double dose.

I've had a pelvic and transvaginal ultrasound and am still waiting for the results 3 weeks later.

However, I had a Mirena fitted last week and had two tv ultrasounds as part of the process and the doctor says I have lots of fibroids, the biggest tennis ball sized.

I've been back to the GP today because the Mirena has done nothing but cause cramping and I'm still bleeding constantly. She says I have to give the Mirena 3 months before she'll refer to gynae and after a cursory Google says I can take more tranexamic acid for now.

I genuinely think they'll just leave me to bleed for the rest of my life.

It's the fibroids that are more than likely causing the bleeding, my mother had the same but she had gone through the menopause. Nothing helped to stop the bleeding except having the fibroids removed

I had these exact symptoms for a year, and finally got diagnosed with polyps. I had 4 huge ones which were surgically removed. No issues now.

My very heavy bleeding was down to fibroids within the uterine wall. This was all then made much worse by having to take warfarin for an unrelated issue.

Ultimately I had an endometrial ablation which completely stopped my periods. That was back about 12 years ago so I would have been 45 at the time.

Much sympathy @ShowOfHands I remember the utter exhaustion which goes with anaemia.

My GP was useless. My anaemia was only properly recognised when I had a separate blood disorder. Mind, I did get to listen to my GP getting bollocked by a hospital nurse!

The doctor who fitted the Mirena showed me the fibroids and they're bigger than my uterus and in the lining. She said there's probably no way my uterus can contract and stop bleeding. Doesn't mean it isn't trying to contract of course. In fact, I can feel it and am having to take painkillers regularly to deal with it.

The GP today said "fibroids aren't considered a problem really". If this isn't a problem, I don't know what is.

I went to Aldi today and made it half way round before I had to leave, get my emergency bag from the car and go to a nearby McDonald's for an entire outfit change. If I take tranexamic acid, the bleeding is much lighter but I'm only supposed to take it for 4 days at a time.

I just can't believe that I have to bleed for another 3 months before they'll refer to gynaecology. And then how long does that take before I'm seen?

I'm so fed up.

Can you ask to be put on Northisterone? I had constant bleeding for 18 months. I thought my coil has fallen out but no, a scan showed it was still there, just not working anymore.

In the end I had a hysterectomy at 48. I had a very bulky uterus and loads of fibroids.

The Northisterone just gave me a bit of normality back.

Sorry just read you've tried Northisterone ☹️

@ShowOfHands are you in a position to consider going private?

The thing which ultimately triggered my treatment was the extent of my anaemia. That and the phone call from the hospital!

I started with a referral to an NHS gynecologist. Fortunately I had private medical insurance so was able to switch to the private system. This was a lot faster.

Private medicine is commercial. There is nothing to stop you asking how much different treatments would cost.

Thanks to covid meaning my hysterectomy had to be postponed, I bled for nearly 3 years. Every single day. I finally got the hysterectomy agreed after losing the plot in the (male) consultant's office. I hope things get sorted quickly for you. The coil didn't help me, but mine wasn't fibroids, it appears to have been adenomyosis gone rogue, perimenopause and just generally the culmination of years of nightmare periods.

3 years? 3 years?

I'm so sorry. What a terrible way to leave a person. I am so baffled by their blasé attitude to it.

I cried and cried at a GP appointment last week and I never cry. I tried to explain that I couldn't even get round the supermarket in one go without flooding and it's ruining my day to day life. The GP literally shrugged and suggested I double up on sanpro.

I'm afraid I don't have the money for an initial appointment, let alone treatment.

I had this.

2 Miriam coils and both came out inside huge clots.

Continuous bleeding and northisterone did stop it but I had to take it regularly every 12 hours or I’d start to spot.

I had adenomyosis which cannot be cured by ablation. If they say it’s in the
muscle wall of the uterus then hysterectomy is the only way and you need to know this so you don’t waste time agreeing to try things that won’t work.

I wasn’t taken seriously for years until I saw a young male locum who couldn’t believe that I was left to just suffer.

Can't help because I'm too old to be into the things they do/prescribe nowadays, but I did once tell a doctor that when I was given iron tablets they fed my periods and I was heavier. He said he hadn't heard of that and he'd ask his haematology friend next time he saw him. He was a nice doctor but I wanted to suggest he asked a few women as well.

The Mirena has just fallen out 😭

Oh you poor thing. Mirena is just a sticking plaster if your fibroids are that big. It could be a good thing it’s fallen out as they now can’t make you wait for it to settle down. You need to insist on a gyne appointment and really push and complain as hard as you can.

women’s medicine is so wrong. I had a hysterectomy after years of battling - fibroids in my case. Had to go private though. I refused the coil because I wanted them to treat the condition not the symptoms. It shouldn’t be this hard.

I couldn't agree more. I just want the problem solved rather than them throwing inadequate solutions at the symptoms.

I think I need to chase why the clinic hasn't sent my scan results as I suspect they'll say they can't help until they're back and then I'll insist on a referral. This is beyond GP territory. I just want to get on with my life.

The GP finally got my scan results and I have multiple large fibroids, a resultant bulky uterus which is now distorted and pressing on surrounding organs. They submitted a referral for a gynaecologist.

Just got back from a holiday and the hospital have written to say they have no appointments available and they'll get back in touch when they do, probably in around 50 weeks.

WTF do I do now?!

Can you afford to go private?

Im so sorry to hear of your suffering. Periods are one of the most horrid things about being a woman. I suffered dreadfully from the age of 14 when I used to scream and cry with the pain. My mother said it was Gods will for women to suffer. I saw a Gynie privately back in the 1960s and it was discovered I had polyps (fibroids) which are benign but caused immense pain. I had a D&C which solved the problem for a decade. I was warned that it might re-emerge as I was intending to be child free.

Later I went onto the contraceptive pill which did improve things and gave me a regular and less painful cycle. Then I lost all patience with having periods and took the pills back to back for 5 years so that I never had a period in all that time. I came off the pill at age 40 and behold, my periods never returned. Nor did I ever have a discernable menopause. It was as though my body clock had stopped. This suited me fine.