to sleep in a nappy?

[newfavouritething]

Have leaked through two night-time pads & super plus tampon in a 7 hr sleep. Feel crap, won't be going anywhere today. So what to do? Sleep on a pile of towels? Set the alarm clock every 3 hours? Wear a nappy over the top of everything? What do you do?

As a short term fix you can take ibuprofen now as it can help even if you are part of the way through your period. I've had to do it this month as I suspect I've got a fibroid (I'm seeing the Dr for a referral tomorrow)

Go to a different GP there is no need to struggle with this.

SwiftRelease
Never knew mooncups held more. Tempted to try

There are lots of different sizes and types of cups (the mooncup is just a trade name of one type, there are many others) but as far as I am aware they all hold more than disposables, the larger sizes definitely do.

OP that amount of bleeding doesn't sound right, you should probably talk to your GP again. Or another one as you say your one wasn't very interested.

There have been no studies (yet) but several cup users have found that their periods have become shorter and/or less painful since using them. I have found this to be true as well, my period has shortened by at least a day or two (was originally about 7 days) but no one knows why this should happen although some have suggested that it might be that the chemicals that are present in disposables are not present in cups but this is just a possible suggestion at present.

www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Periods-heavy/Pages/Treatment.aspx

You will see from this NHS advice ibuprofen is a recognised treatment for heavy periods.

Thanks all - I don't know why I haven't thought to use the bed pad things. Will definitely be going back to the gp. Before kids I had no problems at all, but had been on the pill for 12 years (yikes). Tried the mini-pill post kids (no need now as dh had the snip) didn't get on well with it - called it the mini pill of madness!

I wonder if menstrual cups shorten periods because they slightly open the area up . Or am I being a bit simplistic?

I'm like this every month for 2-3days, scared to move, I wear 2 always ultra night, wear shorts and sleep on a towel, I get up 3-4 times in the night and it's horrid. You have my sympathy.

My Mum had extremely heavy bleeding. Turned out to be a large fibroid. She was offered a hysterectomy which she decided to do, changed her life. She was in her 50s, mind. I'm not saying this will happen, but I would go see a different GP. There are medications you can try.

Disposable bed pads

I had this. For the first 2 nights each month I had to get up every hour to change everything (including Tena lady incontinence pads). I had no luck with Tranexamic Acid and the only thing the Mirena coil did was to extend my periods until they were 16 days long

I eventually insisted on referral to gynae consultant, who found I had a huge fibroid in my uterus. Had op, and it has been an incredible improvement. I now only have to get up once in the night on the first night, and only bleed for 3 days. The first day is heavy, but not as heavy as before, the next two days are lighter.

Do go and see your GP. I kept a diary of how much I bled and for how long, which made her realise that I wasn't moaning about nothing.

In the meantime, use Lillets rather thanTampax - much more absorbant.

Waltonswatcher
I wonder if menstrual cups shorten periods because they slightly open the area up . Or am I being a bit simplistic?

No one is sure why Walton, I have wondered if it is because the blood is running freely into a cup rather than soaking into a pad. (thinking like the difference between a tap running freely or running into a cloth).

OP even if it is fibroids there are other treatments besides hysterectomy My DM had fibroids too and had a hysterectomy in her 50s. It was a possibility for me but I didn't want to have one in my 30s or 40s if I could avoid it especially as I did not have any children. I did have a procedure called uterine artery embolisation (UAE) a few years ago which did reduce the bleeding and make it more manageable because it was effective against the largest fibroids (I was told that one was about the size of a 5 month pregnancy which sounded pretty large!). This was much less invasive than surgery and was able to be carried out under 'twilght sedation'.