In needing immediate period help?!

[finderkeeper]

Sorry, posting here for traffic.

I'm hosting a huge party (for the first time) and for some reason didn't check the date against the date of my period and I'm due that day!

My periods knock me out. Since I've had ds they've been so bad dh has had to take a day off work for the first day. Dizziness, nausea, throwing up, really heavy bleeding, cramps, sweats. And the bloating! I go up about two sizes.

So now I'm stuck with horrific pmt, sweats, vomiting and have to clean the house and sort the garden.

Help!!

I just started taking evening primrose yesterday (late I know) and always take b complex and magnesium.

Any other brilliant tips to not feel as horrific, calm down and look less like a bloaty heifer? Can't really wear Spanx or similar as I'll be in agony and filled with rage anyway.

I can't cancel as people have booked to travel and places to stay. Fuck fuck fuck.

Oh actually I think it's what we sell in our little local store OVER THE COUNTER called midol.

If it works I'll owe you!

I find that ibuprofen does take the edge off the flow and it has the advantage of being cheap and readily available. I don't think it would help with all the other things you suffer from though.

I don't have much to add but Naproxen is a godsend & Mefenamic Acid alone wasn't as effective for me but still a good option. I had a really awful cycle a couple months back and ended up taking naproxen, mefenamic acid & ibuprofen all together on advice from my GP and that worked wonders.

Switch to a cup, cloth pads or always infinity. Something in most disposables massively increases cramps and pain for me, the difference was astonishing. Also try staying off dairy products for at least a week before.

I take Codine for the first day of mine, means i can actually function. its over the counter, relatively strong so they'll ask what its for etc x

You can't take it with ibuprofen but you can take codiene and paracetamol with it. HUGE CAVEAT I'm not medically trained I'm going off what I was prescribed.

Check you can take it with the chemist. If you can start taking it asap.

I was on the pill at the time and still suffered. Im on the mini pill now and haven't bled for years

I'll try the switching products. I always use organic hippy products but will try even more natural. I can't use a cup, I've got a severely prolapsed bladder so it's a trick getting a tampon up there (and they fall out ).

As I'm in the States I doubt I'd get codeine even on prescription. Our state has a MASSIVE opioid crises and my doctor is one of the sensible ones who will only prescribe something like that if you're actually half dead.

Shame about your doctor, can you not get low dose codiene OTC?

Mine was ok prescribing codiene as it was a small amount for a defined period (pardon the pun) rather than a daily, ongoing prescription.

Those of you taking full dose nurofen before and during do you have any side effects?
I only ask as I went to buy the box of 96 in Boots last week and was quizzed for ages why i needed so many (because it's cheaper than buying packs of 16) and given a full on fricking lecture. I mean it's not prescription only so what's the problem?!?!?

Maybe they will, I can try!

Good news is that as the sweating and cramps have ramped up I think it may be coming today or tomorrow rather than Saturday when the party is. Fingers crossed!

I have five different cycle tracking apps and one says tomorrow the other day Saturday but it's the in depth one that says tomorrow.

Not exactly immediate help, but could I suggest you get a private pelvic ultra sound. It sometimes takes ages on the nhs. I had pretty much all of the symptoms you memtioned and was constanly fobbed off by my gp. Eventually in fertility investigations it transpired I had a melon sized fibroid (which was shrunk to the size of a grapefruit) which was then removed. My period pain was never like that again. My only regret was that my twenties were marred by the pain and symptoms.

Takeme I had a vaginal ultrasound. Is that the same thing? Would that not have shown it?

And unfortunately the last ultrasound I had cost me £1500.

What about one of those heat pads that stick in to your underwear, like a portable hot water bottle.
Won't make it all fine, but might make it a teeny bit better.

And Yy to bus cop an bor peppermint oil capsules for the bloating and stomach cramps.

Start taking the ibuprofen now if you haven't already, and make sure you take it every 4 hours no matter whether or not you're in pain. It's better at prevention than cure, so if you head the inflammation off at the pass it will less painful AND reduce the bleeding - win-win.

I have no problem with the ibuprofen as long as I take it with food. It helps stop you bleeding so much rather than to manage the pain. It's not so effective if you just start taking it when your period comes on.

I get horrendous nausea and vomiting during periods. Ranitidine, antacids or a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda dissolved in a glass of water make vomiting less painful and unpleasant. Cetirizine works well for me as an antiemetic, but makes me very sleepy! Ginger takes the edge off if it's mild - steeping freshly sliced ginger in boiling water to make tea or eating crystalized ginger - most ginger-flavoured things like biscuits don't seem to contain enough ginger to actually do me any good! Hot water bottles help with post-vomiting muscle aches.

Drinking caffeine or eating mint could relax your stomach muscles and make your nausea worse. Anything that normally causes you serious bloat like eating loads of beans or cabbage could make you nauseous too from the additional pressure on your stomach. Long term, it might be worth keeping track of what you ate and drank before each episode to see if you have a trigger food.

If you get headaches around the same time as the nausea / vomiting it could be a hormonally triggered migraine. I get migraines at the same time and my GP has told me that if antiemetics don't work for me then migraine medications might.

I find dizziness and sweats are linked to my nausea and if I can keep the nausea in check I generally feel better.

this thread is a revelation. dd (13) has heavy periods every 3 weeks... lasting 8 days. GP said the only thing he can do is put her on the pill. Maybe ibuprofen is the answer

I think the issue with all NSAIDs (Naproxen, Nurofen) is that they can irritate the stomach and cause internal bleeding.

I took 2 high dose Naproxen a day and was told always take them with food. There was a big list of tablets I couldn't take with them as well.

nocampinghere I think a second opinion is the answer - your poor DD. I had similar and was eventually diagnosed with PCOS, but not before one of my ovarian cysts had grown so large I had to have a full laparotomy to remove it and am left with a scar all the way across my abdomen. No GP took me seriously either.

thanks peachgreen (sorry OP for derailing thread).
when i say they're heavy, she's not off school or anything, but they seem heavy compared to mine, it's just the frequency and how long they are that is the problem. If there was an issue would they be horrendously heavy rather than long and frequent?

Don't take ibuprofen and naproxen together!

I've been taking naproxen for a very long time for other reasons and already have heavy periods. Does this mean if I (ever) stop taking it I'll have some sort of period tsunami?! 😭

@nocampinghere Not necessarily - my first symptoms were irregular cycles and long periods, and then they didn't get really heavy until after my surgery actually. But even if she's just unfortunate enough to have long and frequent periods, there ARE ways she can be helped (transexamic acid, for example). Don't let a GP fob you off. Good luck!

Concentrated Parsley tea helps to flush everything out. My endo definitely improved since I started mainlining the stuff.