I feel like I'm slowly bleeding to death while pretending it's not happening, should I "advocate" for myself with the doctors? How?

[questionzzz]

TMI and long. Please help. Nothing like this has happened to me before.

background: 45 yrs F, 2 DC, generally healthy. No former complications with childbirth, reproductive system, periods etc.

So, over the past few years I have generally had regular, fairly light periods, lasting 3 days at most. A bit of cramping and heavier flow on the 2nd day, nothing an ibuprofen couldn't take care of.
Right on the dot 5 days after my 45th bday, I start a mild spotting (last Sunday, to be precise) just less than 2 weeks after my last period. I have a bit of a panic, wonder what going on, make an appt to see family dr but that's not until 20th Sept, continuing to bleed, so on Tuesday I go to walk-in clinic and see dr who examines me, takes swabs and writes up bloodwork, also gives me a pep talk about how it's probably just "life changes".
Call back from dr following day (last Wed) saying the bloodwork returned all normal, even for peri menopause my hormones don't indicate that, so just a fluke. They'll call me if anything irregular
in the swabs, but not otherwise.
No phone call so far, thankfully.
meanwhile the blood flow is getting heavier and showing no sign of stopping.
It's been ten days now I'm bleeding, with some clots, feeling a bit weak and woozy sometimes, but otherwise no pain, no cramps or anything.
Sex last night ended up looking like a murder scene. (dr said I could have sex)
What should I do? Just wait it out? Seeing my family dr on 20 Sept. Should I just wait till then? I feel at this point I'm slowly bleeding to death but not sure what to do?

[LilyRed]

PookieDo there isn't even an emoji face for that! ouch!

Hazhaze yes, this. I had daughters and a stepdaughter so I suppose I do it anyway. I don't think I left the house when I was really ill with it, I simply didn't have the energy, ntm the leaking ... ick

shushymcshush yes, deffo this, nobody tells you

[SeaSidePebbles]

I didn’t know about this.
I’m mid 40s, my period is getting heavier and sometimes I have a gush that makes me run to the loo. And I’ve been anaemic for about a year now, the only thing I can link it to is heavy periods.
Right.
Mirena it is.

[questionzzz]

Hi everybody this is a fascinating but depressing read. Thanks for sharing experiences.

I haven't seen the results of my bloodwork myself- just what the walk-in clinic dr told me when she called last week to say everything was "normal" except the anemia which we were expecting- she also mentioned hormone changes due to peri menopause won't show up for anther month anyway. So I don't know what the platelet count etc were.

I went and got multivits and an additional iron supplement, asked pharmacist and she said "no harm" in taking both.
I bought a large steak and ate it (my son had larger half :D). I think the wooziness is better now.

I remember my mom had similar very heavy periods ending with hysterectomy. I remember her rushing in from work one day blood running down her pants (she's passed now- from different causes:( ) but i asked my dad and he said she was way over 50 at that time.

[Jellybeansincognito]

Ah bless you. Having similar issues, it’s been 6.5 weeks now of bleeding and it’s just not relenting. I’ve even had a scan!

I hope it stops for you soon x

[PookieDo]

I have 2 teen DD’s and we have now synced to each other which is horrific 😂

Sometimes the issue is I have a black bathroom floor and I don’t realise I have bled on it if I have got up in the night

The best thing for blood is cold water and a vanish BAR of soap

I will find the link. It’s so good for blood. Rinse with cold then scrub with the bar gets it all out

www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/267519813

[Abraid2]

I was thrilled when my periods stopped. Actually the last 18 months of them fading out was a bit better.

[BG2015]

It will be your age. Possibly fibroids

I bled like this for months before I had my hysterectomy. I had the coil in and thought it had fallen out.

I just bled and bled and bled. Northisterone was the only thing that stopped it. Took it for nearly a year and then had a hysterectomy. I had a lot of fibroids and a bulky uterus.

[Mac47]

I've been bleeding for 11 months to date. I have had a coil fitted a few months ago and am praying it will sort the bleeding out. At least I haven't had any flooding for a few weeks now, I was going through super plus tampons and a maternity pad every couple of hours, often less. It is joyless, hope yours doesn't get worse!

[stucknoue]

I'm the same age, mostly light as you describe but every now and again I get a heavy one and small gap, extended length. But I have other peri symptoms too, poor sleep, hot flushes etc

[ohtheholidays]

After reading this thread I'm thinking maybe I should have gone to my Dr's ages ago about my bleeding.

I'm going through 2 night towels within an hour at the moment,I've been like this since january,I do have fibroids and Pcso and I'd passed out 5 times within 2 weeks last month but I put that down to the fact that I'm ill and disabled anyways.

For anyone else that's been through the same is it best to see your Dr when your inbetween bleeding or when your bleeding?

I hope you start feeling better OP and your Dr is able to help I know just how rubbish it can make you feel.

[questionzzz]

@PookieDo I wish we could send this link to Lady Macbeth :) :D

So sorry for what you have gone through. It sounds awful.

[icanclearabuffet]

Hi Op
I could have written your post 2 years ago.
Ended up phoning NHS Direct (or whatever it is now) as I was so scared at the amount of blood loss.
Ended up with an out of hours GP appt. He did a pregnancy test (neg) and gave me a prescription for tranexamic acid to stop the bleeding over the weekend. Asked me to make an appt with my own Gp. He said probably peri menopause (i was 46 at the time).
So, had an ultrasound a few weeks later and a fibroid was found (only 3cm) Gp happy to continue with tranexamic acid as and when necessary. Took a multivitamin with extra iron daily as I was anaemic. Gp didn't want to do any treatment as she said the fibroid would shrink after menopause. I decided I would battle on. Tranexamic did it's job.
Until about 6 months ago!
Bleeding became far heavier, almost constant and I was knackered. Saw Gp again and explained that I couldn't go on like this.
Had a mirena cool fitted last week which will hopefully shrink the fibroid and reduce the bleeding to almost nothing. Coil lasts 5 years by which time I should be through the menopause.
Fingers crossed it works.
Sorry that was an essay but just wanted to give you my experience as I remember feeling so frightened at the blood loss having always had regular, not too heavy periods.
Hope you get sorted soon 😊

[PookieDo]

@ohtheholidays

You need to go see a GP
You can take tranexamic acid which can help but needs to be prescribed
Never take aspirin and actually avoid ibuprofen
In my own experience I have taken along my period app which shows a graph of my periods. I can even show them how heavy I logged it and how long it was
I use Flo
This helped show them also explaining how it was ruining my life

[Doubletrouble99]

I think you need to think about increasing your iron intake to reduce your anaemia. I had similar to Pookie and used two of the extra large tampons plus a towel every hour or two for 3 out of 4 weeks at a time. This lasted for a couple of years until sorted out with a Minerva coil and HRT.

[questionzzz]

I feel so ignorant had never heard of tranxemic acid and only mirena in passing had no idea what it was!

I am wondering now listening to you all why the walkin-in dr didn't have me do an unltrsound- I had thought she would. I guess maybe when she pressed my abdomen and I had no pains she felt not necessary.

[Purplejay]

After experiencing heavy painful periods for years mine got gradually worse in my early 40s. I had a few tests which came back fine. It got as I would bleed 2 weeks, not bleed 2 weeks some months. Never less than 8 days. I used both pads and tampons to feel safe in the day and had to get up in the night. I was taking tranexamic and mefanamic acid which had helped for a long time but the frequency of bleeding got worse. I had anaemia. I ended up at the drs a few times and at the worst point bled for 8 weeks almost non stop (although the flow was up and down). I was given progesterone to stop the bleeding and offered the coil. Instead I asked to try the mini pill. My periods stopped. Completely. I have no side effects. It’s bloody fantastic! Good luck getting sorted OP.

[Supersimkin]

I could win surfing championships in my own blood at the mo, cresting the wave on a Tena Lady. It's a drag.

I've got fibroids which are meant to be coming out. And anemia. You feel better if you:

1. Drink a lot (not just wine)
2. Up the red meat and green leafy veg pronto as iron pills take ages to work but take them as well
3. Get up from chair s-l-o-w-l-y, stops you passing out
4. Use maternity pads and incontinence pads, period products are useless for this volume of blood.
5. Treat yourself to dark throws and dark towels.

[RyvitaBrevis]

The NHS has a self-assessment quiz you can take to understand how heavy your period is and the treatment options, which may be useful for anyone wondering:

www.nhs.uk/conditions/heavy-periods/

@ohtheholidays, definitely sounds excessive! I don't think it matters what point of the month you see the doctor. Initially you would just describe the symptoms (how many days you bleed, how many tampons or pads you change an hour, etc) and describe how it's affecting your life, you'd like investigations if they are called for, and to see if there are any treatment options.

[PookieDo]

You can’t always feel anything on the abdomen by pressing it, mine is visibly bulky now and can be felt but mine are quite big. First time I had them they couldn’t see or feel anything on examination only ultrasound

[PookieDo]

Tran acid for me just makes it much more sticky and less ‘flowy’, it does not stop them

[Blankscreen]

I had really heavy periods and I was changing the super super plus tampons every hour. I used to refuse to go anywhere without a loo as would have a lot of flooding etc.

I changed to a moon cup and it was definitely easier to manage but it was a bit gruesome sometimes.

I got referred to a gynaecologist and had an internal scan. Turns out after my c section I had a lot of scar tissue which stopped my womb contacting properly hence the horrific bleeding. I also have a septate womb and it was all stuck together.

Gynaecologist cleaned it all up and put in a Morena coil and it has been amazing. All done under a general anaesthetic.

You need to be referred asap.

[Abraid2]

flouncyfanny

The gaps between them grew longer and longer. Twice I got to eight or nine months. The last couple were much much lighter. Because there was more time to recover I didn’t feel so drained. 🙂

[youarenotkiddingme]

Start taking iron daily. That'll help whilst you wait for apt.

I have generally low iron.

This weekend my period was HORRENDOUS.

I changed pad every hour for 36 hours. And also lost numerous large clots and what I assume chunks of cell lining into the loo too.

But I never felt like you do. Which makes me wonder if it's something like an infection or something?

I'd second a and e due to some previous threads I've read on here.

[LifeImplosionImminent]

Definitely perimenopause I bled like I knicked my femoral artery with a razor one January just after xmas, didn't stop til late feb and went through a super plus (orange tampax) every 2 hours - I actually went to the doctors as I'm a 3 days and done every 15 days girl. Docs weren't remotely interested. thankfully it didn't happen every month - just every 6 months or so...bloody weird...pardon the pun...another 5 years or so of this to go...ho hum