AIBU to ask if your DDs' periods were horribly heavy at first?

[hoolydooly]

...and did they then settle down?

My DD is on her second period. First was light but this one is horrendous - heavy bleeding and clots - and still going strong on day 9.

I've been to the GP and she has been referred for blood tests.

Anyone have any experience of this and it turned out fine?
Does this just settle in time or do girls with this issue always have to go on the pill?

I don't have a daughter but my younger sister's ones started off like this (changing a pad every hour). She did eventually have to go on the pill to get it sorted (arrives like clockwork now, lasts around 6 days).

Yes with regards to both daughters. Yes, they have settled down a year in.

Hi Phoebe. Were your daughters heavy with clots too? And long periods of bleeding?

I haven't got one but I remember when mine first started they were really really heavy and painful.They eased off after I went on the pill at 16

My daughter had awful periods when they first started. She bled through everything. The doctor called it ‘flooding’ as she was changing towels and tampons every hour and had to take spare jeans everywhere we went. We were told they’d settle within a year.

With my daughter they didn’t settle and consequently she was put on the pill. It’s good they will do some blood tests for your daughter to make sure there’s not an underlying cause.

Dsis period was similar to this except they lasted 7days but started again after two weeks. So she was having it twice a month. She became anemic and had to take iron tablets. She didn't want to take the pill, as that was for people who had sex. It was a weird reason to refuse it but gp said she has a right to say no. It did eventually, fix itself up to once a month.

My first period (aged 12) lasted for 2 weeks. I had lots of problems with them as a teen and my mother wouldn't allow me to go on the pill because she thought it was almost an instruction to sleep around

I did go on it at 18 and came off it at 28. Problems recurred and I was diagnosed with endometriosis at 31.

Endometriosis? My first period was light and from then on they got heavier and more painful. Diagnosing it sooner would definitely be beneficial for her. Good luck! 💐

This isn't looking promising!
Only one person so far who says it resolved.
everyone else either went on pill or had issues like endo.

Nobody have this and it turn out to be normal?

Mine were horrid until I had children. Heavy and clotty but not flooding although I did get gushes. It was the knee to thigh cramping that was awful.

Forunately they were erratic so I only had to suffer them every 6-12 weeks. GPs weren't much help. I was prescribed mefanamic acid which did nothing for day 1 as the periods would randomly occur and the pain kicked in far quicker than the medication. I didn't end up on the pill until 18. I spent most of my 20s on hormonal contraception until I was ready to TTC and fortunately DC2 occured quickly.

I'd seriously repeat my 10 hour back to back labour on gas and air over some of the periods I went through. At least labour was only 10 hours and I wasn't expected to be functional.

Yes, and no they didn't resolve, she still has heavy periods age 18, and uses the patch for contraception.
I was the same, horrific until I went on the pill.

I don’t have a DD but mine were always heavy and excruciating until I went on the pill at 16, at which point they got a little better (manageable) for the next six or seven years then worsened again. I was diagnosed with endometriosis at 24.

I don’t have a daughter but can speak from my own experience—my first few periods were horrendous and like you describe with your daughter OP. I also used to get terrible debilitating migraines (vomiting, tunnel vision, sensitivity to light—awful!) but it all settled down on its own and now (I’m 30) I have an extremely light period with no issues. So I don’t know how common that is for it to resolve itself but it was my experience so you don’t necessarily need to think the worst for your daughter.

My DDs didn’t. She was diagnosed with PCOS at 15 and put on the pill but now, after suffering continuing pain regardless, she is waiting for further tests to check for endometriosis jic she was misdiagnosed/has it in addition to PCOS.

My periods were like that when they first started - I bled through everything quickly, big clots, painful. I ended up being put on the pill which massively calmed them down. I was on the pill for 16 years before coming off it to TTC. Since coming off it and unsuccessfully TTC then going through several failed IVF cycles and further investigations I found out I have stage 4 endometriosis that was basically masked by the pill for years. After doing some research I found out that an early warning sign / predictor of endo is heavy, long, painful periods when they first start. Not saying she has endo right now but it's something to maybe keep in the back of your mind if she experiences any other symptoms as she grows up - I wish mine hadn't been diagnosed so late.

My period started when I was 10 and like other PP's they were horrendous until I went on the pill a few years later.

My dd's started 2 years ago and were heavy from the start. They lasted about 7 days but since January this year have got even heavier and she's had chronic stomach pain ever since.
Periods were lasting 9 days and flooding. She's been tested for so many things, been admitted to hospital 13 times so far this year. She started the pill in July but is still having bleeding - just as heavy as her periods. Hoping it will settle down.
Back to see gynae in January who will refer her for a laporoscopy if she's still suffering as they think it might be endometriosis. Poor dd is only 13.

My dd had this too and on and off for first two years until her monthly cycle eventually settled, the first time really freaked her out as this was new for her, i found she was especially prone to having a bad clotty month with more pain etc when she was away with her class, the female collective seemed to set her off, so say teh fisrt one back after a school holioday would be bad, if she had a long break between her last period and the next it was usually a sign when she got it it would be a long one with lots of clotting , she also had a pattern developed where she few light ones, followed by what she thought was a light one for three days two days stopped and started up again for five or more days, the flow on these seemed esspecially heavy and we did have a few occasions i had to get her home from school as shed shot through a box of pads in a day.

Own experience.

Heavy, painful and long from first period at 14. I had no idea this was abnormal and it wasn’t until I passed out at school about a year later that my mum and dr discussed more thoroughly with me and my answers about how much Sanpro I was using (max absorbency pad AND Tampon changed hourly) how long they were lasting (10-14 days) and all the other symptoms that they both told me that wasn’t normal BUT no referral to gynae (which is what SHOULD have happened) instead put on pill and initially relieved and thankful as that did help a lot.

But every 18-24 months whichever pill I was on would stop working and whichever gp I was under at the time would simply switch me to a different brand, which would help initially.

I was also regularly seeing gps to get treatments for other symptoms like migraine.

A few a&e admissions due to collapsing/fainting either because blood loss made me anaemia or pain was bad enough to make me pass out.

Mc at 18, ovarian torsion at 26, another mc/ectopic pregnancy at 28 at which point because I needed surgery due to incomplete mc & subsequent discovery of ectopic embryo endo finally discovered/diagnosed and treated.

I firmly believe if the first gp had done as they should have and referred a child with clear symptoms of endo or at the very least abnormal periods to gynaecology 14 years of treating symptoms, 4 surgeries and the loss of 3 babies could have been avoided.

Please if your dd continues to have problems advocate for her and don’t simply accept her being put on the pill which in the vast majority of cases simply masks the symptoms of gynaecology conditions, and if they’re ignored and left untreated can have serious long term consequences.

I wouldn’t wish what I’ve been through on my worst enemy.

My periods started very heavy. Leaking through a pad in an hour. One even lasted 12 days all days heavy. I thought this was a normal period. Its only when I went on the pill and then came off it again to ttc that my periods were normal and I'm amazed how light and short they can be!!

I had horrendous periods as a young teen. Went on the pill and got my life back!

I had an ectopic and months of heavy bleeding before having dc and am no back to awful periods.

Pretty sure I have endometriosis and certainly scarring and issues from my ectopic.

I don’t think it’s unusual to have unusual flow for your first two?

It first one was heavy, I had another two weeks later which lasted for two weeks with the associated clots which were massive and revolting.

I did go on the pill at 16 (period started at age 12), periods did settle after about a year though. I stayed on the pill for a decade, stopped when I had babies and never went back. Have not had any other issues unlike some here

My first one was really heavy, soaking a thick kotex night pad once every hour with clots aplenty, about 12 days long. It was heavier than my PP bleeding I think. It stayed heavy but got gradually better, pretty normal flow now. Incidentally I have mild PCOS, only symptom is irregular periods.

My dds periods were very heavy when she started for a good 6-8 months or so, to the point where she didn't want to get out of bed for fear of 'flooding' and she was having time off school.
I took her to the gp and they put her on tranexamic acid. Her periods have been much lighter since. She hasn't had any time off school due to periods since and it hasn't stopped her doing anything that she wouldn't usually do.

I started at 10. The first few were okay (well, as okay as they can be at that age) but by 11 I was on the pill because I couldn't do anything for the 1 or 2 weeks the period lasted with the flooding and pain. And as they were so irregular, I soon ended up refusing to do anything even when I wasn't bleeding as it seemed to start at any time with no warning. I remember feeling like I'd been given my life back when I started on those glorious little tablets!