Insanely heavy periods

[jimjamjoo]

My third child is nearly 18 months old and I am experiencing the worst periods I have ever had.

If I don't change a super max tampon after 1.5 hours then I flood my knickers. My mood in the run up is awful and I feel so angry. I have never had heavy periods and I'm really struggling.

FWIW I had 3 c sections, two of which were emergency. I'm still breastfeeding so unsure about what I can actually take.

Can anyone relate? I really can't continue with this until the menopause!

I am sorry you are going through this. My periods were also insanely heavy. I used to put a super plus in at 6.30 and by the time I got to work at 8.00 I would have to rush to change. I was anaemic from when I was 15 up untill menopause. Now I have loads of energy.
Sorry that's no help to you though, but I can relate!.
One thing though, I thought periods were lighter when breastfeeding? So maybe you need to be checked out?
My GP wanted me to have the mirena coil but I heard negative things from other people so didn't have this.

You need to see your GP to rule out things like fibroids etc.

I have Transexamic Acid from the GP to deal with mine but they are due to perimenopause, and without them I wouldn’t feel comfortable leaving the house.

I did have the mirena coil and it changed my life. No more periods, no more bleeding through tampons, pads, jeans and onto furniture.

Zero side effects either.

Another vote for the Mirena coil. I only gave in after I couldn’t tolerate any other form of progesterone for my HRT in perimenopause. And then wished I’d done it at least a decade earlier. Went from not being able to leave the house for two days a month to maybe needing a regular sanitary towel but probably only pantyliners for the whole of my period.

I had an ablation. Mine got so bad I regularly flood and was getting worse. Life changing. If you’ve finished your family, it’s worth doing.

Thanks so much for all of the replies so far. I've always hated the idea of putting hormones into my body. I used to be on the copper coil and it wasn't too bad. Maybe I need to try the mirena one as I cannot continue like this!

Mine are like that. I use a super plus tampon, massive night time pad and period pants and I change the tampon and pad every 2 hours. I also take tranexamic acid and ibuprofen which help.

Has the GP offered tranexamic acid? My periods were really heavy when they came back after I had a c-section. Tranexamic acid really cut down on the bleeding for me, and after a few months i didn’t need it any more.
Also, have you tried a mooncup (try the putacupinit website for a quiz as to which brand might suit you). There’s a bit of a learning curve but with a mooncup and period pants as backup I don’t find myself fretting all day about going to change and proximity to the loo like I used to.

Tranexamic acid helps reduce blood loss a lot for me. Prefer that to pill, coil etc

Tranexamic acid gave me stomach pains and didn’t work nearly as well as the coil for me.

I put a super plus tampon in and suddenly realising I’m bleeding on my underwear/tights after 20 minutes!

I was like this too after third child . Seemed to get steadily worse after each child tbh. Flooding when I stood up in morning . 3 vaginal births and tampons no longer really did what they should.
Had the mirena coil four years now . Best thing I ever did . Will be getting replaced next year without a doubt .
Periods stopped after a few months life changing .

Hi op I used to be awful with bleeding before the marina coil. Its been great. Hopefully the gp will sort something for you.

Can I ask what age you had this done? I'm 30. 2 children and both high risk pregnancies with complications. I asked for the ablation and told not until I'm in my 40s. I'm struggling so much with PMDD on top. It's awful.

Hmm I was 42 as last DD at 39. Frankly, if you’re done, I’d try and insist. Why should we go through this trauma every month. I felt like I was tied to the house. The final straw was bleeding over a chair during a board meeting.

God, I don't miss periods.
Fibroids were found during my twin pregnancy, when I was 38.
By the time DC were 4, I was often confined to the house, as was bleeding so much.
Finally had my Hysterectomy just short of their 5th bday.
I do not miss that uterus of mine!

Merina coil - resolved in about 3 months - couldn’t leave the house it was so bad - get booked in asap. Little hormonal impact on me either OP from it x

Metfenamic acid for me. I don’t suffer heavy periods until first time one on coil which was 9 days period on the coil and now but it’s intermittent bleeding I’ve had the coil out. I’ve not vaginally birthed children or had active pregnancies.

Oh bless you. That's awful. Cannot understand why women are just fobbed off for so long. I will insist on an ablation at my scan follow up as they mentioned I had fibroids at the scan.

I'd recommend seeing a GP or gyne to get proper medical advice. Though if you don't want to try anything hormonal... Have you ever eaten low carb? Going very low carb made my period much lighter and less painful. Anecdotally that seems v common.

Edited to add: just going zero sugar/sweet drinks/flour for the week before your period can make a big difference.

Oh really? Id never heard of that. I'm currently on the mini pill as my periods are like full on labour and I can't take care of my 2 young children. Made me nearly bed bound for a week each month. The pill I'm having a lot of on and off bleeding but no pain.
I've tried tranexamic acid which helped with the bleeding a bit before I went on the pill and mefanamic acid but ended up in a&e with severe chest pain from it so can't take that and ibuprofen doesn't do anything for the pain.

I actually first found out about it when buying period-specific painkillers. They came with a leaflet recommending ways to help. Mainly stretching and no sugar in the lead up to your period.

I figured why not try and cut out sugar for a month. My period pain pretty much vanished. Must be something about the interplay of hormones I'm guessing.

Could be worth trying? Though of course, going no sugar is not going to fix an actual medical problem!

Wow! That's crazy and amazing it worked for you. My periods were bad before I had kids (and the mini pill completely stopped my periods for 5 years)and I've always struggled with flooding and pain but since having kids I had a cyst during my 2nd pregnancy than then disappeared during pregnancy but I haemorrhaged after my 2nd birth and since then it's just been utterly awful. Even exclusively breastfeeding every couple hours for months and months my periods came back 3 months pp and are now 1000 times worse but seems fibroids have been added to the mix.
I need to exercise more and eat better but it's finding time with 2 young children 🙈

and if you have that heavy periods, the doctor should check your iron levels first before any other action.
https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/heavy-periods#anaemia

because even if the cause might be treated with something now, the deficit might have already accumulated. Sometimes periods can get lighter with better iron status (I read that somewhere on here, maybe try older threads about it), though it may not be the only reason.

This was me, turned out I had an enormous fibroid - I strongly recommend seeing your gp asap (I left it way too long!)