I'm sorry, I know IABU really but I honestly can't stand this any more, I can't cope with how heavy my periods are and I don't know what to do

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I am nearly 53, I thought it would be done by now but it's just getting more and more difficult. I have fibroids and I am on hrt. I can't function at all without hrt but I think it's making my fibroids worse. Every month now I bleed really heavily for a week. I mean really heavily - I wear two pairs of knickers with two pads in each because when I flood it goes right through two pads alone in seconds. I bleed slightly less heavily for three days after. It's ruling and ruining my life. I have a gynae appointment coming up. It's taken a year and I still won't be seen until October according to the secretary. After that I have to wait at least a year for a routine hysterectomy. I swear to god I will lose my mind by then. This thing controls my life now, I am just lurching exhausted from one ten day bleed to the next. What the fuck can I do? I've tried Mirena, tranexamic acid and they didn't help. Hrt also doesn't help. I feel like I'm living half a life and I am desperate.

I’ve been there and I sympathise. The NHS was fucking useless, even when I passed out in a pool of blood and ended up in resus, it was still going to be 18 months until the waiting list got around to me. Is there any way you can have the hysterectomy done privately? Many hospitals will offer a payment plan. For me, it was either that or give up my career; it was a no brainer. The surgery was life-changing.

Yes the way they talk about it and categorise it doesn't cover what is going on, for me. It's not just having heavy periods. I make all my plans around how much I'm going to be bleeding on any given day, and it's throwing me off beam, I can't keep doing this, writing off a third of a month. A third of my life, for now!

Sadly I have no option of private healthcare.

Can you look into uterine artery embolization (UAE)? Could it be an option in your area? If it is maybe it would be quicker. I had this a few years ago and the difference was amazing.

Have you tried a menstrual disks?

My periods have always been heavy. I mean really heavy, I can soak a super tampon through and a pad in under an hour.

Menstrual disk is holds bloody loads and I can leave it several hours without having to empty it. It's given me a lot of freedom back and days of my life.

I used the pixie cup disk onem never got on with cups though.

I have endo and I wear heavy flow period pants with a reusable heavy flow pad on top. Reusables are so much better than disposables, you'll be shocked. Mine are just from Amazon, not an expensive brand.

Is the excessive blood loss causing anemia? If so that should deem it an emergency.

No suggestions for the heavy periods themselves, sorry, but agree with the suggestion to try a menstrual cup (maybe together with period undies). To some degree I understand the stress: in my teens I used to have irregular heavy gushing periods that pads and tampons couldn't contain. It makes your life miserable.

I had the same issue with terrible heavy periods, always needed a tampon and pad which I had to change every 1-2 hours.

after trying every form of contraception which either made me bleed lighter but constantly or caused awful side effects such as insomnia anxiety and skin problems, I finally decided to get ablation done.

it has been life changing no more cramps, no more flow, and no more feeling like I’m a prisoner in my own home due to the risk of an accident. It was painful at the time but I’ve not had a period since.

I would recommend returning to your GP and requesting an urgent referral, if that’s it no avail book a private appointment (£30) and get it fast tracked.

It didn’t with the doctors I saw. As I mentioned above, I was passing out with the blood loss and had severe anaemia. I was passing clots the size of my fist. Apparently, it was fine for me to wait another 18 months for a hysterectomy. I’d have lost my job by that time; I could barely function and had severe depression. It’s absolutely disgraceful the way that women are treated by the NHS. There’s just no way that men would be left to suffer like this.

When I was hospitalised with the bleeding, OP, they gave me disposable incontinence pants which I wore with a mooncup. It was pretty undignified but, as the staff pointed out, pads just weren’t going to cut it.

Are you taking iron tablets? Of course, the benefit of those is completely lost once your period starts, and it then takes the rest of the month to build your iron levels back, after which it’s back to square one, but at least they’re dropping from a normalish point each month rather than just getting lower and lower.

If it was men experiencing this, there would be funding available to combat the problem or a solution.

You will not get help on the NHS soon. It's criminal how it treats women with severe menstrual disorders. You either sit it out or go private. Many hospitals offer payment plans/loans. It absolutely sucks and isn't fair but these are your options. I was made to wait well over a year for flooding, stage 4 endometriosis, grapefruit sized endometriomas and a ca125 which was almost 4 x over the threshold for a cancer referral. There is no help other than lingering for ages on waiting lists. I would look into private if you can afford the repayment plans.

I’m exactly the same as you, two ultra max pads with two pairs of full briefs along with two super plus tampons in at once and I still flood in an hour. I’ve found taking CoQ10 has reduced the number of high flood days. I take 3x 300mg tablets per day.

Have you asked about a laser ablation?

I was like this with adenomyosis.

I bled every day.

I had northisterone daily which stopped my periods completely until I had a hysterectomy. Worth asking about that.

I sympathise. I had fibroids and suffered from hell periods too. Have you tried a menstrual cup? I used the Merula XL on top of pads. It holds 50ml so helps contain the flooding. My advice would be to use a cup to measure your blood loss from your next period and then go back to your GP. My experience is that GPs are far more likely to prescribe if you can say "I'm really worried because I lost a litre of blood in my last period" rather than just describing it as heavy. Then they spring into action!

Great that you've been referred to a hospital gynae, but in the meantime the GP could put you on norethisterone full time to stop the bleeding. It's horrible stuff and made me depressed and moody, but for me it was better than being housebound half the month and getting even more anaemic. Your GP should want to order blood tests too in case you need iron tablets or even a blood transfusion.

You could check if they can prescribe Ryeqo. (When I was put on it last year it was too new so only consultants could do the initial prescription.) It's designed for stopping periods/reducing them for women with fibroids. I found it had much fewer side effects than the norethisterone.

I had my hysterectomy earlier this year and it's life changing not having to worry about periods. I hope you don't have to wait too long.

I am not sure you can get an ablation with fibroids but if it is an option presented instead of hysterectomy then do it. I found the doctors only took me serious when they did a blood test showing I was anaemic and when I said I was missing work on a regular basis. Good luck OP. You have my sympathy.