To be losing my mind over my periods??

[Losingmymind432]

Sorry shamefully posting in AIBU for traffic, but does anybody else suffer with such short period cycles because I'm am starting to lose my mind.

I've had horrendous period symptoms from first starting them, heavy, painful etc used to be sick alot when in my teens from the pain. I was on birth control for alot of my teen/twenties due to severe acne and period issues but was taken off the brand I was on as it had a high risk of blood clots and it's the only pill that ever suited me, all the ones since give me side effects.

I've had 2 kids and tried several other types of the pill over the years but for the past 4 years I've not been on anything so have had completely 'natural' periods and they are just getting worse. For about 14 months things have gotten worse still, I've suffered these symptoms on/off over the years but now they are occurring monthly so alongside being generally heavy and painful they normally last 8-9 days (have had a couple last 12-13 days) sex is now painful, I spot between periods, I have terrible pain when I ovulate, my acne is terrible still and most annoying my cycles are so short, I have a period then about 10-13 days and then another period. It's really starting to ruin my life.
Ultrasound a few months back showed a blood filled cyst but it had resolved after a few cycles and small fibroids. I am booked into have a hysteroscopy soon but I have had to beg for anything else to be done as the docs just say this is normal for me as I've suffered for so long. So is this normal? Do other people have such short cycles? I don't want there to be anything wrong with me but I want a reason and I want some treatment that will give me a normal life, a period once a month is all I ask for!

Sorry it's so long!

I'm now 61 & <thankfully> no longer have periods. However when I did they were totally unpredictable sometimes having one every 2-3 weeks & seeming to be permanently bleeding, then sometimes going for months without. Every woman is different - having talked to friends over the years I found that a 28 day cycle is rather unusual. Now, of course there will be loads of posts saying how they are regular as clockwork - every 28 days 😀Good luck with the tests. x

That does not sound normal at all and it is affecting your quality of life. My cycle is a pretty normal length although my periods are horrendously heavy.

I have PCOS. "Normally" that means long gaps between periods but in my case I had a very short cycle for years - my normal was one week on, one week off for a long time, even on hormonal contraception (worst was on for 4 weeks straight..)
Now I'm peri it's slowed down thankfully.
Irregular cycle along with acne could point towards PCOS, has anyone looked into that? Good luck!

Honestly I am looking forward to menopause just so I can never have a period again!
I feel like I could cope better if I had times of longer cycles in between the short ones but I never have a longer cycle, just feel like I've got the worst of both ends, I could deal with a short cycle if I only bled for 3 or 4 days 😅

I had similar and endometrial ablation has been the best thing I've ever done. I waited years as I wasn't sure if we'd want more DC and wish I would have done it a decade ago. Almost zero period bleeding now and that has solved my anemia.

Darling I so feel for you. However menopause for me has been a round of hot sweats (still wake up on average 9 times a night covered in sweat) HRT no good as I still have a womb which means I have to take progesterone which produces a 'bleed' which is totally unpredictable so I've elected not to take it & suffer the sweats. Not to mention the 'brain fog' & DH tells me that I get very angry - likens it to his ex who suffered very badly from PMT, except he was able to predict her PMT. We women are slaves to our hormones - or lack of. 😱

That's interesting to know, I have done alot of Googling and thought there are aspects of PCOS that would make sense but I always thought it caused longer/skipped cycles whereas I'm the opposite.
I've also read it is seen on scans usually and my ultrasound although had a bulky ovary and cysts (after the big blood filled one I then had a simple cyst on the ovary) it didn't suggest they were due to PCOS.

That sounds awful. I’ve also had horrendous periods but that was my ‘normal’ and I didn’t realise how unacceptable it is to put up with them until I spoke to my fantastic GP.

A few weeks ago I had a mirena coil fitted. Eventually, my periods should stop and I won’t be in this constant cycle of trying to restore my energy levels and then having another period.

I tried lots of different pills when I was young but I struggled a lot with side effects so didn’t take them. I’m hoping this coil is going to be the magic cure.

Hi @Losingmymind432 - you didn't say how old you are, but a huge flare up of acne along with night waking and night sweats was my wake up call that peri menopause has started. I suffered not knowing what to do until I started HRT. It solved most of my problems. If bleeding is your biggest one the Mirena coil might be worth trying - this works by itself as a contraceptive and also within HRT as the progesterone element. It can completely stop your period by preventing build up of the lining.

I have adenomyosis and suffered horribly with vomiting, diarrhoea and pain for years. A Mirena coil was the thing that made the biggest difference to me. It didn't completely stop my periods (but I know that it does for lots of people) but they became very light, pain free and without all the other horrible side effects.

Good luck with your investigations.