daughter with ridiculously heavy periods. Help!

[madmomma]

My 13yold DD has been menstruating for 3 years and her periods have got ridiculously heavy and long (2 weeks plus). Does anyone have experience of this with a teenager. GP won't put her on the pill, but has given her some strong anti inflams to try to reduce the blood loss. They worked for a couple o months, but now nothing can stem the tide (sorry). No idea what to do for her really.

That sounds awful for your poor DD. My DD was prescribed Tranznamic Acid (sp?) to help reduce the flow, but tbh it didn't really help her. She was also suffering terrible pain, dizzy spells and feeling sick & none of the pain relief she was prescribed helped. Dr has now prescribed her the pill as he said the next things to try for lightening her period were hormonal anyway.

She's just had her 1st period on the pill and it was noticeably lighter and less painful. Did the Dr explain why he wouldn't prescribe it for your DD?

I don't have any advice, having not experienced this myself, but I would suggest taking her to see a different GP. it's really, really unfair to make her go through that each month if there is anything they can do to help

Yes that's the one she was prescribed and it didn't help much. I've taken her to a more experienced GP who has prescribed a 3month course of hormones to try and regulate her periods. It's called norethisterone, and my mum was prescribed it many years ago. My Mum is a very even-keel kind of woman and had no problems on the contraceptive pill, but said that when she stopped taking this norethisterone she felt suicidally depressed! Obviously I'm scared witless of it having this effect on DD. GP said she didn't want to prescribe the pill to her because she's 'too young to have her hormones messed with'. I have seen some alarming stats about younger girls being more at risk of agressive breast cancer if they've taken the pill, and also some stuff about it stopping them growing. She's only short, even though she's womanly. Gee I just feel stuck between a rock and a hard place!

I'd seek a second opinion .

It wasn't an easy decision for us, but she was missing 2 days a month at school & suffering so much. I can't believe in this day and age that more can't be done for it

I used to faint with pain and blood loss when I was 14. Got put on steroids, then the pill. Changed pills lots to find one that didn't make me fat or grumpy.

Get a second opinion or ask to see a specialist. It's horrible for your DD living with the threat of the pain and the uncertainty of never knowing if you might end up covered in blood somewhere awful like in class/at a party.

If she is bleeding that much, there must a chance that your DD is anaemic. Has the GP checked? She might feel a bit better in herself if any anaemia is treated.

I didn't have horrendous periods as a teen - but I was anaemic and felt awful til the GP spotted the problem.

I had a terrible time at 13, too. I was put on the pill at 15 and that helped tremendously. Why won't your GP do this - clinical reasons or 'moral' ones?

Thanks for the support ladies.x She doesn't feel too bad in herself, thankfully, as she doesn't get much pain. 'Just' huge blood loss. I've had her on iron tablets on and off for a couple of years, so presumably that's why she's not yet anaemic. It's clinical reasons that are stopping my regular GP from putting her on the pill. She's very cautious. I'm going to tentatively try this norehistherone jobbie, and just watch her mood v closely. If it doesn't sort it out then I'll push for the pill I think. At least for a couple of years until she feels confident using tampons.

You could try tranexamic tablets & mefenamic acid tablets.
I get these prescribed for me from my doctor due to extremely heavy periods.
My first period after giving birth last year was so heavy i was admitted into hospital over night & given loads of tablets to help ease it.

I've always suffered with extremely heavy periods & when i was in my teens & early 20s i would have 16 days periods & they were very heavy.

The dose i was orginally prescibed was 1 of each of those tablets 3 or 4 times a day but they had no affect on me. So my GP said to take 2 tablets each time & this is what has started to work.
The difference is amazing.
Before i was using super plus tampons & pads every 45min - 1 hour when i was at my heaviest & the heavy days lasted about 3-4 days.
Now i can go for 2 -3 hours before changing.

I was prescibed norethisterone tablets along with the other tablets last year when i was admitted into hospital. It didn't stop the bleeding but combined with the other tablets made the bleeding manageable. However that first period lasted for about 3 or 4 weeks.

Personally i wouldn't use norethisterone unless it was an emergency or have tried other things first. norethisterone mucked up my cycle & made my next period heavier than normal.... not exactly what i wanted.

Heavy periods are so awful, i really hope you can get something sorted for your daughter. Girls shouldn't be left to just deal with it.
One GP said to me 'don't worry you won't bleed to death, doctors don't consider heavy bleeding to be a problem'.
Well they won't cos its not them bleeding so much that they have to change hourly due to flooding.

I would get a second opinion about the pill for your daughter.

Good luck x

I'd see another GP. There's no evidence the pill would be any worse for her than norethisterone (and the pill is far more likely to work) The pill is used not infrequently in girls of this age for periods (and contraception as well but that's a whole other can of worms I'll not go opening tonight) if she's had periods for 3yrs already there's not a lot of risk of affecting her hormones by giving the pill

Thanks sleepless and serendipity. Sleepless are you a GP? Yes putting her on the pill for a year makes more sense to me than the norethisterone. This bleed has stopped now, so I think what I'll do is wait until she starts the next period, let her bleed for 5 days and then start the norethisterone and watch her like a hawk. If she tolerates it well and it stops the bleed then I'll see through the 3 months then press on for the pill, possibly from a new GP. If the norethisterone doesn't stop the bleed totally, or it doesn't agree with her, then at least we can say we've tried it. Meanwhile I'll do some googling. Thanks for taking the time to respond everyone.