Help - heavy periods

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I need help with DD's periods. She is 12 and started in December. Straight away she had a heavy flow and needed bigger towels and it lasts a week every time. Came in from school yesterday white and stressed looking. Had been tricky all weekend and she has had terrible cat-fights with her twin sister for the last few days. She had started yesterday afternoon and looked rotten this morning so I wrote yet another note for P.E.
I am just going to make an appointment with her female GP but she says she will only sit in the car as she is too embarrassed to discuss it. What would you suggest. Am already giving her Feroglobin to boost her iron btw. This time she said she didn't have any pain but her head "felt heavy" so I guess that means she had fluid retention.

I was similar to your 12 year old child once(my periods were both irregular and very painful) and I wish to God I had not let my sense of embarrassment (which BTW is totally misplaced) get completely in the way. It was only many years later I sought medical help.

Your DD really needs to talk to her GP and not sit in the car. Sitting in the car will not help her in the short term let alone the long term. Your DD is likely to be frightened as well by what is happening to her and wonders why.

I would try and explain to her that her female GP has seen all this before and won't laugh, dismiss her or feel at all embarrassed by or at her problem.

Good luck to you both.

I totally agree with Atilla, I too suffered the same from the age of 11...I remember going to the school nurse after gushing through my clothes in an assembly and her convincing me that is was normal...really wish I'd told someone else as I put up with it for over 10 years and only finally got a doctor to listen when I was 22.
Turns out I had problems conceiving too, endometriosis and pcos, very likely I had the endo since early teens hence the bleeding. It may not be so severe for DD and it may settle but the important thing is to get her to the docs and tell her not to worry.
Most likely the doc will prescribe her mefenamic acid and transemic acid (spellings not correct sorry) to clot the blood and deal with any cramps. These never helped me in the slightest so if they don't work for her then go back. It can take a while to be listened to but be firm and don't take no for an answer.

Love to your DD, it can be miserable.
Good luck x

Did you recently post about it? I remember a very similar thread?

another vote here for mefenamic acid and also a drug called tranexamic acid. Talkign about periods is totally mortifying for most girls especially if they have started earlier than their peers - I started aged 11 and had horrific periods and was so ashamed in spite of my mum being really cool and open because none of my mates started til at least 13 or 14.

bits of this leaflet www.patient.co.uk/health/Heavy-Periods-%28Menorrhagia%29.htm might be really helpful to her(altho I'd leave out the bits about being examined - no GP would consider doing that in a teenager/younger girl) would she be preparade to write down what's happening for the GP to read so she can be there but not have to say anything unless she wants to?

Thanks to all for your help. DD was too poorly to go to school this am and I got an early appointment to see GP. Got her to come into surgery with me! Doc was great. He has a daughter a bit older and agreed that periods are a pain! He checked her throat, glands and tummy etc. Says it's too early to consider pill but that could be an option later on.
He suggest Ibuprofen which may lessen the bleeding and ease the discomfort hopefully. She is having a rest and might go to school this afternoon depending how she feels. Thanks again. I am keeping Mefemic acid and the other one written down on a piece of paper for future reference.

That's great that doc was supportive. If it gets worse for her especially pain wise don't let him fob you off with just ibuprofen though. I always needed something stronger for the pain. Before I was pg and still suffering I had a prescription for naproxen which is the same family of pain drugs as ibuprofen but stronger. This did work for me. You can actually buy it in a low dose mixed with ibuprofen as feminax ultra over the counter (purple packet).
Do your research before going for the pill, I was put on this from the age of 13 and stayed on it for a number of years. Unfortunately it ended up doing more harm than good. There have also been studies in recent years linking female fertility issues such as polycystic ovary syndrome (which I have) to going onto the pill at a young age. I really hope she gets some comfort.
If medication doesn't seem to do the trick there is alot that can be done with diet paying particular attention to her cycle throughout the month and eating/cutting out certain foods at certain times, this helped me too. Just google endometriosis diets.

Treating the symptoms is all well and good but if this continues you need to establish the underlying cause.

Mefanemic and or transexamic acid can be prescribed by the GP but I would be looking at requesting a gynae referral if your DDs periods do not improve either in terms of pain or heaviness in the next 6-9 months.

Many GPs are ignorant when it comes to endometriosis; I sincerely hope that this is not the root cause of your DDs period problems.

What the pill can do is actually mask the symptoms of any underlying problem so if endometriosis is present the pill will not get rid of it.