Agonising Period Pains, Please help

[hadenuff]

Hi All

I have changed my name for this thread

All though i know that this is quite common, I find it quite embarassing putting my real name forward.

I have absolutely horrendous periods, so bad that I can barely get off the sofa as I am both losing too much blood and in so much pain, unfortunately, I cannot afford to be like this with two young ones.

I have been put on tranexamic acid before in the past, but found this along with the kapake I need for the pains made me too drowsy and out of it to deal with my two children.

At present I am that bad with the blood loss that I have to use one of my childs nappies to contend with some of the loss during the night.

I also do not have a regular cycle and cannot take the pill as it gives me headaches, on the same par I cannot have the pill injection as I am suffering from severe PND. Sometimes totm can last 4 days and some days 14 days so i often do not know where I stand.

I feel that the only alternative is the have a hysterectomy or have the injections to bring on the menopause early but do not really want to do that until my depression is cleared, I definately do not want any more children as I am happy with the two I have but don't know how much longer I can go on like this.

I went into town this morning for 1 hour, I had to change 3 times and was in so much pain I was bent double over the buggy and could hardly walk.

Any tips on products that may help would be greatly appreciated.

thanks

I went through a phase of heavy painful bleeding every 2 weeks, took mefenamic acid which helped the pain but not bleeding, sought osteopath combined with homeopathy for help, I do not know what they did but I am now regular 30 days cycle with heavy but mangeable cycles now
I would seek alternative help before resorting to surgery etc, also ask for blood test as this can be caused by homonal imbalances
Good luck i know how depressing and life ruining it is
xx

Have you tried any of the holistic/complementary type therapies? I mean, if you can afford it, I don't think you'd have much to lose. Chinese herbal medicine springs to mind, and there seems to be a little business offering this service in every town/city centre nowadays. I imagine homeopaths or nutritionists might have some suggestions, but you'd want to seek advice for your personal history.

I had mefenamic acid when I had bad period pain, is that like tranexamic acid? On the other side, my aunt had a hysterectomy for similar problems and she never regretted it.

Oh god thats terrible. I have very bad period pains too, and have to take the pill for them other wise i would be in bed for a week every month.
Strangly though mine are not heavy, and i think my doc sometimes thinks i'm putting it on, like the two must go together.
How old is your youngest child ????

Nutcracker,

She is 2, my stomach is also that hard, bloated and uncomfortable I feel that I will explode.

Unfortunately, I am not in a position to be able to afford alternative therapies, I would love to give them a go.

Oh, she's 2, thought it may be to do with recemt birth or something.
My mom suffered with very heavy periods but they put her on HRT.
Blimey i can't think what to suggest. I would definatly go to your g.p though. Even if they wern't painful, that much bleeding is annoying if nothing else.
Hope you get it sorted soon .

Message withdrawn

do you think you may have endometriosis?

I had this and fortunately we had private health care at the time and was refered for an ultrasound straightaway. It turned out i had 12 cysts which were causing exremely heavy periods - i was literally housebound and had them every 2 weeks. I was given the same pills and told they would moniter them andif theydint go would be removed. They shrunk on their own in the end.
I would see your gp and push for a referal for an ultrasound.
NHS wait is too long, privatly was straight away - would cost about £100 if no cover.
Excuse onehanded typing.

Hystereectomy was never mentioned at all- def ush for a referal to a specialist. You dont have to put up with this.

Hadenuff.....I have suffered with v heavy periods in the past although not quite as bad as yours
I'm not surprised that your sick of it, your probably anaemic as well. I agree about going to the doc, could be endometriosis or fibroids maybe? My GP talked about a new 'microwave' treatment of the womb lining, prevents you having more children I think but not so extreme as a hysterectomy. Also a friend recently had a coil (mireva?) fitted which supposed to help. Mine seem to have settled now (dd is 10 but you probably don't want to wait that long) they are still heavy but only for a couple of days and not as painful.

hadenuff - think carefully before discussing a hysterectomy or early menopause with your GP. At 23 I was diagnosed with early menopause and it was so distressing. I already had one son and by some miracle I've recently given birth to another four years after the diagnosis. IMO I think you might find losing the ability to have children, even if you feel your family is complete, hard to deal with especially seen as you already have severe PND.

Hi,

Would certainly agree with the responses to see your GP asap with a view to getting an urgent referral to a gynaecologist.

A hyst is not necessarily the answer; infact with endo if this is confirmed they will probably dissaude you from going this route as endo can recur even after hyst. Things have moved on a lot treatment wise over the last few
years and often a hyst is neither necessary nor desireable. Endometrical ablation is another option - find a good gynae who knows his stuff!!.

Am no doc but your symptoms seem very suggestive of endometriosis together with hormonal problems affecting your regularity of periods (also have had very painful and irregular periods in the past).

With best wishes; do seek medical help asap

hi hadenuff,i used to be like this pre kids...got to the stage where my legs used to give up on me.not so bad since having my kids but still really painful.i find raspberry leaf tea helps as does a few grains of cayenne pepper added to any herbal tea.these help regulate the bleeding.peppermint tea helps to ease pain and bloating.i also took vit b6,iron and zinc.
i found these helped me ,my gp was loathe to help too much as when they were at their worst i was only 15-17.he also said theyd go when i ahd children....haha.
as i said theyre not so bad now and my periods are actually lighter but it seems the lighter they are the more pain i now get.luckily im on the pill which does help.i had the mirena coil recommended to me but i have a tilted womb and was told this could cause problems.