Terrible periods after dses. Do I just put up with it? Help please oh wise MNers.

[piglit]

Ever since I had my dses (aged 2.3 and 1.3) I've had terrible periods. Without giving away TMI I have to use a super plus tampon and a maternity towel and change them both every hour or so in the day and about 3 times at night. There are also lots of clots (sorry - that was tmi).

I went to my GP about 3 months ago and he said to wait and see if they settle down (they haven't) and that he would consider prescribing me some hormonal stuff to see if that helps. I really really don't want to take any tablets and would much rather get to the cause of the problem rather than fill myself with hormones to hide the problem.

Has anyone else ever had this problem? Is it part of the whole post childbirth thing? I really struggle every month and have even taken to avoiding light coloured furniture.

My ds is 2.3 now and mine still havenn't settled down. They are lighter than pre-ds (though they were very heavy then) but there are lots of clots, they are very painful adn I now really hormonal for about half the month (I was never hormonal before).

Someone on here said it can take a couple of years for them to settle down again.

I hope mine do - I can cope with the pain and everything but not being so hormonal. DOn't think dp appreciates much either.

Piglit, I think this problem is quite common.
Tranexamic acid is the drug I think they want to prescribe you - Mears says it's very good! Hopefully she will see this thread.
Basically the problem is that for a lot of women, once the main causes (fibroids, polyps) have been ruled out, a lot of people just have VERY heavy periods with clotting post-children (ie, no underlying cause).
So, you could ask to be checked for the above. Get a gynae referral underway.
If it does come back negative for a specific cause, then I think your choices are:

• the drug above - trade name Ponstan? (not sure)
• a Mirena coil, also hormonal of course
• a procedure called endometrial ablation, done as a day op, which uses laser treatment to trim back your endometrium. This makes your periods much lighter, apparently they can stop altogether. You cannot have this if you want more children though.
• Hysterectomy. Used to be the treatment of choice but because of its seriousness as a procedure it's not routinely done unless the woman requests it

or, I suppose, living with it.

Huge sympathies - it's ghastly, and tbh I had not realised how much it was dominating my life, until I found myself on a gynae conveyor belt for endometrial ablation last summer. I was terrified of the surgery but it went well and my life is honestly much better for it.

I think it is ponstan Marina.

another thing to think about piglit - an obst once told me that she ran clinics (I think it was at the Royal Free) with a haematologist because many women (I think it was around the 15-20% mark) had undiagnosed clotting disorders (von Willebrands? the factor 9 one, I think) so that's worth checking out too.

I had these symptoms exactly and my gynae found I had a massive uterine cyst. It was removed surgically last spring.

Gosh bundle I am pretty sure I was not checked for this. Have been done for Hughes etc of course.

sauce, I was referred because the sonographer spotted what she said was a polyp. They, ahem, never found it when push came to shove so to speak.

What's a sonograph, exactly? Is it ultrasound? My gynae used a wand-shaped thing which he also used to detect my pgs at 1 month. aside: totally cool - saw a little dot with a hearbeat!

sorry marina, I'd forgotten all about it (etchasketch brain, you know) till piglit mentioned the clots. the obst was iraqi and quite inspiring, I think she was called rezan kadir

Thanks ladies. You really are an amazingly well informed and helpful bunch.

I had no idea that the clots might be so significant. I will make another appointment with the GP and learn your post off by heart Marina so I sound like I know what I'm talking about!

Thanks again. x

sauce, yes, ultrasound.

Forgot to say good luck piglit.
I found some really quite useful stuff, esp. about EA, on the NICE website (the bit of the NHS which determines which treatments are the officially preferred option. Very keen on EA vs hysterectomy).

Hysterectomy apparently the next step for me if heaving bleeding continues. Tapering off, thank God. I really don't fancy the idea of a hysterectomy somehow.

oops. I meant heavy. Heaving is what I'd be doing if I had to have the dreaded hyst.