Period problems can be a real nightmare. My mother had a dreadful time which I clearly recall from the time my youngest sister was born until she had a hysterectomy 17 years later! That was a very long time to be ignored by the medics who said things like 'lose weight and the problems will lessen'. She found it impossible to reduce her weight and it was only when she finally found a sympathetic gynae that she had surgery which transformed her life.
In the past couple of years my periods have got a lot heavier to the point of being totally debilitating at times. That affects all aspects of your life - socially, practically, emotionally - it can be a nightmare. I went to my GP who prescribed Tranexamic Acid and Ibuprofen (and iron when I was anaemic, but I can't tolerate the stuff, my body just wants to be rid of it!) The Gynae I was referred to suggested Norethisterone tablets to be taken on day 5 till day 21, at least then I knew when and for how long the menstruation would last!! Sometimes my periods were heavy and went on for three weeks.
Two things have helped. One is the Mirena coil which is basically slow release hormone and a contraceptive. I was very reluctant to try it as I had read some awful threads on MN about it and the problems some women had with it. However, I was so desperate to try anything by then (and the Gynaes kept saying they would not do a hysterectomy due to my weight, which had increased, partly due to inactivity and extreme fatigue because of the periods - vicious circle.) The Gynae registrar at my last appointment suggested giving it a go as it suits 70% of women. It has not stopped my periods altogether and I have a discharge type loss for about 2 weeks and heavier (like a very light period) for maybe 5 days in a month. But it is hard to detect any pattern. I don't care though, as this is completely manageable as far as I am concerned, versus my life before!!
The other thing that is helpful is the Mooncup. I had one before I ever read about it on MN, but it seems to help with pain, though my main problem symptom had always been excessive volume of loss rather than cramps, etc. Other users have commented about less pain, noone seems to know precisely why that is. The Mooncup has saved me an absolute fortune on sanpro, didn't take me long to get used to it, and is very effective. It is also useful as you can accurately judge the volume of loss, if you are reporting this to a doctor - they say what is heavy for one woman is not to the next, etc - however, when you know how many times in one day you emptied a full Mooncup, you can tell them precisely!!
It sounds as though several posting on this thread may well have endometriosis, whereas my problems stem from fibroids. In fact, my GP said she could feel them when she examined me and considering my weight (BMI then @ 43!!!) I was amazed that she could detect them under all the spare tyres, but the ultrasound proved her right.
Good news is, that after two months of the Mirena being in, I felt so much better that I was up to tackling the weight problem, enrolled at Rosemary Conley classes in March and have since lost 54 lbs
There is hope, just keep on to find your answer. Sorry this is a mammoth post!