Tranexamic Acid - game changer

[WesterChick]

I've had ridiculously heavy periods for the last 5 or so years, I use a super plus tampon and ModiBodi highest absorbency (think designed to hold wee) and still have to change every 45ish mins on my heaviest day / night or I will leak through to clothes.

Having ruled out any actual reason via scans other than being perimenopausal (and she won't even confirm that tbh) she prescribed tranexamic acid to lighten the flow.

I had low hopes but bloody hell, my period was barely noticeable!!! I am in awe. I did use tampons and checked every hour but could go 4+ hours without changing and really a pad would have been enough! Just so different.

I'm used to feeling exhausted, wobbly legs, dehydrated, drained and awful during and after my period so about 10 days of feeling crap. My period finished yesterday and I am running on 100%!

I am feeling very evangelical about it. I don't like taking meds particularly, would rather address root cause but there seems to be none, and also it seems to cause basically no side effects, I had a bit of nausea and you have to take 2 massive tablets 3 times a day for 4 days, which is a bit yuk but please please, if you're suffering with flooding periods give it a try.

That’s good to read, so pleased you feel so good. I wish my mum had been told, if available, about this as she suffered with terrible flooding in her 40’s.

It is definitely worth I try, but I found that the effect soon wore off. I think I took it for around 12 months and then my periods returned to flooding and lasting for over a week.

I really hope it works for you for much longer - flooding is horrible.

It's saved me too. Clears out my bowels too which I can cope with but some people really do suffer. I have a strip of them everywhere nowadays. Car, locker, handbag.

Although it wasn't as effective on my last mega period.

It saved me too.
I have always suffered from heavy periods and flooding and it helped me massively. Wish I'd known about it sooner.

Glad it worked for you, alas for me as you can only take them for 3-4 days the flooding just started on day 4-5 for 3-4 days instead 😭

Absolutely a game changer!

I started on mefenamic acid about 5 years ago when my periods got so heavy I couldn't leave the house on day 1 and basically spend the whole of day 1 on the toilet and I would be vomiting with the pain.

Mefenamic acid was wonderful but after a while it started to not be as effective. I saw a wonderful GP who prescribed me tranexamnic acid to take alongside mefanemic acid literally have to take them both at the same time for them both to work and it's even better, I now go swimming on day 1.

Also a few years ago I changed to reusable sanitary wear (mooncup and cloth pads or period pads) which made it slightly more bearable than disposable.

The bowels thing - that's the downside for me! My monster periods also involved huge bowel clearouts and that hasn't happened this month. I usually feel half dead but also lovely and skinny after my period due to zero water retention and I feel exactly the same.

However - my new GP said my iron levels are too high (despite being anaemic at previous tests) so I have stopped all my supplements this month, I was taking Floradix twice a day and Health and Her general perimeno supplements. And I think tbh they er stimulated my bowel. Not sure which. I know iron is meant to clog you up but the combo certainly kept me very regular.

Will probably restart the supplement regime! I don't really trust my Gp as a) it makes no sense for me to be randomly high in iron and b) my ferritin is very low and google tells me that's the real measure of iron absorption, that iron can look artificially high if you're taking supplements.

Slightly deflated at the posts saying the effect may not last! Fingers crossed it does. I flood but only for a couple of days, so the 4 day limit on taking it is ok for me.

It definitely helped me OP. I had such heavy periods that all the blood came away in 3 days. It was 3 days of hell. I had to have the largest sized tampon plus maternity pads and change every 20 mins or so.

Sorry, did not mean to burst your bubble. I really hope it works for you long term.

Yes ignore GP and go back on the iron if your ferritin is still low. She's 'interpreting' the results as if you weren't on an iron supplement. Also make sure you're taking the iron right. Take it on an employ stomach first thing in the morning with vitamin C, 1 g. Leave it an hour before taking any other medication or supplements or eating anything. All kinds of food interfere with iron absorption. You can get another dose in at around noon, again don't eat or drink anything but water an hour before and after. Don't take iron in the evening if you can help it, you absorb less and less the later in the day it is because levels of a thing called hepcidin rise.

Did you get your B vitamins checked too? They'll usually test B9 and B12 and you need those for iron absorption too (think it's B12 specifically but all the Bs work together).

Oh and it's caused by perimenopause if everything else is ruled out, your GP like many is just a bit dim.

Have you considered a Mirena IUD? Great for perimenopause as it stops or greatly reduces the bleeding for most, and it's in place as a super low-dose way of getting progesterone if you decide to use HRT. Wouldn't be without mine - on my second now. Lasts 7 years for contraception, 5 for HRT.

I have just started taking this today, keeping my fingers crossed it works for me too.