My periods can last 7 weeks, really need advice

[H777]

Hi everyone,

I'm sorry I'm not a mum, but I thought maybe at least one person on here might be able to give insight into this. I'm nearly 30.

Apologies in advance for the long post! To start with a bit of background:

For the past 2 and a half years my periods have been CRAZY. On average they last anything from 3-7 weeks. Light at the beginning and end, super heavy for weeks in the middle. I can get another period 1 or 2 weeks after the last one ended, or sometimes I wait over a month.

I've been on the Cerazette pill for about 7 years and the implant (which I am told are the same hormones as Cerazette) for 3 years before that. About 4 years ago, I was switched to Cerelle, the 'non-branded version' of Cerazette, but both me and my doctor thought perhaps that was creating the problem, so I switched back to Cerazette in January. The hell hasn't stopped.

I take tranexamic acid but I'm not sure it does much.

I had 2 scans a year ago and another one at the beginning of this year. The latest one suggests my ovaries are polycystic, but the doctor didn't seem very concerned about it?

I have now been referred to a gynaecologist where the doctor thinks they'll suggest that I have the coil. The appointment isn't until end of July.

Now to detour my story for a second: at the beginning of July me and my partner are going on holiday. This isn't really an ordinary holiday - in March, I lost my mum and it's the worst thing that has ever happened to me. I am desperate to go abroad with my partner, who has been amazing and whose birthday it is at the beginning of July. In order to get away, I have made myself pretty skint and spent a lot of money I don't have. Which is irrelevant - as long as we get away from it all and have an amazing, stress-free time, the money doesn't matter.

Every holiday we have been on in the past two and a half years - long holidays, weekends away, Christmases, birthdays, and new years, have ALL involved me being in the middle of an insanely long, insanely heavy period. For this holiday in July, for way more reasons than one, I really, really, really want to be period free.

Yesterday I started spotting. If my track record is anything to go by, this means my period will be in full swing by July and just get heavier each day we are away.

As mentioned above, my doctor has a feeling the coil could fix everything (but who knows), but I don't even have a consultation about this until after the holiday.

When I came on my period a few days before Christmas (after a gap of a week), I went into the walk-in clinic begging them for a solution to make it stop, but they couldn't suggest anything.

Does ANYONE have ANY advice, on how I can not be on my period for the first couple weeks of July. Has anything similar happened to anyone else? What did you do? I was thinking about just stopping the pill but of course, maybe that would make it worse.

Thanks so much.

Could you try a different mini pill as not all are the same as cerazette/ cerelle? I gather you can't take the combined pill. Nirethisterone can be taken to delay periods but don't know if it's ok alongside the mini pill. Cerazette stopped my periods as did the mirena coil. Conversely both can also cause erratic bleeding too

Norethisterone *

If I had bleeding like that on any contraception then there's no way I would have stayed on it with all the bleeding. It was bad enough when one mini pill gave me fortnightly periods and I switched to a different one. Alternatively give your body a break from hormones and stop taking them until you get back to a normal monthly cycle

Thanks for replying dementedpixie. I've only heard of Norethisterone in the past few days and from what I've read you can't take it when already hormone-based contraception but I'm going to do the online consultation that Boots do for it.

For the first few years I had no bleeding at all on Cerazette. Tbh that freaked me out a bit at the time but I wish that was the side affect I had now!!!

I've frequently asked the doctor whether I should just come off the pill and any alternative completely, but they've always been very hesitant to say yes to that. I would do it now in a heartbeat, but I'm worried that it would make things crazier, so close to the holiday. When I had my last doc's appt in April, I asked if I should just stop it and they said wait until the gynae appointment, which isn't until end of July. However I would do it immediately if I knew it was going to stop things.

And yep sorry should have stated, I can't take combined pill due to medical reasons.

Thanks again x

Did the gp tell you why you shouldn't come off the pill? I took cerazette and bled for 30 days after which I just stopped taking it.

Goodness that is really horrible for you. Honestly in your position I’d probably come off all hormonal treatments completely and see what I was like naturally. Use barrier methods for contraception.

Personally I’ve been hormone-free for a few years, use a mooncup and my periods are better than they ever were using hormones. We just use condoms.

Pill was fine for me but the implant caused me to bleed badly enough for a transfusion and the Transexamic acid did nothing.

I do have pcos but it stopped me getting periods not the opposite - defo bring it up.

I refused the coil as the risk of it failing or getting caught was too high for me as I have a weird tilted uterus.

Phone up and ask if any cancellations at gyn clinic and hopefully they can help!

This happened to me. I had the coil removed as we didn't get on well together and I bled for approx 3 months between light and heavy. In the end my doctor put me on the combined pill which stopped everything luckily as I was so weak from all the bleeding, then I stopped taking that and has no contraception in order to let me body get everything out of my system and now it's back to normal (no fella so no worries getting pregnant). Maybe ask to go on the combined as it really does work and I'm surprised they haven't offered that as yet x

Sorry just read you can't have the combined pill! Xx

@SerendipityFelix and @InDubiousBattle when you came off, did things settle quite quickly for you? What I don't want is to stop taking it and then have things go mental while my body readjusts, with the holiday being just over a week away. But if I thought everything could settle down within a week, I'll come off it today! Happy to use barrier methods.

And no tbh the doctor has never given a good reason, I wish I hadn't listened now :(

Are you taking the pill for contraception or to try and assist with your periods? Clearly it’s not working if it’s the latter - if it were me I would stop, worst case scenario is you’ll be bleeding during your holiday but that’s likely to happen anyway, right?

If it were me, I’d come off it and try norethisterone starting however many days before the holiday as is recommended and cross your fingers. I wish I could come up with a better suggestion.

I spent over 20 years on one hormone or another for endometriosis and it completely messed my body up.

@tammyswansontwo for contraception but I had a convo with someone who knows lots of people with pco recently and they suggested that actually, the cerazette may be stopping it from going even more mental because of the the pcos. Hence why I'm scared to stop.

But @gryffen above mentioned her pcos caused her periods to stop, not the opposite. I'm just really confused.

Your logic definitely makes sense. I think I might just stop it. All the online consultations for norethisterone are saying you can't be on the pill already. Even if I stop today I wonder if that won't be good enough for them :/

Does anyone think I should just say I'm not on the pill to try and get the norethisterone...??!!! I'm going to give the superdrug one a go now....

It’s impossible to know sadly - PCOS is complicated, like most gynae conditions there’s not enough research. Things can take time to settle down anyway when you come off the pill so stopping so close isn’t ideal. Having said that, if it’s likely to be really shit anyway I may take the chance!

Hi
I really would encourage to visit a contraceptive clinic, (thats my job!) I wouldnt be happy issuing contrcapetion with bleeding history like yours with out prior investigation as to the cause (contraception can make existing issues worse and cover issues as well) you had scans a year ago and they suspect PCOS did they go into futher detail??
In short POP or Implant can cause irregular bleeding, but it depends on the person as we all produce natural hormones anyway and adding synthetic ones on top produce different responses from woman to woman, some stop bleeding alltogether, some have a little bit of spotting that doesnt bother them some have horrrendous bleeds, im unsure why they havent suggested another method other that POP or implant, the methods of contrcapetion most likely to cease bleeding (altogether) are the IUS Mirena coil, Deppo injection, you will hear good and bad from ladies whove tried these but i cant stress enough its suck it and see as we are all different. A combined pill will give you predicted bleeds but higher risk factors depending on your medical and family history. Are your smears up to date? do you have any other symptoms, pain during sex or low tummy pain?
Hopefully there will be something to suit but honestly go to contrcaeption clinc the docs and nurses there do this all day every day and go through all options with you in depth, they also fit coils so less of a wait that for gynae
Bless you though bleeding like that sounds horrific xxx

@Lymphy, thank you SO much for your long and detailed reply. I really appreciate it

I’d be asking the gynae about endometriosis too with your symptoms

Thanks @TammySwansonTwo I'll definitely do that

Its naughty really oh you have PCOS bye!!
I think with the tummy pain and occasional pain during sex it might also be worth a visit to GU sometimes ladies get a deeper infection know as PID (dead sorry if you know all this i dont want to sound patronising) yes it can be caused by infections like chlmaydia and such but also fom just bacteria tracking up, at GUM they have the facility to take some swabs and look under the micrscope there and then and if they suspect anything give you a course of antibotics, of course with the PCOS that could be the cause of the bleeding but i think its sensible to explore ever option, all our nurses habe the Mirena most love it but each to their own (can always be taken out if needs be) ! good glad ouve an appointment hopefully theyll be of some use good luck

Thanks so much @Lymphy!!! I'll mention all of that xxx

About 3 months after coming off hormones I was having regular, shorter, lighter periods, lost weight and felt mentally a lot more stable.

It may be that your ‘normal’ (ie natural state) is still severely dysmenorrhoeic but it just seems odd to me that the standard approach isn’t to find out what that natural level is and then treat, rather than continuing to tinker with exogenous hormones. When I came off I realised I’d been taking hormone treatment for over half my life and I no idea what my natural cycles were like any more. Turns out they were miles better than my body’s response to years of hormone treatment. If my natural cycles still turned out to be problematic then I’d have been able to tackle managing them from a clean base knowing what was ‘me’ and what was the medication.

Good luck for your appointment today!! It sounds like short term stopping bleeding is your priority - so finding out how soon after coming off other meds you can take norhetisterone seems to be the key, fingers crossed you can sort it for your holiday. And then long term too :)

I was on cerazette and had no bleeding for a year then suddenly started bleeding most days with hardly a gap in between. I stopped it after a few weeks of that and the bleeding stopped almost immediately. 4 months on now and I’m back to a normal 30day cycle with only 3 or 4 day period.

Good luck for your appointment

The bleeding is probably happening because the progestin (the artificial progesterone) doesn’t suit your body. Your body is therefore not able to maintain a stable womb lining, and so this causes the bleeding. Your body is sending you a clear message that it doesn’t like the artficial hormones in the pill. Consider stopping all forms of hormonal contraception and leaving your body alone for 6-12 months, and the prolonged bleeding should stop and things settle down. Use condoms in the meantime.

Thank you so much everyone! I had my contraception clinic appointment today with a very nice nurse. She did an examination and doesn't think it looks like it can be PID thank goodness. She wasn't sure what was the best advice for the short term however, and was of a similar opinion to me - if I stop the Cerazette today, it may suddenly fix things, or it may make things 100 times worse. She asked the on-site doctor if I could have some norethisterone however he didn't have any to prescribe. For the short term, his advice was to stop Cerazette and go straight onto the combined pill. Even though I've always been told I can't have this due to having diabetes and there's also ovarian cancer in the family, he said that any risks involved shouldn't be a problem in the short term. He said I can not take norethisterone whilst taking the combined pill.

So I don't feel I have much other options in regards to the holiday. it's still playing on m mind whether I should just stop everything immediately but I assume by body's natural reaction to that would be to go a bit crazy while it readjusts (not that it isn't crazy already, clearly!) which feels like a big risk, and the nurse and doctor agreed this was a big risk. I wish I'd stopped it ages ago, reflecting on the advice I've been given so far, but I obviously can't change that now. And the doctor today seemed to think the combined would do the trick for this scenario. So I've taken my first one tonight.....!! :/

After the holiday I definitely think I will stop all pills completely to try and understand what my 'natural state' is.

Thanks everyone for all the advice!!! x

I've had very similar to you, my periods last 60-90 days at a time, then 5-14 days off, then back on for another few months. Repeat for the last three years.

I've had every test going through my GP, they did say at one point the could see cysts but a repeat scan showed nothing. No fibroids, no hormone imbalance. They didn't want to put me on anything until they identified a cause. I did have Tranexemic acid a few times when the bleeding was so heavy I was bleeding through a super plus tampon and one of the always super night pads in less than half an hour, but the doctors told me that it would only slow heavy bleeding, not stop them entirely.

I finally got a referral to gynae and saw them a few months ago. He looked over all my tests and said he couldn't identify a cause, sometimes these things just happen, might be because my weight is higher than it should be. He prescribed a 3 month supply of norethisterone, which stopped the period within 2 days. I'm lucky because I don't need a hormonal contraceptive as I'm in a SSR so no pill. He did say if I wanted something long term that the coil was the best option, but I don't want to do that yet.

@MrsRubyMonday oh wow that sounds so awful. I'm so sorry you had to go through all of that!! I wonder if my gynae will say something similar. The fact that the norethisterone stopped you bleeding in 2 days makes me definitely wish the doctor from Wednesday had been able to prescribe that. I'm going to see how day 3 of being on the combined pill is tomorrow, and if i'm feeling doubtful/periodic I'll try and see if I can get some norethisterone through the Boots online consultation instead.

Thank you for sharing, it's comforting to know people are/were in similar boats!

I hope everything gets calmer for you in the long term!!