Heavy bleeding

[PollyPaintsFlowers]

I'm currently in A&E being given fluids after losing a lot of blood. I bled for six weeks straight until given hormones to stop it. As soon as I finished the course of the tablets I started bleeding heavily, I was leaking through a sanitary pad and the highest aborbancy tampax every 30-45 minutes. They're giving me more tablets to last me five days and warned as soon as I stop them the bleeding will start again. They've told me to ask the GP for a mirena coil. I absolutely, 100%, do not want a mirena coil and I'm not going to change my mind.

This isn't the first hugely heavy bleed I've had, even my regular periods are heavy. After a scan six years ago found I had a polyp on my uterine lining I was offered no follow up but the offer of a mirena coil.

I'm not sexually active, I'm not going to have more children, I'd quite happily have a hysterectomy.

What other options beside miscarriage like bleeds or the mirena coil are open to me?

I was wondering why you have not been seen by a gynaecologist or seemingly even referred to gynaecology by a and e. Again the symptoms are only being treated and whilst this does need to be addressed, the cause needs to be determined too. A scan done six years ago is well out of date and you need an up to date internal ultrasound scan along with a gynaecologist referral.

Do not be fobbed off by them suggesting a Mirena coil, again this will not address the cause and if you’re bleeding this heavily it could well fall out. It’s probably also been suggested because it is cheap.

You need to push for an urgent referral to gynaecology as a proper diagnosis is necessary. You just can't go on like this!

Don't let them fob you off by pushing the mirena coil. They are touted as the panacea for absolutely everything, but don't always work by any means. I had one for over a year (had been reluctant about it too) to sort out heavy flooding periods which were more like haemorrhages. It made things worse and to add insult to injury, doctors were reluctant to remove it when I asked, saying that I needed to give it more time. Apparently indefinitely! Eventually, in January this year I had such a frightening bleed that I almost called myself an ambulance (though it suddenly slowed, fortunately). That was when I phoned my GP's surgery and absolutely insisted that the mirena had to be removed.

Stick to your guns. Insist on a referral to gynaecology. Insist too on having an up-to-date ultrasound scan done, and maybe an MRI scan too. I'm glad I did. I have now been told that the position and size of a substantial fibroid had meant that I was far from the ideal candidate for the mirena, and was the reason why it hadn't worked.

It makes me angry that women have to fight so hard to be taken seriously and heard on this sort of thing. Sometimes even by other women (the gynaecologist who waxed lyrical to a reluctant me was a woman).

I totally agree with @Topseyt I was also "sold" the mirena as the cure to my heavy bleeding problems and it made it worse, gave me cramps like i'd never had before, had bleeding on more days than I didn't, it was a year of hell and then it eventually bled itself out in an incident that also saw me at A&E I'd passed so much blood and big clots.
I'd push for referal to gynae and a hysteroscopy.
Ablation might be an option for you.

@emmathedilemma Yes, and they also sold it to me with the promise that I could have it removed at any stage if I didn't like it!!

Ha!!! I wanted it removed after the first month as it just didn't feel right because of the continual bleeding. I immediately encountered reluctance and pressure to give it more time.

Soon after that the Covid pandemic struck with the lockdowns, so I felt trapped. That was the only reason I kept the piece of shit for a year.

Come January 2021 I did absolutely insist that it was removed. It was getting ridiculous. Something that was to have treated my heavy bleeding was making it heavier and even more frequent, yet we are apparently meant to keep giving it more time!

Bugger that. Mine is gone now and I will never consent to trying another.

You’ll like this @Topseyt ……I had my fibroids treated but once that settled I was still getting quite heavy bleeding. Went back to my GP and she even suggested I get a mirena!! It’s a wonder my response didn’t get my struck off their books!!

I should add that I have now been put on a 6 month course of Zoladex injections to shut down my rather stubborn ovaries, which at the age of almost 55 now were still showing no signs of going into menopause.

I am coming up for my fourth dose next Monday. I'm cautiously optimistic that they just might be working as I have now had no bleeding for about 6 weeks.

Time will tell though, and if my horrific periods should return after the six doses are up then I will be insisting on a hysterectomy.

@emmathedilemma

You’ll like this *@Topseyt* ……I had my fibroids treated but once that settled I was still getting quite heavy bleeding. Went back to my GP and she even suggested I get a mirena!! It’s a wonder my response didn’t get my struck off their books!!

Oh, you don't surprise me one little bit.

Another mirena was tentatively suggested to me in April. I shot the idea down sharpish.

Hi ladies.

I too suffer from heavy bleeding. I have been prescribed traxemic acid. This has slowed things down.

I have been referred to a gynecologist who has tried and failed to insert a mirena coil. This was a month ago. I have been bleeding constantly. I plucked up the courage to go to my GP who prescribed norethisterone! I was supposed to take it for 21 days! I managed 2! The debilitating headache, dizzy spells, nausea, not to mention light sensitivity were horrendous!

I contacted my GP who has told me there is no other treatment. Apart from traxemic acid. I must wait for another hospital appointment for a mirena coil.

To be honest I am so sore I can't face it.

Sorry for the slow reply, I can't believe a week has gone by already.

My GP requested a scan when she prescribed the hormones and the A&E Dr said she was going to ask for it to be expedited. They prescribed some tablets but told me the bleeding will start again once they run out. I'm due to run out next week (the GP prescribed ten days worth not the five the hospital prescribed) and I've still not heard about the scan and it was originally requested on the 27th July. The GP in the meantime has also tried pushing a mirena coil and when I said I don't want one then suggested the pill. I said I can't take hormonal birth control as it turns my anxiety into full time panic that drives me to despair. So she suggested the implant instead I was also told by the GP that gynaecology at the hospital will also 'force' the mirena coil. I didn't push it as I was exhausted from being in hospital and losing so much blood.

The whole thing was a battle. I had to convince the receptionist that an appointment to get medication the hospital had prescribed to stop blood loss that had seen me have to go to hospital in an ambulance was an emergency. She told me she'd send a note to the Dr and hopefully they'd phone me the same day. The reason I needed the GP to write the prescription was because when I was discharged the hospital pharmacy wasn't open yet and they wanted me to travel back to the hospital which is on the other side of the city later on while still bleeding heavily when it was open I have friends and support but none I could reasonably ask to travel that far for me, they all work full time or have children to care for

So I'm still waiting to hear about the scan. I assume I'm going to see gynaecology. The Dr in A&E couldn't believe I hadn't already been referred and the GP referred to gynaecology expecting me to have the coil. She did say though if it was a polyp causing the blood loss then scraping it away might fix the issue.

I'm going to phone up in the morning and chase the scan up and find out what I'm supposed to do when these tablets run out. The GP said I could take them for ten days not just the five the hospital prescribed but the way she said it leads me to think you can only take them for ten days and no longer

Thank you so much for your replies and I'm sorry to hear about your awful experiences with the mirena coil. Sadly I hear it a lot. A close friend was left in agony and her GP refused to remove it, she did it herself in the end out of sheer desperation due to the pain

Sorry I just noticed I didn't previously mention I had been referred for a scan when the initial hormones were prescribed. I was on a fluid drip on a trolley in A&E and very tired and hungry at the time

Yummy that sounds awful! I've been prescribed tranexamic acid for my regular periods that are heavy but unless I take it at the very first sign of spotting then they don't work. I hope you get a supportive Dr that listens and finds a different solution

Do Drs get paid for fitting mirena coils? I just can't understand why they push them and then refuse to remove them and leave women to suffer when they make things worse!!!