Don't know if I want answers or just empathy

[wellhelloitsme]

Heavy, painful, fucking periods.

I am so sick of them. Sick and fucking tired of them.

They are even worse when you're TTC so it's a physical reminder of the emotional distress of yet another month.

Doctor keeps saying it's 'just' heavy periods and to rest up when it's bad. Which is for five full days every month plus a further two less bad days at the end. Thank god I work for myself and from home, or I don't know what I would do.

Today is day three of this month's period and despite lying down (between changes) I am currently changing a super tampon every 45- 60 mins because by that time it's soaked through, has 1-3 very dark jellyish clots (each around the size of a 10p coin) attached and has flooded the entire tampon string right to the end and fresh blood all over the pad I also have to wear to try to minimise the amount of stuff I ruin every month.

Ditto lying on a dark towel for an extra barrier between tampon, towel, pants, clothing and any surface unfortunate enough for me to sit / lie on. Cocodamol not touching the pain. One tampon lasted less 15 mins earlier this morning.

Im so fucking sick of it. I took a picture of a 45 min full tampon with one of the clots to show my GP as they seem so dismissive, despite usually being very helpful on other issues. Will see if the picture makes any difference. I was given mefenamic acid but unfortunately it made me vomit each time and I can't have the alternative as it would interfere with my epilepsy medication.

If I'm dismissed or fobbed off again, is it worth me paying for a private appointment with a specialist? Especially considering we are TTC?

How is there this much stuff inside me that it is coming out at this rate?!

I haven't name changed for this as don't want to be mistaken for a period troll!

Any advice or just solidarity welcome.

Feeling very sorry for myself 😞

Gosh you've been through so much bless you. I'm so sorry you had to, it's just awful and I'm wishing you all the luck for your September check and for TTC after that 

No new advice but I had similar for years and just thought it was normal.

I think a lot of women have heavy periods and everything that comes with it and just polite up with it. Very often I would just be so glad to get to the end of a period, I would then try and make the most of the days without......but periods started to last 10+ days after I had DDs!

The tablets do help a bit, I had an op that burned away some of the lining of my womb, can't remember the name.

Eventually I had a full hysterectomy nearly 7 years ago and have never looked back.

Get back to the doctor - a different doctor? - that's what helped me, seeing a new doctor who actually took me seriously.

Your experience sounds like my mum’s periods, she discovered she had Adenomyosis when she continued bleeding after menopause. She’d also struggled her entire life being told she was just unlucky. Might be worth investigating? I hope you find some answers.

For what it’s worth I have really easy periods and found labour pains fine (TENS machine is a Godsend) if you’re used to bad pain you’ll likely be much better prepared.

Definitely go private! I did and it’s been life changing, though my circumstances were different as I’m way past ttc.

It’s awful to live your life like this, and so poorly handled by the NHS.

Moon cup plus hundreds of sanitary towels were better for me, and on here I saw someone recommended the tena pants, which whilst feeling even more miserable, saved the day when I had to go to work or out. Good luck @wellhelloitsme

I completely empathise.

I was flooding the same (every 10-20 minutes) and my clots were the same size as the tampon and I'd have 2-3 come out with it and then 2-3 come out afterwards.

I don't know what the answer can be because the usual treatments are pill and coil which lighten or stop (but are contraception)

Ablation which means to can't conceive or hysterectomy (has one last week and I'm so happy!)

But it's soul destroying I get that. I remember absolutely losing it (politely but sobbing uncontrollably) when a GP said "you're not physically losing as much blood as you think".

My ferritin was 6. Mefanamic acid and trans acid didn't help.

Both coils came out inside huge clots within 3 month of insertion and the mini pill did nothing as they just got heavier whilst on it.

Mine was adenomyosis and when she removed my uterus last week she said it was extremely bulky.

I completely feel your pain. You need a gynae referral. I suffered like this for years- always having to wear a super tampon and a thick par and hope that I got to work without leaking though. It’s awful. I had a diagnostic laparoscopy after 12 years of other diagnoses including PCOS and IBS (I don’t have IBS after all) and endometriosis was found and excised. Had follow up surgery 4 years later and it has helped (but not stopped it)

I was placed on tramadol for the pain and also use a tens machine which helps massively as does a heat belt.

i also found that an implant pretty much stopped my periods but not the pain.

hope you feel better soon

Hi op

sorry your having such a rough time with periods. You’ve had great advice hear re diary which in my experience is the best way of getting taken seriously by médica professionals.

I don’t know if you’ve told your gp that your trying to conceive but women who take some epilepsy medications need prescription grade folic acid supplements to help prevent neural tube defects.

i only found this out after having a baby with spina bifida so it was too late for us but if you’re ttc and on epilepsy meds please let your gp know ASAP.

Good luck with it all

www.epilepsy.com/stories/epilepsy-and-folic-acid

@mizu @BuffaloCauliflower @LunchPoems @itsgettingweird @OurChristmasMiracle

Thank you so much for your lovely and helpful posts, this kind of thing really is the best side of MN. I genuinely appreciate you taking the time to suggest stuff and empathise. I feel really validated when earlier I felt rather helpless and hopeless!

Private appointment it is. Gynaecologist I assume? Or is there a different job title I should be looking for? I would ask my GP but you've made more helpful suggestions on this thread than I've had for a couple of years of begging them for help on this topic!

The other plus with a mooncup is that you can record how many millilitres you lose each day by how many times you empty it!

I'm so sorry to hear that OP, god life can be cruel can't it? So sorry

I've been lucky that my epilepsy nurse and neurologist have been great (I developed it as an adult after a head injury and I've only got a couple of well managed years of it under my belt) so the second I mentioned we were even thinking about starting to try they put me on folic acid so I'm ever so grateful to them for being on the ball.

Brilliant, I’m so pleased you’re on it already ❤️

The Chalfont Centre has been just incredible to me on the epilepsy front, I'm so grateful

This is a bit of a curve ball but do you have any opportunity to improve your physical fitness? Admittedly my periods were not as bad as yours but since I started lifting weights they've become much lighter. It does sound like you need medical intervention so I'm pleased that you're going to pursue that. I thought it couldn't hurt to suggest the fitness angle as even if it brought about a small improvement it would be a step in the right direction.

I was on northisterone for years.

It isn't a contraceptive. However I'm not sure if you can take it when TTC? But it's something you could discuss with GP.

I was going to say try a mooncup because of being able to measure the volume, but also because it will work out cheaper than buying tampons, and you don't have to panic that you will run out of them.

it is disgraceful that your GPs have kept fobbing you off, and you are having to resort to going private.
I hope you get this sorted out.

I should add @wellhelloitsme that my private consultant was so horrified by my treatment that she referred me back into the nhs and did my procedure herself that way

I'm so pleased that worked out for you, thank goodness

The same thing happened previously for one of the other injuries from the same accident in that one private appointment was brilliant in getting me back into the NHS system but treated by the same consultant.

That single private appointment created one referral back to the department I'd been begging for help from for over 18 months and I was in with the same consultant within a couple of weeks finally getting the urgent treatment I needed. Mad isn't it?

Fingers crossed that might happen again for this 🤞🏻

Oof pain is so bad again today.

It's like the worst diarrhoea pains you can have but in both sides of my stomach, and no diarrhoea so no relief! Is that the kind of pain people with fibroids have?

Also get the dreaded arse daggers just for extra fun. Ugh.

Sorry for moaning when people have far worse just so nice to have found people who understand how utterly shit awful periods are.

@wellhelloitsme I hope you've managed to get a handle on the pain today and tomorrow is better for you. Really feel for you - I wish there wad something I could suggest to help, but I don't suffer like you do and I'm sure you've tried everything in the past already

You have all my sympathy! My periods were always heavy but turned nuclear in my 40s. The flooding was so bad it affected my ability to do my job (hotel manager); my social life; what I could wear; holiday decisions; and were hugely hammering to my confidence. I felt housebound. I had one period that lasted 6 weeks; heavy throughout; and my gp sent me to hospital. My gp actually removed huge clots from me (tmi it was like a bloodbath) and ran an ecg on me as I was so unwell. I had to go home wrapped in paper towels. Fortunately I had my kids and my family was complete so I got the mirena and it was life-altering.

Thanks so much what a lovely message

The pain and clotting is much better than yesterday which is a huge relief.

Looking into private gynaecologists this afternoon, fingers crossed I can get an appointment soon!

Bless you that sounds fucking horrific, you poor thing!

It really does affect so much more than people realise, doesn't it?

And little things like the fact heat pads help a bit with the pain but I can't use them during this heatwave 😣

I used to dread holidays when I would be on and my lovely GP as a teen told me to just run on my pill to delay it which was a real relief each time.

I so desperately want a baby and joke I'll love it even more as I'll get nine months off periods 😂

I think I'll be one, done and then whatever they recommend to stop my periods after that.

Just really, really want us to be parents first. If that's not biologically then we'll look at other options of course.

The pain is better today and I'm glad the worst of it fell over the weekend so I didn't need to work on those days. Phew.