Heavy Periods taking over my life

[LoveIsAllAroundUs]

Anyone suffer with extremely heavy periods can offer some advice? I just feel fobbed off by the gp. I don’t really want contraception, I want to know the cause. He more or less said it just is what it is. Suggested the mirena coil which I’ve heard awful things about ( which I told him but he said that’s misinformation.. )

I finally plucked up the courage to make this appointment and I just feel completely deflated. I can’t leave the house, I have to set alarms in the night to change. It’s taking over my life. I darent plan things or book things in advance until I know when I’m due on. If I was bleeding and clotting this much from any other part of my body then they would take me very seriously and I’m just so fed up.

I was advised by my gp to have the coil due to extremely heavy bleeding that didn't stop, although I'm menopausal but I've been bleeding all year.
Anyway in March I finally agreed to it, didn't want it but thought well, I'll try it as she insist it'll help.
I'd tried tranxemic acid, didn't work, and I was at the point where I was begging for help.
So march, I got the coil fitted, continued to bleed, heavier and heavier, up twice a night, clots galore, then 2 weeks ago the bloody coil fell out!I was that heavy it just couldn't stay put.

So, I'm now on the mini pill. ( I'm also on oestrogen gel and progesterone tablets but that's for HRT )
So far, the mini pill seems to be working. I've stopped bleeding, finally, and been referred to gynae for ablation or hysterectomy.

The attitude of some drs seems to be that as women, it's a woman's problem and we should put up and shut up.
I was suicidal. It's horrendous, I hope you get some help.

So sorry to hear about the horrible experiences some women have with dismissive doctors. That's just awful @triggersslave.

I spoke to several GPs over the years and they were all good I have to say - male and female, made suggestions and asked what I wanted to happen. When I got very anaemic after ignoring it all for a bit, I got a telling off about TA too! GP said women often neglect their own health and I could have been anaemic for years.

@LoveIsAllAroundUs I do understand about wanting to know the cause but I think often there isn't a clear one. Heavy periods run in my family, I have fibroids, I was anaemic....If I had known TA would work so well for me I would have started it years earlier. Good luck with it all - I do hope you find a solution that works for you.

Honestly I used to be very anti mirena as well. I had it put in after u/s found a fibroid and they did an op to remove it and stuck coil in at same time. My periods were so heavy I genuinely thought I would die. Anaemic and couldn’t run and had to go to loo every hour at least. Took a year for bleeding to really settle down but nowhere near as bad as previously and now very very light. No side effects at all as hormone dose is very low. Wish I’d had it put in years ago tbh.

Another recommending tranexamic acid. Also due to your age, have you tried taking the combined pill constantly- tricycling. That's that I do but at nearly 40 they are forcing me on to the mini pill which will give me periods.

The coil is the devil as far as I'm concerned. I had one fitted and I've never had so much pain, even 20 hours of labour ending in a crash section seemed less painful. I think they're being pushed to market it despite bad experiences. After going into shock and a few hours of being bent over in pain I persuaded them to take it out. They wanted me to wait a few weeks until I could have a scan to check for damage. She said cough and I said "sorry?" as she pulled it out so that didn't help either.

Re tricycling, there's a lot of misinformation out there. I've been under consultant care for my lovely reproductive organs and they state the break/period has no benefit other than pleasing the catholic church in the 70s. I've done it for nearly 15 years now and 10 years prior to DD. It's a miracle!

I had an ablation (novasure) and it's been life changing I barely bleed now

I was given the Mirena coil for very heavy periods 9 years ago and I'm very glad that I had it. For me I had always had quite heavy but regular periods but suddenly in my early 30's I was experiencing extreme flooding to the point where I couldn't leave the house and they would last anywhere up to 21 days at a time with only a day or 2 break in between. This went on for a couple of years with me going back and forth to the doctors, I couldn't seem to impress upon them the severity of the problem. The doctor gave me tranexamic acid to help try and stop the bleeding but it didn't really make a vast difference so in the end they sent me for scans and to see a gynaecologist. They couldn't even see clearly on the scans but said they thought I had endometriosis and advised I get a Mirena coil. I've had 2 Mirena coils over the past 9 years. The first one was done in the hospital and aside from the initial pain it was completely problem free, at the start it didn't stop my periods but it did normalise them enough that I could go about my life without worrying about it. However, because of the extreme flooding I hadn't been able to have smear tests for a good few years so once everything was running normally I booked myself in for a check up. It turns out that I had actually had precancerous cells and that was what was causing the heavy bleeding. Once I had the treatment for that the bleeding went away completely with the Mirena. I realise this is only my experience and I'm in no way suggesting that you have any of the same issues but for me the Mirena was literally a life saver because what it did was reduced the problem enough that they could investigate the cause.
Unfortunately, I have had to have the second Mirena removed because I have had terrible problems with it. Don't know if it's just coincidence or because it wasn't done in the hospital but I don't have the heavy bleeding anymore so it's not really a problem for me to be without it now. I would say don't give up, keep asking the doctors because it's your body and you know yourself when somethings not right. Hope this helps.

If I were you I would opt for the Mirena. My biggest regret to date is that I did not do this.

From the age of 12 until 2 years ago (I am 51 now) I have suffered from very heavy periods, would have to build my life around my cycle. I couldn't take the pill as I have a stroke risk and put off the mirena as I didn't want artificial hormones.

2 Years ago I ended up so anaemic and iron deficient that I needed emergency iron infusions followed by a uterine ablation a month later. Huge regret as the ablation has failed leaving me in agony during every period. I pleaded for a MRI to find out where the pain was coming from, turns out that I have actually been suffering from endometriosis all this time (gynae never bothered to check this out despite me being his patient or 12 years) and the ablation has caused the endo to enter the walls of my uterus causing adenoymosis too. Basically my uterus is now fucked and I am on a year long waiting list for a laparoscopy.

Had I known that I actually had endometriosis I would have opted for the Mirena. Now I can't even have that as the ablation has caused so much scarring that they can't insert it.

The Mirena coil is brilliant! I was in the same situation as you and after fitting of the coil had no periods at all.

I'm sure it doesn't work for absolutely everyone but I suspect your GP is right when they said you were misinformed.

Perhaps book an appointment with another GP? Ask if there is one in your practice who has a special interest in women's health .