My bloodbath period

[metrobonk]

I'm 42. I have three DC. Every month when my period comes it consists of:

• 48 hours of not being able to leave the house due to heavy bleeding, clots, flooding, pain and being doubled over unable to straighten.
• I cannot contain my bleeding during this time with period pants, tampons or a maxi pad. Even if I bunch up mounds of absorbent tissue or kitchen roll it often floods through that. Many times I have just resorted to holding towels between my legs and throwing them away once covered in blood.
• During the night I have to set my alarm to wake up every 2 hours so that I can go from lying down to standing up and run to the bathroom, sit on the toilet and empty the flooding blood into the toilet because if I leave it longer the built up blood floods on to the carpet, over the bedclothes etc.
• I get pain and nausea until I pass clots that are around the size and length of my thumb. It usually starts by feeling sick and thinking I'm going to have diarrhoea and sitting on the toilet and then passing a clot and the nausea and pain going away
• One of my DC who shares a bedroom and bathroom with me has to get up for school in the morning on these days and goes to the loo following a trail of blood and usually a bathroom floor covered with blood. As I often don't make it to the toilet on time so it leaks on my hands and over the taps and flush. I try to clean it up during the night after each episode but often I am just so exhausted I don't get it all, or wiping it spreads it further more thinly, so everything gets a red sheen and there are visible smaller clots everywhere.
• Mentally I go into an abyss of pretty constant crying and depression. I am on SNRIs which have helped a lot of the more extreme emotions, but I still feel like an alien has taken over my body. I fall out with everyone, I ruin relationships and friendships and work for 48 hours.
• I have never had a pair of (non lingerie) pants more than one month because no matter how much care I take they are always soiled beyond repair.
• Uncontrollable eating. I am on a GLP-1 and day to day when not menstruating I am really regulating myself well, eating healthily and not binging, but during my period it's like the effects of the GLP-1 wear off.

I have told my gynaecologist and GP about this. I haven't had time necessarily to give all the graphic detail like they above, but people respond to me as if I am vastly exaggerating. I've had scans where they have discovered polyps (not big enough to do anything about yet) and I also have the beginnings of adenomyosis which they also said was very common for peri-menopausal women. Most people tell me I just need to get a Mirena coil fitted and all this will go away. My questions for you:

• Does or did anybody else have the kind of experience I describe above on their period?
• What else can I do at this point?
• Is the mirena coil a cure-all for all of this?

Yes I've had this. Standing up out of bed and the river of blood, etc.
Big incontinence pads help, they do absorb blood very well.
I've heard good things about tranexamic acid. Not sure about coil as I can't tolerate progesterone.

yes this is me since my second kid - now 41

rivers of blood, gushes. Soak through ultra tampons and heavy period pants in an hour

can’t fathom going into the office on the first two days - if I do, well it leaks through whilst I’m sitting at my desk (or indeed on the train on the way in)

large large clots passing

lots of pain

blood leaking everywhere with clots falling out when I take my tampons out

blood on the floor, on the loo

blood gushing out when I wake up - so need to limit sleep on the first couple of nights

definitely can’t go on holiday if on my period - have had to reschedule it a couple of times recently

was never like this before my second

was told I now have an iron deficiency: 5 out of possible 150.‘yes 5…. Apparently need 70 to grow hair..

I have heavy periods for the first 2 days although not as bad as you have described above. Have you tried a menstrual cup? I find mine very helpful - I only get up once at night compared to 2/3 times if I used tampons / sanitary towels / period pants.

Also I think you can buy tranexamic acid from over the counter from pharmacies now.

Have you tried the Evana tablets, tranexemic acid? They have made a difference for me, taking the flooding from extreme to manageable.

I was like this OP totally horrendous. In November had 2 fibroids out at during a hystoscopy and Merina coil put in. Life changing! haven't had a proper periods since, but of spotting that's it.

I am so sorry that sounds awful for you. Similar to the pp - days 1-2 are pretty bad for me, not quite to the extent you describe but enough that its difficult to leave the house, up several times in the night. I am awaiting an operation to remove some cysts which should hopefully improve things. I don't want a coil for various reasons.
You need to go back to your GP and insist on some more help - don't take no for an answer, if this was happening to a man even once, let along once a month it would be investigated no question. an econsult form online will allow you to describe your symptoms in depth, sometimes thats easier that trying to get it all into a face to face appointment. Appalling that women are expected to just put up with this.
Ibuprofen can help slow the flood down if you need to leave the house or get more sleep? Also yes to a menstrual cup, makes it more manageable.
Finally request some blood tests, you must be anemic/low ferritin losing that volume of blood which will make you feel (more) awful - if you can get your Ferritin levels up that can also help reduce bleeding.

Mine are exactly as you describe. I have to use disposable incontinence pants. Otherwise I'm up and down through the night. Still am a few times but they really do help. Its been my reality for 13 years.

I had exactly the same and the tablets didn’t touch the sides. You’ve also got to realise that losing that much blood will play havoc on your energy levels and overall ability to cope. I was losing so much blood I’d convinced myself that I was seriously ill with something terminal. When I went to the GP and said I bled out at work in a conference room - he belly laughed at me. Anyway after going private (nhs couldn’t find a cause despite numerous scans) my consultant identified a number of fibroids - one small but particularly annoying one was causing the bleeding. He removed them all and fitted the mirena at the same time and it’s been life changing. The fibroids did return 5ish years later and he did the same procedure. I can’t remember the last time I bled even a normal period and I love it!

Yes I had exactly this. Was fobbed off with tranexamic acid for 14 years which didn't help. It wasn't until I was on the verge of collapse thst I had a blood test and that same day was sent to hospital severely anaemic and had 4 pints of blood transfused. Only then did they take it seriously and I had multiple fibroid. Total abdominal hysterectomy, and I have never looked back or felt so alive!

Ive had the exact same problem. I was diagnosed with PCOS and endometriosis but only because I couldn't conceive, not because any medical professional cared about the horrendous bleeding I was having to deal with. Tranexamic acid helped in the short term but the mirena coil has solved the problem. Its not for everyone but I would say its definitely worth a try, I wouldn't be without one now.

Are you on HRT at all OP?

Yes mirena coil charged all this for me. Barely bleed at all now. It took a couple of months to settle in and since then it has been life-changing.

Unfortunately I'm now trying to find solutions for my teenage daughter who has just started very heavy periods and has anaemia and there are few solutions being offered for her heavy painful periods owing to her age.

Mine aren’t quite as bad as you describe, but I still suffer and have awful low iron as a result.

i have had success with the Trans acid. It has shortened my bleeding days and lightens my bleeding. No other side affects that I notice so absolutely worth trying.

I also triple up on protection. A mooncup, sanitary towel and period pants together mean I can go overnight most of the time without having to change. Period pants are a good last line of defence.

Maybe this is an ignorant answer but what about taking the no break pill so you don’t bleed at all? I took this when my periods were extremely heavy and continued it until they stopped at menopause. I’m so sorry you’re having to deal with this each month

It infuriates me that women have to put up with this kind of appalling quality of life.

I had the exact same, OP. I had a fibroid, polyps and adenomyosis. My periods were as you describe, but as I got further into perimenopause, eventually I was just bleeding all the time - no break at all.

I eventually had a Mirena fitted 18 months ago (and polyps removed, hysteroscopy & biopsies) and I'm still marvelling at how transformative it's been. But I'm also still angry at how long it took to be taken seriously.

Mirena coil was the solution for me. Life changing. I wish doctors took heavy periods more seriously. So many women living with this and being brushed off by GPs.

I was like this for a few years post-covid vaccine (I am very pro-vax and would have it again but it definitely triggered something). I had lots of people telling me to use a mooncup, not understanding that I could literally fill a mooncup in about 3 mins. It did settle eventually but I still get very heavy periods. I can leave the house now but have to use an ultra tampon, night pad and perio pants on the 2-3 heavy days. I am going to switch to Mirena I think.

Make sure you're taking your iron!

I used to have horrendous heavy periods as a teenager like you describe. Big clots, flooding through tampons and pads and so painful I’d be crawling to the bathroom.
Tried two types of meds to ‘control’ the bleeding and got nowhere.
finally went on the Depo injection at 17 and it stopped my periods and gave me my life back. I’ve been on that or the implant since (I’m now 38) and it’s been great. Came off Depo to have my daughter at 26. It took 4 months for my periods to return (April) and fell pregnant in the September. Straight back on after she was born as soon as I was allowed. Best thing for me and no plans to come off anytime soon x

Yes. It’s horrific. I’m 13 years past it now but still remember the horror of trailing blood across the white marble floor of a Hilton Hotel reception area into the toilets.and totally flooding my car seat. I had a microwave ablation and a mirena coil. It only put my periods to where they should be- normal flow. It didn’t stop them. I used to have a horrific migraine 1 day per month plus the awful tummy pains. 2 paracetamol and 2 ibuprofen taken together used to kill that. At one point I lost a blood clot so big it looked like a cows liver lying in the bed 🤮and took my coil with it !!
A friend was going through similar until recently and she’s now on the supposed urgent list for a hysterectomy (6 months and counting) after an horrific procedure to try and stop the bleeding but it seems a long course of transexemic acid may now have finally stopped it (she’s 58 and should really not be bleeding at all)

No words of wisdom but sorry you’re going through this. Are you on the waiting list for any investigations? It horrifies me what women are left to put up with. Your iron levels must be terribly (dangerously?) low. keep pushing, this isn’t normal and we shouldn’t ever normalise anythIng so debilitating

My sympathy OP - I’ve experienced some of what you describe since I started having periods at 11. They’ve always been heavy and flooding was a regular occurrence. Peri memo for me has been a godsend and they’re now strangely much better, lighter and more regular but I still get the odd one. Can’t emphasise enough how much difference incontinence pads make, especially overnight. Ultra Tampax and big incontinence pad (supermarket own brand - Aldi and Lidl ones are fine) made the difference in being able to sleep or not. Before this I used to set an alarm too. Using them I can go up to 6hrs which is a miracle. On one occasion I also used a small nappy which is what I had on hand and this was surprisingly good too!

Oh love! Go back to the GP with all of these details and do not leave until you have a referral to gynaecology. Then, do not leave the consultant’s office until you have a proper treatment plan up to and including a hysterectomy.

I had a quarter of your problems and life was intolerable. A hysterectomy saved me. It was truly life changing.

What Apple wrote here. Such bleeding is not normal and you should not put up with it. You need a referral to a gynaecologist.

If finances permit go private to see a gynaecologist for an initial consultation.

I had bleeding like this and it made me ill. Pils snd Mirena may help but with such heavy bleeding the mirena may be expelled by your body. These do not treat the underlying cause and you need to determine the cause too. In my case hormonal fluctuations of both progesterone and estrogen were to blame. Ablation surgery to remove the lining cured the problem entirely.

At 42 I am guessing you have completed your family so there aren't still reasons to keep having periods.

So mini pill, continuous combined pill, mirena are options.

All can be done by your GP.

I had the coil for this. Changed my life