What should I do?

Question

I am 21 and have always had irregular menses, but the past couple have been horrible. I bleed so much that I go through a super tampon every hour. There are clots and everything. It is heavy for about 3 days, then it lets up for the remainder of my period. (Which is about 5 more days). I used to be on birth control, but had to go off because it caused high blood pressure. I am now on Progesterone to help regulate and control my cycles, but it doesn't seem to be helping. What should I do?

Answer 1

Heavy periods and irregular periods are a sign of hormone irregularity between estrogen and progesterone, if you are not producing enough estrogen then taking progesterone is the normal course of hormonal treatment – however I'd be concerned if your doctor has not run tests or tried non-hormonal methods as progesterone treatment can make the problem worse.

You don't mention what your doctor has said, what tests have been done or what other methods for regulation you have tried. It could be a sign of fibroids, polyps or even endometriosis, but chances are it is hormonal in which case it might be worth your while charting your cycles with Fertility Awareness Method [FAM] this will show you where things are going wrong and let you know when your next period is due.

FAM is primarily used as a form of birth control or a means of pregnancy achievement with high reliability because you take your temperature and make cervical observations daily to determine exactly what is happening when in regards to your reproductive system, it makes it perfect for problems like this by giving you and your doctor an idea of what is going on without need for as many tests. You might want to buy yourself a copy of Taking Charge of Your Fertility by Toni Weschler.


More information on FAM;

http://www.tcoyf.com
http://www.justisse.ca
http://www.28-days.com
http://www.sisterzeus.com/FerAw.htm


There are a lot of natural methods before even going for hormonal methods that are normally far healthier and less stressful on the body such as simple evening primrose oil or black cohosh through to prescribed treatments like Tranexamic acid. It's hard to give advise if we don't know what the problem is or what you have tried – if nothing else has been tried or you have not had tests done then I would strongly recommend seeing another doctor or going to a specialist if you haven't already.

Make sure you do watch your diet, lots of healthy foods, include root vegetables, green leafy vegetables in particular spinach for the extra iron, high protein foods, whole grains and kelp – you can get kelp in tablet form at good health stores it really helps, while there I would recommend getting evening primrose oil and maybe a good woman's tea to help regulate your menstrual cycle. I do find with my menorrhagia that good diet before my period, avoiding alcohol and over-the-counter-drugs help.

Stop using tampons, as well as bad for vaginal health, inconvenient, expensive and environmentally harmful they are obviously useless for heavy menstruation. Get yourself a menstrual cup, as well as a hell of a lot of benefits over tampons the major one you will find is that tampons hold a lot more blood, as such menstrual cups can be left in for up to 12 hours at a time, including during the night when you are sleeping.
I suffer from menorrhagia myself, and by the sounds of it you are about as heavy as I am so for you that would mean only having to empty a menstrual cup every six hours, trust me when I say menstrual cups are a life-saver. As a side note, because menstrual cups are healthier than tampons they can also help reduce your menstrual flow, an unhealthy vagina does mean heavier and more painful periods, and menstrual cups have money back guarantees so they really are worth the try.


More information on menstrual cups;

http://www.menstrualcups.org
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menstrual_cup
http://www.divacup.com
http://www.thekeeper.com
http://www.mooncup.com
http://www.softcup.com
http://www.lunette.fi


More information on menorrhagia;

http://www.aboutheavyperiods.com
http://www.emedicine.com/med/topic1449.htm
http://www.medinfo.co.uk/conditions/heavyperiods.html
http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/health_advice/facts/menstruationheavy.htm

Answer 2

See your GYN. That sounds like you're bleeding pretty heavily, though everyone's cycle/flow is different. It's most likely nothing serious, but it can't hurt to be sure. There may be something else besides the Progesterone they can try.

Answer 3

1

Answer 4

The best thing you can do is to try some time tested home remedies. You can find some good ones in this website - http://ailments.in/hypertension.html

Answer 5

see a doctor