Period pain etc - advice please.

[greenginger]

Hi I am 44 tomorrow and have been having painful periods for the last 4 years since my son was born. I have had a can last year but the very curt woman said it was fine. I bleed for up to 10 days and suffer pain before in my back legs boobs and stomach. I pass heavy clots and just spent a day in A & E with terrible pain. One doctor thought it was a kidney stone and the female said it was just period pain! I also have Graves disease but I am in remission with it at the moment. I have tried transexanemic? acid, the pill, ibuprofen, hot water bottles etc plus a load of other stuff given by various GPs. Nothing works it just gets worse. I have a GP appointment on Monday any advice what I should or could ask for? At my wits end. Also very anaemic constantly.

[Impatient]

As you get older, periods tend to become more clotty and so that is to be expected i your 40s. The lining peels way much more slowly as you get older, so clumps and clots tend to be what you end up passing.

however the issue here is that you are having a rough time of it.

Your symptoms might well be caused by endo, if you had a scan and there were no signs of cysts, fibroids, adenomyosis or anything that can show up on scans then the next thing to get checked out is endo.

Even with a diagnosis by laparoscopy to see what the extent of it is, and with luck the removal of some of it, you still have the issue of sorting out your periods.

Endo is one thing (outside the uterus) and heavy painful erratic or long lasting periods is a separate issue.

There are options and none of them are much fun.

First of all if you have completed your family, there is MEA or microwave endometrial ablation. this process cooks the lining of the uterus with a view to stopping it shedding or even building up a lining each month. Much the same as laser work will do for any endo found inside the rest of your tummy. It doesn't stop every bit of periods but can reduce the amount and the length of periods. Certainly worth investigating as it is a new procedure only recently taken on by the NHS.

Then the mirena coil.. this is best installed under anaesthetic but can be done without, however can be VERY uncomfy (painful) to have installed without pain relief of some sort in advance. It then takes about 4-6 months to begin to work at reducing your periods.It is a lower dose than BC pills, but it does mean when it does work, no periods no period pains, no tmpons towels, painkillers hot water bottles etc for up to 5 years.

The down sides are that it takes so long to get to work, and it can cause niggly side effects in some ladies and some grim effects in other ladies and they give up and hve it removed before it can really work. If yo can put up with the few months of it settling in and getting to work, it is from my own middle aged experience a life changing little device.

I have no periods just occasional spotting every few months, and I have got back a quarter or more of every month, and i don't worry a hoot about when i m coming on how long for, how much of a gusher it will be etc and always carrying spare undies, pain killers and tampons all the time. I have none of that now.

If you can stop your periods then that solves most of your issues .

If you do have endo a hysterctomy doesn't sure that but it will stop you having periods so the mess side of things will be gone, but that may not stop the pain side of things.

you could look up GnRH drug therapy..these are cancer drugs that put the body in to a temporary state of menopause and stopping your periods however hey can come with very intense side effects that are far worse than actually putting up with periods and taking the appropriate pain relief. Besides that they don't actually resolve anything they are not a cure for endo or painful periods. they are just a stop gap with side effects and when you stop the drugs the periods do return on th scale they were at before.

So those would be the 3 options i would recommend you research for yourself and arm yourself with the knowledge so when you do discuss the situation with the gynae you know what you and he are taking about and can come to a decision about what direction to head in now.

with you having graves, endo is much the same an auto-immune disease and it is quite possible with your immune system compromised that you have developed endo from th heavy periods.

I had symptoms since i started my periods aged 13 but didn't get diagnosed will i was 43.

with a major surgery involved by then.

If you do have endo and it is only a recent arrival in the 4 years since the pregnancy you may be lucky and it hasn't spread too far, but it could have been there for years and years without causing you much of a problem at all. the only way to be sure about endo if to have keyhole surgery to look for it inside the pelvic region.

You have lots of homework to do on your options. I am afraid that these days we do have to fight these battles ourselves. Very very few GPs will fight on your behalf, so it is time for you to do your research and get a bit brazen and demand the next steps you want to take. you have to fight for your own best interests these days. Very best of luck.

[Christel]

Hello Blythe lover

I am 45 & had all the symptoms since teens but I was only diagnosed this year.

The lady above "Impatient" is very knowledgeable & helpful so she had answered most things for you.

I had a lap for endometriosis & endometriomas plus I also have PCOS .

My gp sent me for an internal ultrasound & the cysts showed up but endo will not show & needs to be diagnosed via lap surgery.

I have had a coil for 9 weeks now & it had just about settled. I feel good for having it so far.

If I can help more please ask.

[Bokkie]

Hi! I was also only diagnosed with Endo this year by a lap at the age of 47 after years and years of problems and tablets. Have a think about maybe trying a contraceptive injection rather than Zoladex as I agree with Impatient when she says the side affects of having Zoladex can be worse than the problem; that's how it was for me! Good luck!

[greenginger]

Thankyou all for your very informative replies. I have been offered the coil but I just do not fancy it. My sister had a nightmare time on it and then still had to have a hysterectomy. Which she regrets having done.

I will do some research and see the GP and get back to you all. Thankyou.