Heavy periods in teenagers.

[AnneEvo]

My granddaughter has heavy periods, she is on a contraceptive pill to help alleviate this. I've just read someone's post which mentioned her having heavy menstrual bleeds and on having tests to get to the bottom of it, the tests show she is hypo. I'm wondering if anybody has more info on this as my granddaughter gets tonsilitis a lot, she has a recurring infection of the cold sore virus which breaks out just under her eye (hospital told her it's quite common), she gets thrush towards the end of her periods. Given I'm hypo and my oldest sister has an auto-immune condition, should I encourage her to get some tests done?

[pramela]

I had very heavy periods for the get go (13) and had a hysterectomy some years ago. I had endometriosis from the age of 14/15 so I found out after the operation. Get her to go to her GP and ask for tests or take her to the well woman clinic, if your surgery has one, and see a female doctor like I did. You can also get tablets from you doctor for heaving bleeding - I was told about these as an after thought by my then GP and I nearly dragged him around the room by his nostrils with anger and asked him why he hadn't put me on them when he knew about them.

I had the worst sort of pains you could imagine and also very bad bloating, I was actually taken to hospital on one occasion as it was thought I was in labour! I had to work my periods out with my contraceptive pills so that I had the heaviest days on the weekend - my periods lasted 6 days so days 1 and 2 were okayish but 3 and 4 were horrendous - I could not go out on these days and used the biggest pads and tampons you could get but still clotted and blood run from me. I got thrush occasionally as I had to clean myself a lot perhaps this is why she has thrush - has she tried just using wet toilet wipes or a combination of tissue and wet wipes?

I also suffered every 3 months with tonsillitis and had them removed at the age of 22 - that took 11 years from seeing the consultant to see about having them removed. Those were the days back in the '60's!

I have cold sores instead of having a full blown cold. They are a pain in the bum but my mother passed the gene on to me and I have passed it one of my sons. I use tea tree oil as this seems to dry it out and stop it from forming.

I have had tests to see if I have an underactive Thyroid but they have come back as negative - I am in the "normal range".

I hope that I have helped a little bit.

[AnneEvo in reply to pramela]

Yes it has. I wasn't implying that those conditions had anything to do with hypothyroidism, but perhaps indicitive of a poor immune system. And I wondered if there was any correlation between heavy periods and hypothyroidism, though I realise there are probably many causes.

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to pramela]

Tonsillectomy can also upset Thyroid

[pramela]

heavy I mean not heaving!

[Clutter]

AnnEvo,

Heavy periods can be caused by iron deficiency. You've said the tests show she is hypo. What tests has she had done?

[AnneEvo in reply to Clutter]

My granddaughter hasn't had any tests. I'm only asking as I say I read someone's comment about having heavy periods - it was this person who'd had tests. I then looked to see if there was any correlation between heavy periods and hypothyroidism. As I'm hypo and my sister has an autoimmune disease I wondered whether my granddaughter should have tests, or wondering if I'm worrying unneccesarily. It's just that she has other conditions which I think my indicate a poor immune system.

[Clutter in reply to AnneEvo]

AnneEvo,

Your granddaughter certainly ought to have ferritin checked as low ferritin can indicate iron deficiency.

If she has symptoms of hypothyroidism in thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/about_... she should ask for a thyroid function test too. Arrange the thyroid test early in the morning when TSH is highest and she should fast (water only) as TSH drops after eating and drinking.

[Mamapea1 in reply to AnneEvo]

AnneEvo, you are not worrying unnecessarily and I'm glad you are taking the sage advice from others regarding testing. There may be many causes for the heavy periods, deficiencies, etc., but you will never know the reason without extensive testing. I know it seems unfair to have to undergo expensive private testing, but it's pointless relying on GP or even Endo to root out the true cause.

I too have many female family members with autoimmune disorders, and with the benefit of hindsight, I feel all my problems began as a teenager with those dreaded heavy periods. I also was put on the contraceptive pill as it was very difficult, painful and even embarrassing at times. I realise the pill is very different nowadays, but it nevertheless is merely masking the symptoms of an underlying condition, and may even make matters worse in the long run.

This, of course, is just my own opinion, based on my personal experience. My family didn't have the benefit of this forum, or anything like it in those days, and in retrospect, unintentional mistakes were made. If it were my granddaughter/daughter now, I would get every available test done privately ASAP and post her results on this forum for advice and instruction ~ she is too young to be messed around by a medical system too keen on the masking of symptoms and financial gain ~ she needs to be taking appropriate medications (if necessary) or vitamins/minerals that will improve her symptoms functionally, not hide them away. I hope you get some answers and she will soon be well. Warmest wishes. Mamapea.

[AnneEvo in reply to Mamapea1]

Thank you for your input Mamapea. You've made me realise even more so that it needs further investigation. As you say things were very different for you but even so if I hadn't been recently diagnosed with hypothyroidism and become a member here I would never have given a second thought to my granddaughter's heavy periods. It was only by chance I was reading someone else's post; thankfully.

[Mamapea1 in reply to AnneEvo]

You're more than welcome for input ~ I also find it alarming that we are reduced to finding this critical information out 'by chance' ~ it was the same for me, and yet over the last 24 years I really tried to read up on my wide and various diagnosised 'conditions' ~ ME, CFS, Sjogrens, Fibromyalgia, etc., the NHS information booklets left a lot to be desired, so I used to attend ME/CFS conferences and then act on the latest 'advice', again to no avail. I had all but given up when I found this forum, and it has answered all my questions and for the first time ever it all makes sense. I am immensely grateful for it, not only for myself, but for my four daughters and two granddaughters ~ I feel now, armed with this knowledge, they will not have to suffer as I did, and they will be able to take matters into their own hands if necessary. It's a shameful state of affairs, though, and really shouldn't be happening. GP surgeries should all have massive TUK posters up, directing people to the forum ~ I handed one in, but I haven't seen it since! Mamapea x

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Heavy periods are classic sign of hypothyroidism

As you are aware it has strong genetic link across generations

For full evaluation she ideally needs TSH, FT4, FT3, TT4, TPO and TG antibodies, plus vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12 tested

Ferritin may be badly affected by blood loss

See if you can get full thyroid and vitamin testing from GP.

Private tests are available

thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/testin...

Medichecks Thyroid plus ultra vitamin or Blue Horizon Thyroid plus eleven are the most popular choice. DIY finger prick test or option to pay extra for private blood draw. Both companies often have money off offers.

All thyroid tests should be done as early as possible in morning and fasting. This gives highest TSH and most consistent results

Link about antibodies

thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/about_...

Link about thyroid blood tests

thyroiduk.org/tuk/testing/t...

Print this list of symptoms off, tick all that apply and take to GP

thyroiduk.org/tuk/about_the...

Thrush is linked to candida and candida to being hypothyroid and/or low stomach acid which is another common hypo symptom

[AnneEvo in reply to SlowDragon]

Thanks for the info. In view of the fact that GPs in general are reluctant to have a full range of tests done due to costs, plus the fact he/she would most likely put down the heavy periods to something else, I'll arrange for private testing. It's worth checking out I feel.

I knew there was a long list of symptoms; I feel extremely lucky that I have very few myself. But just looked through the list and see post nasal drip is one, which I do have.

[Marz in reply to AnneEvo]

Absolutely 😊

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to AnneEvo]

Get yourself fully tested to then

[AnneEvo in reply to SlowDragon]

I intend to. I have been diagnosed as hypo but was only tested for TSH and Free T4 then on request for TPO antibodies - due to my sister having an autoimmune disease plus having been told years ago when giving blood that I had lots of antibodies. I realise that wouldn't necessarily mean thyroid antibodies but wanted to be sure. I'm planning on getting a full test done privately. I could try my doctor first but it seems unlikely they'd want to do all those tests given they only tested TSH and Free T4, then only TPO antibodies when I asked.

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to AnneEvo]

You could push GP for vitamins tested

FT3 very unlikely to get

So you could just pay for TSH, FT4, FT3 and antibodies for yourself

Thyroid Thursdays at Medichecks for money off offers

[AnneEvo in reply to SlowDragon]

Thanks for that.