Very long very heavy periods...anyone else?

[PotatoSage]

Hi everyone,

I've been getting really long and heavy periods over the last year (I can bleed for up to 30 days at a time!) And it's really getting me down. I've been to the gp and had scans and blood tests, and the advice is always that it's PCOS, Google it / you just need to lose weight. To be honest that's not very helpful! From what I've read so far it seems like most people with PCOS have an absence of periods which is pretty much the opposite of me,so I was wondering if anyone else is going through something similar?

[halfamo]

Hi

I have struggled with the symptoms of PCOS for a number of decades now. The patterns of bleeding have changed over this time. I have had periods of no bleeding and then like yourself I have bled for weeks at a time. There does not seem to be any rhyme or reason for this. I do believe that when I am leaner they do become lighter and more regular. I do also appear to follow the accepted belief that as you age they normalise to quite an extent. It is thought that people who have struggled to conceive when they are younger quite often find they conceive in their late thirties and forties, as PCOS can improve naturally as we age. I would suggest trying to get a referral to an endocrinologist as they look at the overall issue with hormones, the gynaecologist is more useful for when you are trying to conceive. If you are bleeding for so long it is important to make sure you are not anaemic. Good luck and hope this helps.

[Worried546]

Hi,

Sorry you are going through heavy periods, that must be so difficult for such a long time.

When you have been told to lose weight, I’m not sure why you think that’s not helpful? It’s the best known and evidenced way to improve PCOS symptoms. It IS much harder work than just taking medicine (if there was any magic medicine for PCOS!), so that’s often why people struggle with it and struggle to accept that this is the best way to move forward in managing your condition.

Losing weight is the most helpful thing you can do and unfortunately, that can take a long time with lots of effort, but that doesn’t make the advice of ‘losing weight’ any less helpful. Hope you find a way to improve your symptoms as they sound pretty tough. Good luck.

[Peace24]

I also have this long periods. Mine has been on for almost 3 weeks now and it is really frustrating and draining. I was diagnosed with pcos in 2016, since then it has been very very difficult for me. Sometimes, I will stay for months without my period, then ilwhen I get it, it is very longggg until I have to take the pill for it to stop. Then for me to have it again, I need to exercise for over a month. The cycle just keeps repeating. Now I stumbled upon inositol supplement and I have started taking but the bleeding still continued although it is said to regulate your ovulation after taking of for 3 months, now i want to take the pill for the bleeding to stop first, while I continue to take the inositol hopely it works in regulating my cycle. Fingers crossed.