Worsening PMS, spotting, heavy periods. Perimenopause

[dogmom]

Yes, make an appointment with an Gynecologists, there are several options to explore. Things I’ve seen are hormonal IUD (thins out uterine lining so less bleeding), meds, further work ups if history/exam reveals something suspicion, D&C, fibroid removal, ablation, to total hysterectomy. No, doctors don’t jump to hysterectomy, but I’ve had many women with fibroids, heaving uncontrollable bleeding who choose to eventually go this route. Most of them were begging their doctors after years of this, none of my friends who got it regret it. I’m not saying this to scare you, but to validate this issue that is very impactful to your quality of life and deserves attention and follow up to make it more manageable.

PS-I don’t agree with previously posters suggestion of Turmeric. Turmeric is a known anticoagulant and it’s unclear in what dose with what individuals will decrease clotting time. Additionally, since there is not control over dietary supplements there is no way to know exactly how much real turmeric you are getting in a capsule. For all these reasons I would not take it if there was heavy bleeding.

[echoesofspring]

PS-I don’t agree with previously posters suggestion of Turmeric. Turmeric is a known anticoagulant and it’s unclear in what dose with what individuals will decrease clotting time. Additionally, since there is not control over dietary supplements there is no way to know exactly how much real turmeric you are getting in a capsule. For all these reasons I would not take it if there was heavy bleeding.

Thank you for this!

[carolinacool]

Yes, make an appointment with an Gynecologists, there are several options to explore. Things I’ve seen are hormonal IUD (thins out uterine lining so less bleeding), meds, further work ups if history/exam reveals something suspicion, D&C, fibroid removal, ablation, to total hysterectomy. No, doctors don’t jump to hysterectomy, but I’ve had many women with fibroids, heaving uncontrollable bleeding who choose to eventually go this route. Most of them were begging their doctors after years of this, none of my friends who got it regret it. I’m not saying this to scare you, but to validate this issue that is very impactful to your quality of life and deserves attention and follow up to make it more manageable.

I was wondering about fibroids. I'll be 46 later this month. I haven't started experiencing any symptoms of menopause yet (knock wood) and I was recently diagnosed with a DVT, so I can't take estrogen anymore, so goodbye future hormone therapy. Blech.

But I've dealt with heavy periods off and on since my 20s, which were linked to fibroids. I had a myomectomy when I was 31 to actually remove them (fairly major surgery). They grew back a bit and three years ago, I had a procedure called Uterine artery embolization, which was much less invasive and basically shrank them. It took a few months to really work, but all is good now. Reading about it now, I guess it's similar to ablation except the UAE gets fibroids that are on the interior lining of the uterus.

[essnce629]

I had surgery to remove a large ovarian cyst a few years ago and when she was in there she found a large fibroid as well that she removed. It may have decreased my heavy bleeding a tiny bit, but nothing noteworthy and definitely didn't help at all in the iron deficiency and anemia department.

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[wendibird22]

Update:
Had my "concern" appointment with my obgyn yesterday. She asked a lot of questions and did a pelvic exam. She said she could feel what she believes are small fibroids, or at least one small fibroid. She recommended a sonohysterogram with an endometrial biopsy to look at fibroids and uterine wall thickness. She said the endometrial biopsy is required in order to get approval for an ablation, if I ever decide to go that route down the road, so she said we might as well do that at the same time as the sono. Without obviously having the benefit of those results, she said her inclination is for me to try an IUD again. That way I don't get the systemic impacts of hormones from BPC (that I didn't like 2 years ago...weight gain and emotional roller coaster), but isn't as invasive as ablation. I tried Mirena about 10 years ago and had it for 9 months and spotted the entire time and had a whole host of other concerns that likely were my undiagnosed gluten issue. But removing the IUD was part of the process of elimination in the cause of those symptoms. So, I may be willing to give it another try and they don't use Mirena now, they use a newer brand.

She did not want to test my FSH as she said so long as I'm having a monthly period my FSH won't have changed to reflect anything. She did test my hemoglobin by finger prick and it was 12.5 which is in the normal range.

So, my next appointment is mid February to get a peak at my insides.

[gatorsmom]

I hope you can find some relief soon. I’m glad she is taking your issues seriously and digging deeper to find out what’s wrong.