Thank you all for the commiseration and advice! So helpful!

A few additional things, since some of you asked about diet, weight, etc.

1. Been doing IF for a year now. Lost about 5-7lbs and am in a healthy weight range. I do yoga 5x a week and run on the weekends. I've been gluten free since 2011.

2. I see my OBGYN annually and have mentioned heavy periods the last 2 or 3 appointments. Other than being offered BCP, there's been no other investigation or discussion of solutions...no blood tests to see if I'm anemic or truly in peri, no US, nothing. I have to schedule my next exam and so I will mention my concerns to the scheduler and push for more discussion of options.

3. My mom always had heavy periods from day 1. She recounts wearing two thick pads to school as a child. Just last year she was diagnosed as having a very thick uterine lining post-menopause (a finding from investigating gallbladder issues) and had that taken care of (ablation maybe?). I was lucky to escape the heavy periods all my life until these past few years.

4. I did recently start an iron supplement because I'm always run down and given the heavy periods figured it was an iron issue. But yes, it makes me constipated.

5. Perhaps I suck it up and try BCP again? I had an IUD (Mirena) right after having DD2 (11yrs ago) and I HATED it. I kept it for 9 months and then had it removed. I spotted the entire 9 months.

6. Gatorsmom-good to know about upping the ibuprofen (I was only taking 1 200mg) and will try that this cycle to see if that helps. And good to know about more lax timing of taking a BCP...I had thought that not being timely would cause spotting?

7. Latia-thank you for the book recommendation and the info about supplements. I'm definitely going to look into that. I hope you continue to see that it is effective for you.