This is a question about menstruation. You have been warned.
Once upon a time, I had nice, polite periods. They were short (3-4 days), light, and did not inconvenience me in any way. Three and a half years ago my son was born. Since then, my periods have been a complete disaster - helped along by ten months on blood thinners following a post-surgical DVT. Now my period lasts 7-8 days, is painful, and is enormously heavy and messy. I routinely pass very large (think superball-sized, and larger) clots or masses of tissue - often multiple times in a day, and because of the clots I have intense cramping Its not unusual for me to soak through a pad in a couple of hours. This morning (the first overnight of my period) I woke up to discover that I had completely filled and soaked a 14" long
extra heavy overnight pad, soaked through my underwear, my pjs, and the sheets. My son likes me to co-sleep with him, but I can't during the first few days of my period, because I don't want him to wake up to this mess.
I have been off the blood thinners for nearly a year. My Primary Care doctor (male) seemed to think that my periods would return to "normal" by now. My midwife (who I see of GYN stuff also) says "well, sometimes your periods are different after a baby" and doesn't think its anything unusual - that this is just the "new normal" for my body.
I hate it. I'm miserable, in pain, and now find my periods to be totally disgusting (which I never did before). I cannot take any hormonal birth control (so to stop them entirely) due to the DVT in my medical history. My flow completely overwhelms a cup, and I can no longer use tampons due to vaginal damage I sustained during the birth, so I'm stuck with pads and this enormous mess.
My questions: Did this happen to you? Did your periods change radically post-childbirth? Is this, in fact, normal? If your periods are like mine, how do you cope? Should I consider a D&C to try and reduce the size and frequency of clots? Or do I just have to accept that this is the "new normal" and suck it up and deal? Will getting an IUD help, or make things worse? Is the ANYTHING I can try (herbs, acupuncture, drugs, anything) to make my periods go back to the way they were?
Thanks for your help!
posted by greatgefilte at 6:42 AM on February 24, 2010 [1 favorite]