Tuesday, September 14, 2010 Karleksbi asks

Q: Menstruating for 4 weeks

I am 23 years old I come from California USA and have been staying in Sweden for the past 3 months and plan on remaining for 3 more.5 months ago I was preparing for my trip to Sweden and I believe that with all my excitement and stress at the time it was easy for me to miss my period for two months I didn't worry too much. Three months ago one day before my flight I finally got my period and it went as it usually would for a little less than a week and then gone. for the next two months I had no period I did have occasional extremely light spotting and cramps but otherwise it felt like any other day... Believing I was pregnant I took a test about 5 weeks ago and then another 4 weeks ago only to start menstruating one day later... I have been menstruating for the past 4 weeks. My flow at the first week was normal and then it went down to spotting only to come back at heavy flow the next day and has continued this way. Also, My clotting has been rather large and much more frequent this month and has gotten at least 5 times bigger than ever before. Right now I am at a heavy flow and am using overnight pad's all the time. I believe that as a result I feel tired all the time, and I have a loss of appetite due to issues with my stomach feeling uneasy after a meal. Menstrual and sexual history: My menstrual cycle has been pretty regular until the past 5 months. I've never been pregnant and I am sexually active with only one partner. Mental and physical condition: Recently I had some depression due to homesickness but I've gotten better and havetaken steps to become more social. Physically I've lost some weight (I am obese) and have become more active than I have ever in my daily life in California. Other than my menstrual issue I feel fine all around. List of changes in daily life: I used to be a live in nanny for 5 children ranging from 0-7 years old in California and it was a great source of much stress for me. Now I'm on holiday and staying with my boyfriend and I am under little to no stress. My diet has been roughly the same as before (I have been a vegetarian all my life) only my meals are more regular than before. As I said before I'm much more active. I walk a lot now. Could it be the change in global location or the altitude? I look forward to your advice and thank you so much,

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Answers (1)

Paul

9/14/10 9:58pm

You must realize that this isn't normal for you and needs to be checked by a doctor. Missing your period for various reasons, stress, drugs, exercise, diet can be expected, but heavy bleeding and large clots for about four weeks is a serious matter which only a doctor can address.

I think you should read this Mayo Clinic article on Menorrhagia.

Under the symptoms section, it list these, several of which you mentioned:

"Menstrual flow that soaks through one or more sanitary pads or tampons every hour for several consecutive hours
The need to use double sanitary protection to control your menstrual flow
The need to change sanitary protection during the night
Menstrual periods lasting longer than seven days
Menstrual flow that includes large blood clots
Heavy menstrual flow that interferes with your regular lifestyle
Tiredness, fatigue or shortness of breath (symptoms of anemia)"

Note on the left are links to other parts of that article.

I hope this is helpful and that you'll seek a doctor's opinion.

Karleksbi

9/17/10 1:59am

(The Gynecologist's office was booked for a month!) So I posted the question just one day before going to visit the gynecologist. I knew I couldn't ignore my symtoms much longer. So My Boyfriend and I decided to go to the ER.

As it turns out I don't have menorrhagia. I have Polycystic Ovaries Syndrome (PCOS)

I was prescribed the hormone progesterone so the bleeding would stop and some Iron as well because my hemoglobin levels were lower than average.

Paul

9/17/10 1:07pm

I am very sorry to hear about your diagnosis, but thankful that you went to a doctor and are getting treated. You can't really get a diagnosis over the internet, even a doctor's would be an educated guess. So, you did the right thing.

I don't doubt that you were headed toward being anemic with that much bleeding.

I wish you the best of luck with this and thank you very much for coming back and letting us know what happened; this can help someone else now.

Merely Me, a writer for this site, and community leader, wrote an article called, What You Need To Know About Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, which might be of interest to you.

Karleksbi

9/18/10 10:02am

I figured I could ask to get an idea as to what I should be asking my doctor and basically looking for options but really that was pretty much it... I'd planned to go later that week (since I needed my boyfriend to accompany me and he was off on the weekend) but my situation had gotten worse by the time I did end up going to ER.

I know that the usual treatment in the US would be to give me birth control... But I think I was lucky and my symptoms helped us detect the situation early enough so maybe no permanent damage is possible? I only received Progesterone and some Iron pills I'm not so comfortable with the idea of birth control either way.... Apparently though... I've been housing this illness(?) for quite some time (at the very least half a year by now). I'm very hopeful that once I'm done with all of this pill therapy I can say I'm fully cured!

That article was the first thing I read after finding out about my diagnosis but thank you for your helpful suggestions and concern.

One question though.... I haven't come across any articles where my symptoms and results coincide and I know that there are many different combinations of the usual symptoms and rare symptoms... what I'm trying to say is, have you come across any articles with similarities to my own situation?

Q: Menstruating for 4 weeks

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