Thread: Period trouble.

I've been having my period since the new moon. well slightly before the new moon. its not gushing but its not spotting so its like a normal period but extended. Its been doing this every month. i get like a week or maybe 2 weeks off it then i get it again. I know going on birth control will help. i just cant afford it at this moment, nor do i stay off my period long enough to get BC. well any advice would help.

Moonrise, I checked your age before I decided to respond to this and saw you're 22. Your periods should be pretty normal at this age unless you've had some major stress or changes in your life that would affect them like surgery, an illness, a change in medication or extreme change in diet. If you've had none of these, then you might have something hormonally going on. In any event, you are definitely bleeding far too long each month and risk becoming anemic if you're not already.

If you're not already taking iron, I would recommend you take an iron supplement available over the counter to combat possible anemia. Read the directions for any possible side effects because iron does have some, although very slight, side effects you should be aware of, like constipation, for instance.

Also, it's important for you to see a doctor as soon as possible for them to access why this is happening. If you can't afford to go to a doctor right now, I'd look in your local phone book for any city or county health department in your area or no-cost or low-cost medical clinic for women that may be available at a local hospital or college/university.

Don't ignore this. You owe it to yourself to seek medical attention as soon as you can.

Thelma said it all, great advice!

thanks for the advice

You're welcome, and please let us know the outcome, okay?

I had to post on this again. I wanted to check the past posts to see if it was talked about before and found my old post and I'm still bleeding way too long. I've been to planned parenthood because of my long periods and was put on birth control. I was on it for 2 months and I wasn't able to afford it this month. The last two months I had extremely heavy periods. I've just about use to having a heavy period but never have they been like this. It was a constant stream falling from me (sounds disgusting and felt worse) and it was thick. It got to the point that I had to buy overnight pads because the supers wasn't able to hold it all. and even with the overnights it took less then 3 hours to fill. I could normally last 8 hours on one super pad before. Last Sunday I should have started taking BC again but like I said I couldn't afford it. I started my period last week around Wednesday, it was heavy for the first few days, the around the time of my wedding on Saturday (after begging the goddess to cut me some slack having been my wedding day) it was pretty light. I stopped bleeding around Monday or Tuesday then Saturday I start bleeding again. Now its heavy again.
My sister said I should be tested for endometriosis but I don't feel a whole lot of pain just minor cramps and back aches. a few times i would need to curl up and just wait for the pain to subside but it hasn't been as bad as my mom or sister when they were on their period, they had cysts which my mom ended up having to get a hysterectomy and later still having a large growth on her ovaries that had to be removed through surgery. Like I've said I've never had huge amounts of pain, if anything just a nagging feeling in my lower back that would make me feel like I needed to have a BM which most cases I didn't need to. I only get those feelings when my periods are heavy. I don't want to take BC anymore for a few reasons, I want to get pregnant, I can't afford it, and I haven't told my husband I was on BC.
I have never been to an OB-GYN before just planned parenthood and I don't have health insurance and we don't know how much it is going to cost to add me to my husbands insurance so I deal with it. I plan on going and getting iron supplements cause I notice one day that my gold ring left a black mark on my face when I was putting my makeup on and was told when I was younger that it means I don't have enough iron in my body. Please someone let me know if that is false. Anyway I'll keep everyone updated.

WEll, you WOIULD be losing Iron (anaemia) because of those heavy periods.

I have a few problems with some stuff you've said.

EVERY woman should have yearly check-ups ESPECIAlly if they are sexually active. Women are getting breast, ovarian, cervical and uterine cancers at young and youngerer ages these days, and early detection is often the only way to survive it. There is ALWAYS a clinic around that can give you these check-ups at little or no cost.

Most insurances add spouses for a very tiny proce hike. If your husband is on insurance through his job, they almost ALWAYs have provisions made for families. Insurance companies WANT you to buy insurance, remember that. Haggle with them. There's nothing wrong with asking a question! Most insurance companies require a physical, so even if you don't get the insurance at least you'd have a physical out of it.

Your health is your responsibility! Periods that are really heavy and last forever and come back after four days CANNOT be good. The problem might be easy to fix, but the more you wait, the more complicated it might get!

You can't afford the Pill but you want to get pregnant? Prenatal care will cost WAY more than any birth control pill, much less an actual baby! Please think about this. Do you want to risk getting pregnant not knowing what's going on with your periods? you could be setting yourself up for something bad. I'm a firm believer that when a woman decides to try to get pregnant she should have a physical first. So many pregnancy problems that result in miscarriages and foetal problems such as Incompletent Cervix could be easily avoided had the mother had a check-up first.

PLEASe think about it. I don't think it's wise for you to get pregnant not knowing what your condition is. And if you're anaemic, pregnancy is a VERY bad idea.

Please get yourself healthy first. Make sure that your body can handle being pregnant. Ask question and demand answers. Take responsibilty for your own health. I want you and your husband to enjoy life, to be healthy, to have babies and be blessed. Take the necessary steps.

thank you so much for this info. My husband and I were going to put me on his insurance but it costs way too much money. a jump of more then $150. He wanted to just go ahead and put me on it but we cant afford to have $200 taken out of his check every 2 weeks. I don't know what kind of insurance my job has but i get laid off during the summer and i don't know if I'll be covered through those months.
I have gone to clinics and talked about my period and no one seems to think anything of it. I asked if it was my weight that is causing me to have heavy periods or if my weight would have anything to do about me getting pregnant or not. she said nothing really about it. i do get a yearly exam every year since i started having sex and they all have been normal except this last time which the second pap smear came back fine. that one was my fault seeing how i didn't know to not have sex up to 48 hours before the test.... oops.
after talking to my sister she told me that when she was on the BC that i was on her periods were also very heavy and after a few months it normaled out again. well i wasn't able to afford BC this month like i said. I'm currently laid off work for 2 weeks, well i go back Monday which is a blessing so I haven't had any money at all. it could have been just stress but i don't feel stressed out or anything that i know of.
i guess I'm going to have to call around and find a OB/GYN and just pay out of pocket. I could try to apply for some insurance through one of the hospitals but I know I make too much and so does my husband... I don't know of anything else. Planned Parenthood doesn't see anything wrong with me after I have asked them several times whats going on with my body. giving me BC pills doesn't solve the problem. If i wanted to get pregnant later on and got off the BC my periods would still be off center and you cant really get pregnant if you have abnormal periods or if i did get prego then problems would happen. i am just in a hole that i can't seem to get out of.

Sweetie, If you have to drive out to another town, do it.

If you're overweight by a lot, insurance will be a bit more expensive because they see you as a health risk. Being overweight or underweight also increases chances of trouble with periods.

Just call around to other insurances and see what they say. It's worth a shot. Just avoid HMOs. They're dangerous adn they never give you the coverage you need if something big happens.

I'll tell you a story. You know Fran Drescher, the lady who plays the nanny? She knew something was wrong with her. She just knew it in her bones. But all her tests came back negative. Her doctors thought she was a hypochondriac and that she was just freaking out and stressed because she was going through a divorce. She had to visit more than 7 doctors, and she kept pressing and pressing because she said "I know my body and something is just not right". Finally she got a doctor to take notice and taje her seriously and it turned out that she had cervical cancer and . She would not stop, and as a result, she's living happy and cancer free today.

She had lots of money and she had to fight HARD. So your fight will be even tougher. Prepare yourself for that and then do whatever you have to do to get some answers. A lot of doctors just can't be bothered, especially if you don't have money. It will be rough.

But the Goddess is on your side. Try also visiting some alternate medical practitioners. they can be a lot more forthcoming with treatments and so on.

Don't despair until you have done everything in your power to make yourself healthy.

There are many factors which affect period instability: weight gain of more than 50% above average, a hormone imbalance, early onset of endometriosis, cysts, stress, sexually transmitted diseases. If you plan on children you should definitely think about getting medical attention, no matter what the cost, because not doing so may forfeit your ability to have children in the future. My sister never thought that her long periods required anything but getting BC pills, and when she turned 30 and wanted to have children found out that years of endometriosis untreated caused scar tissue that prevented her from having children. She then had to spend close to 20,000 dollars of her own money to have invitro fertilization (which is not covered under insurance plans). So I would recommend that getting a health care professional to properly assess your diagnosis should be done sooner, rather than after it is too late.

The Native American herbalist I trained under said that women who have period trouble need to make strawberry and red clover as their plant allies. Red clover tea, or even the flowers eaten in the summertime might offer you some help in stabilization. Strawberries eaten raw a few times a week may also help. You also need to honor your moontime.

hope this helps,
JB