Once a month, for 2 days I am indisposed. Since my 34th birthday, I've been suffering from really bad cramps, irritability, PMS and extremely heavy bleeding. The pain is so bad that I take anti - inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) every 4-6 hours just so I can function normally. 2 days a month I dread going anywhere and I just want to curl up in bed and sleep. The reason why I dread going out is because of the extremely heavy flow. I need to change my extra heavy protection every hour or so. The bleeding comes with large blood clots.
Normally my menstrual cycle lasts up to 10 days, out of the 10 days, 5 would consist of heavy bleeding. Yes, I am anaemic because of that. I am tired all the time, I get shortness of breath if I feel too stressed out, headaches, and I sometimes get a twitch in my right leg.
My gynae tells me that there are a few treatment I could take if its disrupting my life. But he advises me that if its not too bad, to just bear with it. This is because all treatment include hormone therapy or surgery and is not advisable if I wanted to try for another baby.
Ever since I started eating olives everyday - about 20 olives a day, I've noticed that my menstrual cycle is shorter. Its now heavy bleeding for 2 days, then for the 3rd day I can use light protection, and then brace myself for one more day of heavy flow before it stops completely. But the pain is still constant.
Yesterday was the 4th day that I forgot about, and when I was picking up Lucas from creche I started bleeding. Even after all these years I still feel alarmed with the heavy flow. I managed to get home without anyone noticing that I'd bled out, but this is what I mean when I say it totally disrupts your life.
Menorrhagia is an abnormally heavy and prolonged menstrual period at regular intervals. Causes may be due to abnormal blood clotting, disruption of normal hormonal regulation of periods or disorders of the endometrial lining of the uterus. Depending upon the cause, it may be associated with abnormally painful periods (dysmenorrhea).
Me, I have both menorrhagia and dysmenorrhea. Menorrhagia has an impact on many women's lives, not just mine. One in 20 women aged 30-49 years consults her GP each year with menorrhagia. Menorrhagia may be a sign of an underlying disorder such as endometriosis or hormone imbalance.
I reckon my condition is more of a hormone imbalance and I am trying to include more salads (for vitamin K), broccoli and olives into my diet. I have also been advised to take bak foong pills everyday to regularise my hormones but since I can't get them here, I can only try when I go home in October. Anyway, the bak foong pills will not work overnight. I need to take it everyday (yuck...!) for a few months at least before I can see results.
I felt a need to blog about this because I know a lot of women out there are suffering in silence. Its not only painful, its embarrassing (my husband tells Lucas that his mama wears diapers as well...because we need extra heavy padding) and it is disruptive. Tampons no longer work for me - the maximum time it last is 15 minutes before a change is needed. In a way I am glad I no longer work, as I used to worry about having to go every hour, especially if I was in a meeting.
My gynae tells me it will all go away if I get pregnant again, but then it will come back after I stop breastfeeding. The only sure way to get rid of it is a hysterectomy or I could wait for menopause to set in.
This is a bit silly but I keep thinking I won't survive 30 days in a remote island as a survivor candidate in this condition :) Not that I would want to but I'd like to have that option at least, wouldn't you?
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
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I've received several emails asking me what kind of olives to eat. I have been buying green olives soaked in salt water. The bottle just says "green olives". I normally rinse out the salt water several times before eating the olives. A 950gm jar (500 gm olives) lasts me about 3-4 days. I eat the olives as a snack or add them into my pasta/ salad.
ReplyDeleteHi Roni,
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear your problem. Yes, I know of many women with similar problems. Please try to locate a Chinese herbalist/ acupuncturist with good reputation to help you with your problem. It sounds like you have blood deficiency and possibly blood stasis in Chinese medicine terms. There are a few fields that Chinese medicine works wonder and I think the problem you have can be solved by using Chinese medicine. The herbalist/acupuncturist needs to tailor the herbal formula and acupuncture treatment to your unique symptoms. Bak foong pill would help but it is not individualized enough. Why go through hysterectomy if herbs can help in a big way?
Nai`a
If it is hormonal maybe you can try eating bean curd tofu as it is found that tofu has some qualities similar to the female hormone estrogen. It has to be eaten regularly thought to be effective. My wife has a slightly smaller problem than yours but less cramping of the abdomen. I tried to get her to eat tofu but it is not on her great foods list :(
ReplyDelete:) There is an acupuncturist living 3 minutes away but am unsure of his reputation. I will check him out but currently I am clueless as to where I can find a chinese herbalist around Tarbes. I will, however look up a chinese herbalist on my trip home to KL in October. Thanks for your advice!
ReplyDeleteMH - I am unable to get tofu everyday here. Mom asked me to make my own but I can't even find soya beans in the groceries...
Hi,
ReplyDeleteI see you posted this about a year and a half ago, but I have the same exact problem and just started taking Bak Foong Pills.
I was wondering if you have had any results since then or if you have found another solution...I bleed for 14 days, and have been since I had my son in 2009. Even when I was nursing him, I was still bleeding heavily. When I had my daughter three years prior, in 2006, it lasted only four days, even though it was usually six. Bleeding 50% of my life is not working out for me and I could use all the advice I can get.
I also have really bad night sweats and was wondering if you have any issues with that as well. Most of the women I know have night sweats, but when I'm not bleeding, I'm sweating, and it makes for a lot of laundry, trash, and many showers.
Mom is anemic because of her Greek background, but my doc says that I am not, though, and all other levels are perfect.
Is it worth the investment?
Hi Kristie,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment - I have since been put on treatment by my gynae here as I was displaying symptoms of excessive anaemia and true enough, when she sent me for a blood test, I was already considered "borderline transfusion" case! My gynae was so worried, she called me repeatedly to ask if I was feeling alright, if I was tired or feeling breathless (if I'd said yes, she would have admitted me into the hospital!) Anyway, since then I've been on iron pills (80mg) 2x a day and she put me on the pill. Its taken a few months to work, but I am happy to say that as of last month, I am having regular, normal periods - so much so that I was surprised and could not believe that my period would not come back a few days later...!
I had night sweats too and my right leg would not stop twitching.
My advice for you would be to go see a gynae and take some tests, see what the gynae advice is. Bak Foong pills will work if taken regularly, in the long run. Sometimes, up to 1 year+ before you see any improvement.