the cramps, and I don't mean punk

Oh my god the cramps. I've been bleeding a little on and off for days and days, and now suddenly wham, I can barely sit down and blood pours out of me. It even hurts to walk, like it's jarring my cervix horribly. It's mega-advil time! Could the super-heavy IUD-induced bleeding be why I am craving red meat all the time? I guess I should take iron pills or eat a lot of liver or something. I forgot to say about the plane ride - I had to keep ramming in the super-megalodon-googleplexia-hoover-dam-tampax every 45 minutes. You'd think that bleeding heavier would mean it would be over more quickly, wouldn't you? At this rate my whole period should be over in 2 days. GRRRRR.

Comments

[Jo]

That's very impressive, my dear.

[Ms. Jane]

Dude, time to reconsider the IUD.

[ClosetSpy]

I had an IUD fitted in October and since then my periods have been ultraheavy - using tampons the size of small sheep on a 30 minute basis. Never before had I leaked from a tampon, let alone one that size. Period pains were completely debilitating, I'd feel sick, and sore for a couple of weeks. The cramps were utterly unbearable. However, 9 months later, finally the cramps are getting better - I still have a bad day or two at the beginning, but towards the end of my period, which is shortening from 2 weeks to a much better 6/7 days, it's fine. There's still lots of blood and I need the mega-super-enormous tampons, but there's not quite as much. I get the 'gush' of a leak when it's so very heavy only once or twice a period, unlike on an hourly basis before. I'd say stick with it - I was so close to throwing in the towel (boom, and indeed boom) but I think I'm glad I didn't. I do miss how light my periods were when I was on the pill though - virtually non-existent. I just don't know where that amount of blood comes from!

Oh, and take an iron supplement - it can't be a bad thing, can it? In the UK we have an over the counter painkiller called Feminax - it has ibuprofen and hyoscine - an antispasmodic. It's the only thing that came even close to quelling the cramps. Something like that, and any other painkiller, works best if you start popping pills before the cramps start - don't let the pain get a hold.

Hope this helps a little,
Mx

[Liz]

Ah! What good advice, thank you!

I had 2 days of really awful killing cramps and heavy bleeding this time and now it seems to be tapering off. So maybe I really did bleed it all out at once. I too have noticed that it's getting better than it was the first couple of months so I'm going to hang in there. For 10 years of no-fuss not-worrying, I can deal with a few unbearable periods.