Very abnormal menstrual cycle

[CatherineS]

Hi

I'm not sure if this is the right place to be posting this, or if it is appropriate for me to post here as I'm not yet TTC, but I thought you ladies would probably be the best people to ask.

I'm in my mid twenties, and since my periods started when I was 12/13, they have been completely screwed up. They are anything from about 4 weeks to 18+ months apart. Whilst it has always been a bit of a pain in the past not knowing when they were going to pop up, they were often quite heavy, so to be honest, I didn't miss them too much.

I know I need to lose weight, and that may hopefully help them. But is there anything else I can try? I have tried angus castus (or however it is spelt) and evening primrose oil with starflower oil, and neither of those, even taken together, had any effect.

I absolutely hate going to the GP (haven't been since I was a kid) and I know if I go, they will just tell me to lose weight. And I am trying to lose weight, but that's a whole other post. But I know people with a BMI greater than mine who have had no difficulty getting pregnant.

Also, if I were to go to the GP, he may refer me to the hospital, and I work there; I know people in the scanning department (if they chose to do scans) and at least one of the junior doctors working in the gynae department (and probably all the others once I knew who was there). I know this shouldn't make a difference, but I don't want people I know professionally telling me I should lose weight. I would rather he refer me, if needed, after I had lost the weight.

I just wondered if anyone knew of any other ways to induce regular periods. There are loads of other 'women's health' herbal supplements available, are any of those effective at all? Are there any foods particularly good for periods? What about things like Chinese medicine? Or reflexology? Something like that?

I know things like stress can affect periods, and whilst I do have a very stressful job, I don't think this has affected my periods as I have only worked in my current job for about 2 years, and my periods were mucked up long before then.

Many thanks for any help, and sorry if I have posted this in the wrong place,
Catherine

 

[JulyMama]

Hi Cathrine,

I'm sorry to tell you something you don't want to hear but you really need to see a doctor. If you have no desire ttc right now then your doctor can give you birth control to help regulate your cycle. Plus they can help you figure out if you have PCOS or another reason why your cycles are like they are. I can relate to the high BMI, having problems losing the weight and trying everything with no results with doctors just saying lose weight and you can get pregnant. Some don't understand how hard it is for some people.


Good luck to you

 

[CatherineS]

Thank you

I have put up with the abnormal cycles for a long time, so I can manage another few months (I plan starting TTC October/November). I will try the losing weight option first, and then I will go see my GP.

 

[MrsElsie]

Hi CatherineS

I agree with JulyMama. I hope my story might persuade you a little in doing this - I had very irregular periods from the age of 14, and like you, they were very heavy when they did appear, making them really diffficult to deal with until when I was 19 when I went on the pill. This regulated my periods and made them much lighter, however it covered up what my body would have otherwise been doing.

12 years later I came off the pill and they went back to being very irregular, but not heavy. I dont want to scare you but I have now been TTC for 2.5 years - and I wish so much that I had come off the pill earlier and got things checked out well before TTC. With the NHS it can take months to get a specialist appointment after they had run a number of tests - they wouldnt even refer me until 16months TTC.

I do understand you not wanting to go to your workplace for scans but believe me you dont want to get to a few years (or maybe months!) down the line and regret not going earlier - I really wish I had got things checked out at an earlier stage. My advice is just take it one step at a time - go see your GP and see what they advise, they may mention your weight, but I expect they may also want to do blood tests, and possibly a scan, but even if you just do, say, the blood tests to begin with then that is another bit of info you will be armed with before you start TTC.

In terms of what else you can do, I tried accupuncture, chinese herbs (tasted awful!) and chinese massage for 8 months but this didnt do anything - although it was really relaxing and nice to have some pampering. I have read that it works for some people though.

Good luck!

MrsElsie

 

[minties]

I was in the same boat - extremely random periods and didn't want to see a doctor. That choice made it take EIGHT YEARS for me to conceive my son. I only went to a doctor at the last minute, he tested me and I have PCOS. I was pregnant a few weeks later, not because of seeing the doctor but perhaps it would have only taken 3 years rather than 8 if I had gone sooner.

The good news is having one child regulated my period to once every 60 days and I fell pregnant again on the first try this time. But I would hate to see you trying for years and years like I did.

 

[CatherineS]

Thank you minties

 

[CatherineS]

And thank you Mrs Elsie (sorry, I never noticed your post earlier).

 

[jes8387]

I have a friend who has unregular ms, the doctor put her on birth control to correct that.