If you find yourself curled up on the couch when you get your period and find that your periods are very heavy, there are solutions that can alleviate the inconvenience. Heavy menstrual bleeding is a common condition in many women, and there are a number of treatments for heavy periods including medication and minor surgery. Most GPS understand how debilitating the condition can be so will do everything they can to alleviate your symptoms, and medication is usually the first treatment option they recommend.

Medications

Medications can be very effective, they often have fewer and less serious side effects than other treatments, and they won’t cause early menopause or affect a woman’s ability to have children.

Common treatments for heavy periods include a group of drugs called non‐steroidal anti‐inflammatory medications.  These reduce period heaviness by about one-third and may help with period pain, and many only have mild side effects such as nausea and diarrhoea. Medications administered to treat heavy menstrual bleeding include:

• Tranexamic acid – this is taken as a tablet during a woman’s period and it helps blood to clot, which will reduce bleeding, often reducing the heaviness of periods by a half.
• Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) – these are taken as a tablet during a woman’s period and reduces the amount of prostaglandin in the lining of the uterus (it’s thought that prostaglandin contributes to pain and heavy bleeding).
• Hormone-releasing intrauterine device (IUD) – this is a small device that sits inside the uterus and releases a small amount of progestogen. Progestogen works by reducing the thickness of the lining of the uterus, and reduces blood loss by around 95 per cent. 85 per cent of women find this a good choice and it normally lasts for five years.
• The oral contraceptive pill – this has been used for some time to control periods. It releases substances that act like the natural hormones progesterone and oestrogen and has been very successful in making periods lighter and more regular.
• The progestogen-only pill (POP or mini-pill) – this works by stabilising the lining of the uterus and can be taken for three weeks of the cycle and are helpful for irregular bleeding.
• Danazol – this is a tablet that reduces the body’s oestrogen levels, stops the normal ovulation cycle and causes some women to stop menstruating completely.

Surgery

If medication has been tried with no improvement, surgery may be the next option. Surgery aims to stop bleeding and pain by removing or reducing the cause or by removing the uterus completely. There are three main procedures used to treat heavy menstrual bleeding:

• Endometrial ablation – this is where the lining of the uterus is largely removed through a hysteroscope (a telescope inserted through the neck of the uterus). The muscle of the uterus itself is preserved, and the advantages of this procedure is that it can be done as day surgery and is highly successful.
• Myomectomy – removes fibroids from the muscular wall of the uterus. It is done under general anaesthetic and the uterus and all reproductive organs are maintained following the procedure.
• Hysterectomy – this involves removing the uterus (the womb itself) and can be done through a telescope through the vagina or through an abdominal incision. This is major surgery but is highly successful.

All of these treatments may involve potential complications and it is important that you talk to your doctor about the advantages but also the disadvantages of any medical treatment. I am also happy to talk to you about these matters. Call (07) 3353 3100 to book an appointment today.