Concerned about my period

[not.that.basic]

Hello all! My name is Michelle and I am a 26 year old college student from Florida. I started my period when I was 13 and when I was 14 years old I got this terrible period (it was extremely heavy and lasted for two weeks before I went to the doctor). After getting birth control from my doctor, I went to an edocrinologist who diagnosed me with PCOS. From that age to the age of 24 I took birth control pills to regulate my periods. Due to a combination of no insurance and being very tired of how birth control made me feel emotionally, I stopped taking the pills. My periods were normal for a few months and then became pretty sporadic. I got to the point where I would have a period every few months, and it would be very light. Two years later, I would go over 6 months at a time without a period.

About a month ago, I began spotting randomly. Just blood on the toilet paper when I went to the bathroom, but that was about it. The entire month I felt like my period was coming just because of the mood swings I was experiencing. On Friday, my period finally started. It began pretty normally but the next day it got really heavy. The heaviness has continued since Friday until now. I'm going through a Tampax Pearl ultra every 1.5-3 hours and I'm passing a lot of clots. I've felt slightly weak, as well. I had lower back pain, but that has passed.

I don't know if I should be worried or not. My gut tells me to give it until this Friday to see if it starts to get lighter or stops, but I was hoping someone could provide some guidance (or encouragement ).

EDIT: I feel like I should also mention that I do have a weight problem. 210 lbs at 5'4". I know weight is a factor of normalizing one's hormones when they have PCOS.

EDIT again: I just realized I totally put this in the wrong forum . If someone could move this for me, that would be great.

[drsari]

Hello all! My name is Michelle and I am a 26 year old college student from Florida. I started my period when I was 13 and when I was 14 years old I got this terrible period (it was extremely heavy and lasted for two weeks before I went to the doctor). After getting birth control from my doctor, I went to an edocrinologist who diagnosed me with PCOS. From that age to the age of 24 I took birth control pills to regulate my periods. Due to a combination of no insurance and being very tired of how birth control made me feel emotionally, I stopped taking the pills. My periods were normal for a few months and then became pretty sporadic. I got to the point where I would have a period every few months, and it would be very light. Two years later, I would go over 6 months at a time without a period.

About a month ago, I began spotting randomly. Just blood on the toilet paper when I went to the bathroom, but that was about it. The entire month I felt like my period was coming just because of the mood swings I was experiencing. On Friday, my period finally started. It began pretty normally but the next day it got really heavy. The heaviness has continued since Friday until now. I'm going through a Tampax Pearl ultra every 1.5-3 hours and I'm passing a lot of clots. I've felt slightly weak, as well. I had lower back pain, but that has passed.

I don't know if I should be worried or not. My gut tells me to give it until this Friday to see if it starts to get lighter or stops, but I was hoping someone could provide some guidance (or encouragement ).

EDIT: I feel like I should also mention that I do have a weight problem. 210 lbs at 5'4". I know weight is a factor of normalizing one's hormones when they have PCOS.

EDIT again: I just realized I totally put this in the wrong forum . If someone could move this for me, that would be great.

Hi Michelle, Thanks for posting. I strongly encourage you to contact your doctor right away, that's a long time to have heavy bleeding. Your doctor will probably do a blood test to check for anemia, and may suggest you supplement with iron. Be sure you are drinking plenty of water in the meantime. How is your flow today, has it eased up?
I would like to address some of your other comments too, but want to see how you are doing with the bleeding first.
Best wishes,

[not.that.basic]

Thank you so much for your reply. My period stopped completely on Friday. I took an iron supplement and that helped a lot with my energy levels. I don't know if this has anything to do with it, but my period started (after a long period of time of not having one) after I stopped eating fast food. I'm trying to avoid it completely, but it can be hard with my income level and time constraints (I work full time and go to school). I'm hoping that if I continue to lose weight (I've lost five pounds so far), my hormones will balance themselves out. I've also purchased a book (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0805078282) to educate myself on this syndrome (it's a shame that I've been diagnosed with PCOS for this long and have yet to read up on it in earnest).

What I would really like are treatment options that are NOT birth control. I am in no way concerned about getting pregnant and I would love to find something that doesn't make me feel like a crazy person. Not only to control my periods, but to also make sure I don't get other PCOS related side effects (like facial hair or male pattern baldness).

I would also like to note that seeing a doctor is difficult as I cannot afford the insurance through my job.

[drsari]

Thank you so much for your reply. My period stopped completely on Friday. I took an iron supplement and that helped a lot with my energy levels. I don't know if this has anything to do with it, but my period started (after a long period of time of not having one) after I stopped eating fast food. I'm trying to avoid it completely, but it can be hard with my income level and time constraints (I work full time and go to school). I'm hoping that if I continue to lose weight (I've lost five pounds so far), my hormones will balance themselves out. I've also purchased a book (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0805078282) to educate myself on this syndrome (it's a shame that I've been diagnosed with PCOS for this long and have yet to read up on it in earnest).

What I would really like are treatment options that are NOT birth control. I am in no way concerned about getting pregnant and I would love to find something that doesn't make me feel like a crazy person. Not only to control my periods, but to also make sure I don't get other PCOS related side effects (like facial hair or male pattern baldness).

I would also like to note that seeing a doctor is difficult as I cannot afford the insurance through my job.

Glad to hear the bleeding has stopped. And I'm also glad to hear you are cutting back on fast food! That type of food will not help your PCOS symptoms improve and will not help your overall health. I know it seems like such a convenience to eat that way, but in the long run it is the opposite, as it is inconvenient to have the long term health issues that arise from eating junk! ;-)
One tip is that you can buy certain ingredients pretty cheaply in bulk, make a big batch of something on a free afternoon, and freeze in individual portions. Then you have homemade, inexpensive, healthy food to thaw and eat every day. A slow cooker (crock pot) can come in very handy too, for the busy working person. You can often find them cheaply on craigs list or even a free one on freecycle. With slow cookers you put the ingredients in in the morning, set it to cook, and then by the time you get home your dinner is done and the house smells great. It can also produce enough portions to eat for several days.
I agree with you that losing weight will help the hormones become rebalanced. With PCOS, this can occur especially if the weight loss is done via a low carbohydrate diet. PCOS is related to insulin resistance, and a great way to reverse insulin resistance is by reducing carb intake: things like pasta, bread, sugar, sweets, tortillas, rice, corn, etc. These spike glucose levels and worse insulin resistance, thereby leading the hormonal imbalance typical of PCOS.
I haven't read that book you linked to, but I applaud your desire to educate yourself. It's one of the best things you can do for yourself. Another good resource for learning about PCOS is www.pcos.insulitelabs.com. This site has an abundance of information on the symptoms and causation of PCOS, as well as natural options for improving PCOS.
Since you don't have insurance, I would say that you are the ideal candidate to see a naturopathic doctor. If you are paying out of pocket for doctor visits, ND's charge much less than MD's or DO's for the most part, and depending on where you live ND's can order blood tests, ultrasounds, etc. just like MD's. If you let me know your location I may be able to refer you to a licensed, qualified ND and you can consult with them. Or you can email info@insulitelabs.com if you want to continue that conversation privately with myself or one of the other ND's on the Advisory team. Alternatively, you can find yourself an ND by looking at www.naturopathic.org and click on Find an ND. I mention this idea of seeing an ND for 2 reasons: 1, you mentioned not having health insurance and 2, you want to discuss treatment options that are not birth control. ND's are ideally suited to this task.
I know you implied money is tight but you might also consider trying the Insulite PCOS System (discussed at the Insulite site I wrote above) which has a moneyback guarantee.
Rest assured there definitely are ways to help PCOS that don't involve birth control pills or pharmaceutical medications. Diet and exercise is a huge piece of it, and there are also herbs and nutrients which you can read about on the above link.
I hope this answers some of your questions. Please write back anytime!