Hypermenorrhea

[velvetpage]

Hypermenorrhea is sitting through a very important hour-long meeting, all the while calculating the fastest route to the washroom to deal with the inevitable gush when you stand.

Hypermenorrhea is never bothering to buy anything but the overnight-sized pads and super-sized tampons.

Hypermenorrhea is always wearing double protection.

Hypermenorrhea is carrying extra clothing or calling in sick on heaviest days.

Hypermenorrhea is fearing the consequences of a good night's sleep on your mattress and bedding.

Hypermenorrhea is never getting a good night's sleep because every time you shift, you're worried about accidents.

Hypermenorrhea is getting up to a crying child and having to stop at the washroom on the way to comfort her.

Hypermenorrhea is knowing every trick in the book for getting blood out of fabric.

Hypermenorrhea is having a mental catalogue of the side effects of each type of iron pill on your own body.

Hypermenorrhea is not waiting for a doctor to diagnose anemia, but taking iron pills starting the day the bleeding starts to head it off.

Hypermenorrhea is having people tell you that you must be hemorrhaging if you're bleeding that much - and thinking it's actually lighter than last month.

Hypermenorrhea is taking more than the recommended dose of cough syrup, because every cough causes a gush.

Hypermenorrhea is getting pregnant as a way of stopping your periods for a year or two.

Hypermenorrhea is mentioning what's making you sick to your grandmother, and learning that she had the same thing and so did her mother.

Hypermenorrhea is seriously considering the benefits of a DIY hysterectomy.

Hypermenorrhea is wanting to poke out the eyes of, or at least switch uteri with, the next person who bemoans the medicalization of normal bodily functions like menstruation, or suggests that you see your period as a spiritual connection to Mother Earth.

Comments

[redeem147.livejournal.com]

I'm assuming it's also having a medical condition that's very hard to explain, because even in today's so-called enlightened society, talking about menstruation is still a 'taboo'.

*hugs*

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

I absolutely refuse to treat it as a taboo. If I'm close enough to someone to be telling them about how sick I was, then I'm close enough to tell them the gist of why.

If I pretend to an unwarranted shame I don't feel, all I'm doing is preventing people from supporting me.

[daednu.livejournal.com]

How frustrating :(

[althea_valara]

Hypermenorrhea is wanting to poke out the eyes of, or at least switch uteri with, the next person who bemoans the medicalization of normal bodily functions like menstruation, or suggests that you see your period as a spiritual connection to Mother Earth.

They can has stabbity. *grrs*

[amarafox.livejournal.com]

People tho see their periods as mystical and spiritual make me want to go all stabbity, too.

STABBITY!

[kisekileia.livejournal.com]

Yeah, when I see someone doing that, I point out that situations like velvetpage's exist.

[jadedissola.livejournal.com]

Hypermenorrhea is wanting to poke out the eyes of, or at least switch uteri with, the next person who bemoans the medicalization of normal bodily functions like menstruation, or suggests that you see your period as a spiritual connection to Mother Earth.

I wish I had the link, but a friend told me that he read this on a blog recently (when I was bitching about my own uterus): "Whenever it's my 'moon time,' I want to punch a pagan in the mouth." I couldn't agree with her more.

Yeah, yeah, "womanhood is a blessing," blah, blah, blah. Look, I'm not ashamed of being a woman. I'm proud of my gender and I'm proud that I brought a precious life into this world, but for the love of deity I do NOT have to like the fact that (whenever I get my period) I spend at least a day being unable to do anything due to pain, fatigue, and that I feel like the Goodyear blimp due to bloating. It is unreasonable to expect that every woman on the planet can have properly functioning reprodutive organs. It's especially rude to assume that a woman who is seeking a hysterectomy has not already considered every other option. Any sane person does not go out seeking out major surgery, especially when you consider that you have to take time out from work, worry about child care, recovery time, etc.

I hope you feel better soon. :-\

[kisekileia.livejournal.com]

EXACTLY.

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

Yep, that about covers it. I love being a woman, but when the organs associated with womanhood are making me sick, I seek treatment like I would for any other medical condition.

[hillarygayle.livejournal.com]

If your period is a spiritual connection to Mother Earth, then you guys have one of the most supremely fucked up mother-daughter relationships in the history of menstruation.

That is all.

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

Amen, sister.

[quaero-verum.livejournal.com]

Bleh.


So what's the latest thinking on the hystorectomy? Is that still on the table, or are you going to try and learn to live with this?

*huuuuuge hugs*

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

My appointment is three weeks from today, and since that's over Christmas, I'm not trying to rush it.

Given the fact that I was sent home from school early for nearly fainting on the playground, and they didn't want to let me drive because I looked so pale, I think it's time to up my iron supplements again.

[kisekileia.livejournal.com]

Hon, if you're in that rough shape already, you need to rush the appointment if you can. I realize that not trying to rush it over Christmas is a nice thing to do for the doctor, but you need to think of your own welfare as well. You need this bleeding STOPPED, for your sake and for your own family's sake.

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

There's no point. I'm not low enough that they'll give me an infusion. They won't be comfortable giving me anything more to stop the bleeding. All they'll tell me is take more iron and we'll see you in January. I can do that without talking to the doctor.

[kisekileia.livejournal.com]

What about getting the hysterectomy arranged, or getting you on the waiting list for one, right now?

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

Christine, I know you mean well, but can you stop, please?

[kisekileia.livejournal.com]

All right. I'm sorry I made things worse. *offers hug and warm blanket, in the hope that they will be more helpful*

[amazonvera.livejournal.com]

:(. I'm sorry, sweetie. Hopefully these will all be problems of the past very soon.

[kisekileia.livejournal.com]

*hugs*
I hope you can get a non-DIY hysterectomy soon. I hope the docs weigh whatever benefits 'waiting another cycle' might possibly have (and I can't see any, since your periods are so far from being anything close to livable now) against the mental anguish you're experiencing now.

wow, i totally empathise

[jsl32.livejournal.com]

i had menorrhagia with moderate hypermenorrhea (more random, less heavy overall), which is now down to v. mild hypermenorrhea and i still have many of the worries you've described.

i hope you don't have to get a full hysterectomy, or even a partial one, but every woman's body is different and sometimes it is necessary to preserve overall health.

i completely empathise with the ranting against earth momma types fetishising menstruation (and refusing to admit that many 'natural' bodily functions go awry, of which menstruation is hardly unique).

i mentioned on another lady's lj shepherd's purse and yarrow root-- they are vasoconstrictors, and they work for some women with hypermenorrhea.

i hope you can find a permanent fix so you can get back to living life without so much suffering.

Re: wow, i totally empathise

[(Anonymous)]

I'm no longer a good candidate for the less-drastic procedures, and I haven't been a good candidate for hormonal therapies for many years, so I expect some type of hysterectomy is in my more-or-less immediate future.

Re: wow, i totally empathise

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

Sorry, that was me - forgot to log in.

Re: wow, i totally empathise

[jsl32.livejournal.com]

i understand that. having a lot of relatives who had hysterectomies forced on them, i tend to strongly hope women can avoid them. but i know sometimes you just have to Go There.

i hope you can have a partial, but overall, i hope you can just find a better quality of life, whatever surgery you end up going with.

[loxian.livejournal.com]

This sounds absolutely bloody awful. Do people really come out with that Sister Moon crap? I'm all about syncretism and healing herbs and what have you, but I killed my periods stone dead with hormonal birth control at the age of 16, and never looked back. I hope you get to take vengeance on the uterus soon. Rest plenty, please...

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

Yeah, last April when I was home because of this, there was a post on naturalliving ranting about an ad for a uterine ablation, and how the ad seemed to say that all kinds of normal things were a problem that could be solved, and SHE wasn't having any of it, and HER period was a wonderful special time, and OTHER WOMEN would be better off if they didn't just take their doctors' word for it that they needed a surgery like this, etc, etc. By the end of the thread, there were four hundred comments - about fifty of them from me.

It was the first I'd heard of ablation, and a good jump-start to my research, which led to an ablation in July. A pity it didn't work.

[loxian.livejournal.com]

You should post there thanking them for introducing you to the concept, but explaining that it didn't quite work for you, so you're going for something more radical - you'll keep them posted! (Next time you're off sick with your joyful natural processes.)

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

The thought has occurred to me. :)

[mrs-dm.livejournal.com]

That's a great poem (or prose, I guess).

You should give it to your gynecologist and your family doctor.

P.S. I'd advise against the DIY hysterectomy:)

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

I will definitely take a copy to my gyne when I go in three weeks. Maybe he'll tape it to the ceiling over his examining table. Gynes always have the most interesting stuff taped there, more than any other type of doctor.

[kesmun.livejournal.com]

Oh, god yes on the last one.

It's also (not really) joking about "If I were bleeding this much from anywhere else, I would be a murder victim!"

[frolicnaked.livejournal.com]

Hypermenorrhea is menstruating with enough force that your vagina pushes out the overflowing menstrual cup it contains.

Hypermenorrhea is putting down a towel *plus* a garbage bag for period sex and staining your mattress pad anyway.

Hypermenorrhea is starting the day with a sweater wrapped around your waist -- so that by the time you bleed through your pants (at 10am), the "shield" is already in place.

And I'm actually sharing this one in confidence, but:

Hypermenorrhea is *not recognizing* having a miscarriage because you always bleed this much (or more).

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

On a number of occasions, I called Telehealth (a triage number where a registered nurse finds out what's up with you and tells you if you need to be seen right then or can wait until morning, or Monday, or whatever.) Every time, they asked about grey material in the blood, and every time, I knew exactly what they were getting at - and had absolutely NO CLUE if it was happening, because the volume was too great. I was pretty sure I wasn't pregnant each time, because we were pretty careful. But the carefully-worded questions to rule out a miscarriage always caused me more suffering than any other part of those conversations.