A 41-Year-Old Woman With Menorrhagia, Anemia, and Fibroids

I believe my symptoms started around the age of 30. I just remember feeling very tired all the time. I felt so tired that I really didn’t want to go out. I also had very heavy periods. As I got older, it just got worse. I progressively started to have more pain and more of the heavy bleeding. My quality of life was not there just because I was so tired all the time. So I started with the iron. But over the years, it’s just gotten progressively worse instead of better.

I knew that there were surgeries available to me. There was also some procedure to shrink the fibroid. I discussed this with my physician, and she referred me to the gynecology doctor, who in turn suggested I have surgery. So about 3 years ago, I had 11 fibroids removed. And I felt much better. But, unfortunately, they returned. Probably a year after the surgery, I started to feel once again that I was tired all the time.

I have my menstrual cycle for 5 days. I have 4 days of heavy, constant bleeding where I’m changing pads basically every hour. Then I have 1 day of very light bleeding. I have 1 week off with no symptoms. Then I start to “pre-menstruate” for 2 weeks. So I have a total of 3 weeks of this; I’m not feeling well, there’s fatigue and all the premenstrual symptoms: the bloating, the pain in the legs, the tenderness in the breasts. I don’t have the energy to do those things that I like to do, especially in the summertime, when I like to do outdoor activities. If I have really heavy bleeding or if I’m just in my cycle, I don’t want to do anything. I’d just rather stay home.

View From Source… A 41-Year-Old Woman With Menorrhagia, Anemia, and Fibroids