My period is driving me insane! What could be causing this?

[SevereAgony]

I'm going crazy here. My period dominates the entire month, in some way or another. It's rendering my sex life non-existent and my doctor doesn't give a damn. She didn't even refer me to a Gynecologist like I asked her to.

It wasn't always like this, but my periods are now over-extending themselves. I'm in pain as I type this out.

On the 2nd of this month, I started having the really intense "preparation" cramps. The blood flow was brown for days after. Obnoxiously so. It didn't become the tiniest bit red until the 10th or so. Horrific pain ensues thereafter, as par for the course. The bleeding doesn't slow down till the 17th. After that, I thought it was over. It became a light, light brown and fizzled out.

But no. It's now the 25th, and the past five days have been filled with relentless cramping and stringy brown discharge coming out of me. I had awful cramping late last night. Just today, I found a tiny dark clot on my toilet paper. The toilet paper itself was a very light brown after wiping, just to show this BS hasn't fully stopped.

I am so, so freaking tired. I'm tired of the pain. I want to be intimate with my man, but I don't want to subject him to any unpleasantness. These little old clot things won't stop crawling out of my ovaries and passing them HURTS. My gut will be coiling from the agony. I don't know what to do. My months are being stolen from me now. At this point, I only have a week or so of freedom before this starts all over again.

Why isn't all the blood coming out like it should? Is there some kind of blockage I don't know about? Is there something wrong with my diet? There's no foul odor and I know that it isn't an STD. What on earth is going on with me?

[AnnieBrooke]

Well, you should try an ob/gyn, not the ER.  I only suggested an ER visit if in your system, that would be the only way for you to get assigned to an ob/gyn. ER's may seem like the answer to someone who is impatient or in pain, but they are not for regular care, and not only would take emergencies over you so you would wait a long time in a waiting room that might be full of contagious conditions, but also the care is not as good -- they are there to triage patients and either get them to the hospital or send you home. You will not get a concerned doctor laying her hand on your brow and analyzing your wonky bleeding pattern with you, in an ER. You need to have your own ob/gyn, who listens to your concerns and tracks your health.. If you can sign yourself up for one without asking your g.p.to do it, by all means, do. Neither regular doctors nor emergency-room doctors are as well trained in issues of the uterus as an ob/gyn is.

[AnnieBrooke]

You do need to see an ob/gyn. First, get an ultrasound, and if nothing suggests itself, get an MRI of the uterus. You might have some inadequately expelled tissue in the uterus (this can happen if you have a very early miscarriage). If you have this, it can cause scarring, over time. So your doctor should be taking it seriously. It would almost rise to the level of malpractice to ignore the need to diagnose what is wrong.

In the meantime, uterine cramping is often eased by ibuprofen (Advil or Nuprin). Ibuprofen is an anti-prostaglandin, and eases the cramping of muscles (which cramping will cause pain because blood cannot get into the tissues when it is in the middle of a cramp). I wouldn't waste any time on aspirin or Tylenol, but would go straight to the ibuprofen.

Good luck. Can't you just sign up with an ob/gyn? Could you go to the ER and get them to do it?

[SevereAgony]

Thank you for the response. I could've signed up with an OB/GYN, but I got so soured from doctors. I hadn't been to one since I was three and went to get a physical out of desperation. The doctor blew off all my concerns and tried to put me on birth control right away, without even testing if the issue was my hormones. I felt so disappointed that I haven't gone back to that facility. I should try the ER, though.