OMG! I have (or had – not sure yet) an officially lettered condition!
Menorrhagia. I have suffered from it for many years but no doctor ever offered me a name for it. Last week my daughter casually mentioned that there is a new drug for it. So much else was going on at the time that the news didn’t sink in right away. But tonight I was stuck watching the commercials during the news and there it was: lighterperiod.com.
“Isn’t it ironic?” I can hear Alanis Morissette’s voice singing the question. Especially now that I seem to be tapering off the monthly HMB. Too late to do me any good.
I also hear Neil Young singing, “Don’t need no ad machine… Telling me what I need.” Not sure what the drug is and what the risks of using it will turn out to be. Maybe I would not have wanted it, reasoning that it might do more harm than good.
Every last sign and symptom listed on the Mayo Clinic website describes my experience with HMB. The only solutions to the problem that I’ve ever been offered in the past were a hysterectomy or synthetic hormones. No, thank you.
Hey, if Senator Bob Dole can talk about his ED in nationally televised ads, I guess I can’t be blamed for being excited to talk about my HMB. With any luck I won’t have to for much longer, though. But it would have been nice to be able to say, “Sorry about this, but I can’t leave the house today because of my HMB.”
I never suffered with PMS, making me a hormonal exception to the rule. The week before was always the best time of the month for me. Maybe someday HMB will be a household word, like ED and PMS. In the meantime I plan to get as much mileage out of this handy acronym as I can!
I can’t believe I’ve never heard of it either. I imagine there are a lot of women that suffer with this silently. It sure doesn’t help that doctors don’t share the name of it with us either. Thanks for enlightening me on this topic and I’m glad that you finally have more validation and name for what you’ve been going through!
Thanks, Cait! Always glad to share an ah-ha moment! 🙂 Validation and a name, at last!
Hooray for names and labels – somehow they validate us and all our unexplained problems
“You see? I wasn’t making this up, wasn’t being a wimp – they’ve NAMED it.”
I can feel your relief and celebrate with you!
Here’s to the sharing of feminine knowledge! I’m still rejoicing, my friend!
Have never heard of HMB, Barbara. It must feel empowering to have received a name for your symptoms. I know others who have suffered terribly fearing their problems are only “in their head”. Understanding also your challenges about possible medications and side effects. Hope that will not happen. Blessings, Barbara.
Thank you, Kathy, it does feel empowering. I’m hoping menopause has finally arrived – keeping my fingers crossed that this is finally it. At this stage of the game even if I get another rogue period or two it won’t be worth mucking around with hormones, if that’s what the drug is. Will just let nature take its course…
Oh, how I sympathise.
I don’t know what the new drug is – my periods stopped years and years ago (I’m glad to say, as I detested them!) but if you’d email me, Barbara, there’s a natural product that I used years ago for Menorrhagia that was troubling me very badly when my menopause began and which might help. A friend of mine also tried it and found it helpful. I won’t mention it here, don’t want it to look like I’m advertising it!! It’s made by an American company, I think, and here in the UK very few NHS doctors will prescribe it (probably because, being a natural product, the drug companies can’t make money out of it).
The term Menorrhagia has been around for a long time, I’m sorry you’ve only just been given that as a diagnosis.
Email should be on its way, Val. Thanks! Well, you must be the FIRST woman I’ve ever “met” who has had the same problem! Going by the above comments it looks like the UK is way ahead of us here in North America when it comes to menorrhagia awareness.
The Ferring Pharmaceuticals website isn’t saying what the new drug is and I’m not willing to click on the button to request more information. But I am definitely going to have a little chat with my GYN next time I see her!
Email should be with you now!
🙂
I’ve found this page for you about the new drug:
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/722643
Also… I may be at an advantage as my dad was a family doctor, so I got to know stuff that the average person maybe didn’t!