u/LifeTalks_x

As someone who has perpetually been a major front and back bleeder and usually relies on reusable products because I was never able to find period products that would work for me due to being plus size with an interesting anatomy, I have recently FINALLY found a pad that is long and wide enough at both the front, back, and gusset! That is… Lil-lets maternity pads! I got one from a box of free period products in a public toilet once not realising it was maternity, was never able to find that size again… but here we are!

The maternity ultra pads are about the same length as the long body form goodnight plus pads but are wider all round, with a wide back (absorant core is in a central strip with thinner back ‘wings’ to catch any sneaky leaks).

The holy grail of pads however are the maternity maxi pads. Yes, thick, but so soft and SO wide on the back and the longest UK pad I’ve been able to find. They are also so nice and soft and prevent chafing!

Also a shout out to their orange ‘ultra’ extra protection tampons - really saved my arse recently! They also have pads in this range which I think are the same length as the maternity ultra pads but may be narrower.

I do try and use as many reusables as I can but sometimes, a disposable is needed. Reusables though my shout outs go to TCS Eco custom pads (can get all sorts of lengths and widths), Innersy bamboo period pants, and Lady Days pads (nice and thin).

I hope someone else here can share my excitement… having medication related extremely heavy bleeding issues and having to triple up on products at times but finding these pads has made life so much easier and great peace of mind! £1.80 a packet in boots just now, save the outer packaging and put them through the boots recycling scheme for more points… winner winner! 🙌

I started taking Cerazette (PoP) a month ago, along with a decent supplement stack of D-chiro/myo inositol, zinc, magnesium, vitamin D3/K2 (identified I had severe deficiency), berberine, psyllium husk, omega 3, spearmint extract.

I had light spotting for the first couple of weeks - enough to nearly fill a light tampon across the day. This increased slightly, with the odd ‘gush’ moment but still not a lot. I have been so bloated, had such swollen and sore boobs and rock hard nipples (really painful), and a lot of cramping in my stomach, back and thighs.

I started taking spironolactone a week ago (50mg, to be increased later). I’ve now been heavily bleeding for a week. And it’s just getting worse, and is really quite painful. Thankfully the sore boobs have calmed down but still getting a lot of cramping.

If I’m thinking about this logically - it’s probably that I’ve had a built up uterine lining (as I previously wouldn’t get periods just random bleeding episodes) and my hormones are all over the place and my body’s flushing it out.

I have TXA medication that if this doesn’t calm down, I will take, but I’m thinking it may be a good thing for my body to do its thing at the moment.

I guess I’m just sharing to see if anyone else has had a similar experience, and what your bleeding patterns looked like once things settled down?

Hey Reddit… I’m having such a long drawn out journey with PCOS and I’m kind of feeling like any little glimmers of hope are quickly fading.

Backstory: ‘diagnosed’ as a 10/11 year old child but had no TVUS, got that as an adult, confirmed cysts. Now nearly 30, and my life is dominated by insulin resistant PCOS. I’m obese, I can’t get or keep weight off, I can barely maintain (if I eat any more than 1500 calories a day I gain weight), I’m physically unhealthy, and I’m so hairy it’s ridiculous.

I finally after a LONG time of fighting, thinking I was on NHS waiting lists for over a year etc (don’t have the energy to get into the shitshow that has been my experience right now but it could belong in a panorama episode) managed to privately get an appointment with a consultant endocrinologist. He did some tests to rule out Cushing’s and thyroid issues but none were there. Well, came out of that with ‘it sucks but it is what it is’… and finding out I was severely vitamin D deficient.

In terms of treatment - I’ve tried metformin in varying forms in the past but couldn’t tolerate it (I physically couldn’t live a normal life as I was stuck on the toilet all day and night), I tried some supplements but it didn’t make any difference. I’ve now managed to get spironolactone, and I’m locking in on supplements, so I’ve been taking 40:1 inositol, berberine, D3/K2, magnesium complex, zinc, omega 3, spearmint extract, psyllium husk. I’m also now taking Cerazette (POP) because the consultant said he wouldn’t prescribe spiro without reliable contraception (despite the fact I’m single and haven’t slept with a man in over a year…).

I’m just done with it all. I’m tired. I’m physically and mentally exhausted and just fucking sad. I know I should be grateful to have a body that generally does the things I need it to do, but being large, unable to control hair growth, and just generally feeling like shit all the time is just not giving me many reasons to be grateful. I want to be more active but hypermobility combined with my weight means whenever I try, I get injured so easily. I love swimming, but the hair growth is prohibitive. And I don’t care if anyone says ‘nobody’s looking’ - they are, I live in a small town where everyone knows everyone and I’ve had the teenage girls from the swim club literally mock me and whisper about me as I’ve been doing my own thing… glad the pool water hid the tears…

I hate being the largest person when I walk in a room, I always have been. People are so quick to judge, especially in adult career life.

I can’t talk to anyone about feeling so bad, because there’s nothing they can say or do to make it better. I don’t want to practice gratitude, because being grateful for it being sunny outside doesn’t mean much when you can’t wear sunny-day clothes because you despise your body, its hair, its scars from hurting yourself because of self hatred, and there’s no end in sight.

I’m really hoping something changes with spironolactone and properly taking supplements. It’s been 3 weeks and all I’ve experienced is bloating and random bleeding (probably due to the Cerazette).

I’m going on holiday with my friends next week and I’m feeling so shit about it because I’m the biggest, it will be a lot of walking about in the heat, there will be beaches and swimsuits and tiny beautiful women in tiny bikinis at the beach clubs, and here’s me, the one that people always look at then look away because they know they shouldn’t stare.

The endocrinologist essentially said ‘if you can afford £300 a month, you could try a GLP-1, but the weight will go back on when you stop’. I can make sacrifices to afford £300 a month, I am privileged in that respect, but what’s the point if it’s not sustainable. I have lost 60lb in total over the past 3 years, I’m back up 40lb of that, because to achieve that, I honestly think I was on the edge of an eating disorder - I was crying weighing out herbs, and scared to touch anything I couldn’t read the label of, tracking sugar free squash religiously… it was too much and I felt so physically ill from eating 1000 calories a day.

I’ve tried everything you could think of diet wise, all various levels of calorie intake, no carbs, keto, sugar free, IF, high protein, gluten free etc… same results every time.

I don’t know what the point of this post is. I was told as a teenager it would get better as I got older. And here’s me, almost 30, no romantic prospects because of what PCOS has done to me, probably infertile, fat for life, hairier than the men in my family, and I’m just done. I’m so fucking done.

Please if anyone has any words of wisdom for me that aren’t the simplest things, or ‘try and move more’ or ‘eat no sugar’… please share. Alternatively feel free to vent away too if you can relate.