Whenever I gain alot of weight and get to around 90kg, my menstrual cycles go totally out the window and I become anovulatory. Because I'm not ovulating the lining in my uterus builds up and up until it reaches maximum capacity it then starts to break down and shed away slowly. By slowly, I mean over weeks or even months.
Recently I endured six weeks of constant light bleeding and I thought I'd refer to Dr Google for some herbal remedy to the problem. I tried Vitex Agnus Castus aka Chaste Berry, but that only made the bleeding even heavier, it didn't stop the bleeding as I had expected. So I decided to stop taking it and I went to a Dr, told her my history and she prescribed me with Noresthisterone, a synthetic progestogen.
I took Norethisterone for 10 days which stopped the bleeding but gave me a terrible bout of PMS (anger & bitterness on a scale I've not felt for a long time - thank goodness I was on my own for a few days), then three days after the last tablet was taken, I got my period. Not a normal period but a really really heavy bleed, very similar to the retroplacental haematoma I had when I was pregnant (the fucking haematoma that claimed my baby's life at 10.5 weeks).
Day one of bleeding was regular and not painful.
Day two of bleeding started with me waking at around 5am and dashing to the bathroom and bleeding heavily. I went back to bed, only to leap out again in pain and be doubled over while waiting for the pain to pass. I managed to get back to sleep for a couple of hours, then waking and dashing to the bathroom with another massive bleed. This continued
all day, all the while I managed to clean the house, babysit a puppy, go grocery shopping, make four pizzas and then host a pizza night for a group of hubby's friends.
Day three (today), I am still having some heavy bleeding but it's nowhere near as severe as yesterday's.
I expect the bleeding to continue for 2-3 days, which is a fairly standard time for a period to start and finish for me. I am hoping that the induced bleed will restore my cycles to normal, but if it doesn't then I will start looking into herbal remedies.
At the moment I am trialling Aloe Vera juice, not for any particular reason but because I have been hearing reports from people about how Aloe Vera (AV) has helped them with various health issues. AV has a peculiar taste, not a strong taste but one that takes a little getting used to. It also has a "zingy" effect in the mouth, not fizzy like lemonade though.
AV is widely used in hand creams, beauty products and some healing products like AV gel to relieve sunburn. The benefits of AV have been disputed (and often downplayed) by modern medicine but there is a slow, growing acceptance of some of AV's healing properties, some of which include
Astringent (dilates capillaries, tightens/firms skin)
Emollient (deeply moisturising)
Anti-fungal
Cell regeneration and plumping (collagen)
Lowering cholesterol and blood lipids
Improving circulation
Soothes inflammation (indigestion, IBS, colitis, heartburn, ulcers, asthma)
Anti-bacterial
Anti-viral (herpes simplex – cold sores)
Boosts immunity
Anti-oxidant (fights free radicals & oxidative stress)
Increases collagen production
Cleansing
Also, compounds extracted from Aloe vera have been used as an immunostimulant that aids in fighting cancers in cats and dogs! (I'm not smart enough to make this stuff up, I found it all on
Wikipedia.)
As a sufferer of PCOS and being overweight, I think AV juice could be really beneficial for me because it can help to lower the lipids (fat) in my bloodstream and therefore lower my risk of cardiovascular disease later on in life (or sooner! So the sooner I start taking AV juice, the better eh?)
Women with PCOS are at risk of such conditions as High blood pressure, Dyslipidemia (disorders of lipid metabolism — cholesterol and triglycerides). Atherosclerosis (thickening/clogging of artery walls by cholesterol), Cardiovascular disease, Strokes and Weight gain (no kidding...?)
When I suffered a stroke in 2004 I underwent alot of blood tests and scans and I was told by the hospital's registrar that I had a build-up on cholesterol around my heart and that I ought to lose some weight (I was probably around the same size that I am now). That info about the cholesterol scared me, and to this day it still does. How much pressure and strain is my heart under when I am carrying around so much extra weight? That is a frightening thought.
So there ya go... long story, short answer - I think AV juice can be really beneficial for me, so I am giving it a go for a couple of months and just see what happens.
