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help for severe anemia, and heavy menstrual bleeding - extremely low body weight

alice111

Senior Member
Messages
397
Location
Canada
I have a friend who is severely ill with M.e. She weighs 70 pounds, has severe diarrhea, and anemia.
Currently her already heavy menstrual bleeding has become even more severe, resulting in dangerously low hemoglobin.

Doctors are offering no solutions.

Does anyone have any ideas for anything that could help?

has anyone on here suffered from and resolved menorrhagia?

a blood transfusion is out of the question as this is how she came down with M.E in the first place.

as you can imagine both her and her mother are quite despaired, as things are looking pretty dire.

any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!
 

L'engle

moogle
Messages
3,200
Location
Canada
Raspberry leaf tea can decrease menstrual flow but I don't know how much it would work in a severe case. Also it can increase estrogen which can be a problem. That is terrible your friend is getting no help. Her situation sounds very serious. :(
 

Never Give Up

Collecting improvements, until there's a cure.
Messages
971
Any gynecologist should be able to determine the cause of the excessive bleeding and treat it quickly and efficiently.

The best information I've seen on treating iron deficiency anemia is found here: http://www.anemia.org/patients/feature-articles/content.php?contentid=000316

Some types of iron supplements give some people diarrhea, if this is the case she could try a different form of iron, they are listed in the above link. More commonly iron supplements are constipating, this could help with the diarrhea.

Seems like stool cultures would be in order as well.
 

Gingergrrl

Senior Member
Messages
16,171
Could probiotics or bone broth help her stomach? Has she been tested for SIBO or leaky gut? Also could she have C-diff from antibiotics?

If she can't take iron can she eat iron rich foods like spinach or red meat? I feel horrible for your friend and throwing out everything I can think of! Will say a prayer for her.
 

Sasha

Fine, thank you
Messages
17,863
Location
UK
I had very heavy bleeding and eventually went to a well-woman clinic at my GP's surgery where I was prescribed tranexamic acid, which was highly effective.

Your friend needs to see a GP who specialises in gynae issues (the surgery website should list specialities - if not, the receptionist could help guid her) in the first instance.

If the surgery is useless, she could call 111 (if she's in the UK - which country is she in?) to get the NHS for those people who might have trouble accessing it. I recommend she calls during GP out-of-hours times, because that's when the 111 doctors come on shift:

http://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/AboutNHSservices/Emergencyandurgentcareservices/Pages/NHS-111.aspx

Those doctors are also used to dealing with the housebound, I think, because of the nature of the service.

Good luck! Your friend is lucky to have you to help her.

Get her to make that appointment/phone call today!
 

CantThink

Senior Member
Messages
800
Location
England, UK
I second tranexamic acid. It would be good to try it while finding out what's wrong (the GP can prescribe). Has she had an ultrasound to check for an ovarian cyst? (I had one and it was haemorraghing).

She also should be tested properly for thyroid dysfunction as menstrual changes (including increase or decrease in bleeding) can occur with both hypo and hyper thyroidism. To get proper thyroid testing including free T3 she would probably need to order a private blood test (Blue Horizons do one that can be done St a local private hospital - Spire or Nuffield - or a home finger prick test if she can't get out of the house). It would be worth also getting her sex hormones tested if possible (including progesterone which NHS often leave off unless in a clinic in the endocrinology department).

For her weight - is she able to eat? Is there an issue with malabsorption or is the problem actually getting enough calories because she can't eat enough? If the latter then tube feeding might be helpful to get her weight stabilised, and depending upon symptoms a test for gastroparesis. If the former then has she had the obvious causes such as celiac, crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis ruled out? Sounds as if she needs to see a GI doctor and a gynae.