Content warning: period blood
I just turned 32, and I started my period when I was 14. It’s always been fairly regular. While I did start with pads and tampons, I now use a menstrual cup, which makes it easier to notice when things start acting out of the normal range.
For the last three periods, I would experience spotting (normal discharge with trace amounts of blood) for sometimes up to a week before the period would begin in earnest, then go through the standard period for just under a week.
I’m writing this on December 31st, and have actually been on my latest period since November 22nd, which is when the spotting started; the regular bleeding started about a week later. At one point, I started getting some larger-than-normal clots, within a short time frame. I checked the app I use to track my period, and realise I’ve been bleeding for about two weeks at this point (not counting the spotting). I do a search about the clotting, and three different websites concur that if experiencing anything out of the ordinary with periods, to contact one’s doctor to be on the safe side.
I go to a walk-in clinic just down the street, and manage to squeeze into the last possible slot for the day.
The nurse asks me what’s up, then I wait for the doctor who also asks me what’s up.
Now, if the doctor had said something like, “Well, it’s not necessarily anything to worry about, but, just in case, I would recommend talking to your family doctor to see about getting some tests done, and in the meantime I’ll prescribe you some hormone pills which should stop the period you’re on.” THAT I would have taken. I would have understood she can’t do anything more since I have a family doctor who will have to order the tests, and give me something to take care of the immediate concern; that is, trying to get the bleeding to stop. It’s also assuring me that it might be nothing, but that she understands my concerns.
But, no. That is not how she put it. I came to this woman to say, basically, “Hey, my body is doing something it’s never done before and I’m a little worried.” The conversation followed thusly:
Doctor: Well, a clot doesn’t mean anything. It’s just something that passes during the period.
Me: Yes, I know, but I’ve been having a lot of them in a short space of time, and they’re large enough to completely fill my cup, sometimes twice in the space of two hours.
Doctor: Okay, but a clot is (proceeds to explain in detail what a blood clot is in pertaining to periods).
Me: (internally: seriously, lady? I know all of this, why are you explaining this to me?) Yes, I know that, but my body doesn’t usually do it in these quantities.
Doctor: But a clot is nothing to worry about, it’s just (explains it again in a slightly different manner).
Me: (internally: do I have idiot tattooed on my forehead?) I know clots are a part of having a period, but I’ve passed four very large ones in the past twenty-four hours. That’s never happened before.
Doctor: It doesn’t really mean anything. Here’s a script for some hormone pills that will stop your period, and talk to your family doctor.
I realise the end result is about the same, but her manner basically suggested to me that I was ridiculous to have even come in to see her. Just FYI, I didn’t get the pills right away, because by the time payday rolled around, it looked like my period had stopped on its own, only to start up again three days later once I had spent all my money on groceries and bills. I’ll be getting them in a few days and have an appointment scheduled with my family doctor.
