Female Advice Preferred: My period holds me back

[BreathingIn]

I'm in my early 20's, college grad. My periods are SUPER heavy every month. I'm going to the bathroom to change the pad almost every 2 hours. The good thing is, it only lasts in total about 4 days. Day one is kind of heavy. Day 2 is super heavy. Day three is kind of heavy but now more manageable.

I am held back from doing a lot of things because of this It's so heavy that I have to take off work one day. I get very bloated and have about medium cramps. But I get extremely bloated.

I'm always scared to take another job because I'm scared I'll have to take off one day a month for it and they won't like that

I was on birth control for about a year. I had the shot and it made me having constant bleeding for the whole 9 months I was on it. It wasn't a lot and I only used one pad a day. Then I switched to the pill and went to having normal periods but didn't have cramping or bloating.

Should I get on some kind of birth control again to try and stop my periods for good? I feel like if I didn't get them, then I'd be a powerhouse at work. I wouldn't be scared to say yes to something. Or should I find a better way to deal with them? Ugh Idk what to do.

[Ennui.]

I think that in this situation you may want to talk to your doctor and see what they think the best option is. Birth control can be pretty useful. Even if you don't get on one that stops your period entirely, there may be ones that make your period lighter and a lot more easy to deal with. If you think that you would like that, your doctor would be able to prescribe it.

But even if you are not comfortable with being on birth control again, I am sure your doctor would be able to suggest some things that may be able to help you out?

[Celyn]

I think it would be beneficial to talk to your doctor and see what options you have.

I get quite bloated during my periods too, and have some cramps. I find that rubbing my stomach helps with both of that. I don't know if you have it where you are, but over here we have 'Wind-eze' (active ingredient is Simethicone) which helps to treat bloating too.

[Eternal]

I get extremely bad cramps, so I am now on the generic brand of Seasonique which essentially causes me to only have a period about four times a year. I've been on it for almost two years now and I really love it, I haven't noticed any bad side effects and while my period sometimes comes before the three months are over, it definitely allows me to skip some. I think it's worth asking your doctor about!