I have an extremely heavy flow but it goes on for a week~stops & starts. Do you mean it gushes out all at once w/in a few minutes then nothing til your next cycle? What does your PCP say?

i had the most incontince the week b/4 and during my period. it hormone related.......rocky mt ms center did trial using estrogen to improve ms & it does. being opregnant helps ms....my sister was like yhopu are about5 heavy flopw gushing, unable to believe it was menapause until a doc told her..i keep telling you when you your period s tops when you ared post-menapaul when you are menap[aswusal your period is not norma your experiencing break through bleeding.....menapause is during that time hormones are throttling back----thats why so many woman get pregnznt when they thought6 they couldn't bec ause they were in menapause---as far as muscles, incontince \& period---thde only ties i know are estrogen is at the lowest during period and if i was using internal femine protection that prevented me from emptying my bladder fully i was 39 when that gushing started 48 when night sweats became an issue 50 now i've got my fingers all is done

birth contro pills help with heavy blrrding----my sister husban got a vasectomyh or she would have been ob=n bc then she wouldn't have had the heavy bnleeding, ik wasn't on bc so it happenned to me

do some research on the estrogen/progesterone cycles

What I mean is, I think it is the same quantity as always, but instead of being a relatively regular amount over 4 to 5 days, I have a day during which I often have to literally stay sitting on the toilet for over an hour because I get some massive clots (sorry, I know this is gross, that is why I tried to 'protect' the men from it with the heading), and it is only like 3 days maximum.
I did ask my regular doctor for a blood test to check my hormones, but then later read up on it, and I guess a woman's hormones fluctuate a LOT over the month. So, I am not freaking out too much. I don't think I am going to bleed to death or anything. I also wondered if it could be pre-menopausal stuff. . . any thoughts?
(Don't want to ever subject my body to more birth control pills.)

Okay I get what your saying now Anne8~I 've had the heavy flow since I was 12 yrs old & am now 44. I have the clots also & have to use thick maxis & change them every 2 hours. So for me my cycle is still the same. If yours has changed then maybe you are premenopausal. Don't blame you on the birth control pill. I'm not a fan either.

My doctor put me on birth control to stop my periods. It was a few days of hell that I alone was not managing well. I don't miss the hassle! Don't know if everyone should stop their period but it really has saved me a lot of hassle. I've heard several types of b/c can stop periods.

Hey Anne,

I haven't been officially diagnosed with MS but have suspected it for some time. This morning my doctor explained my recent brain MRI and I do have spots indicating that MS is probably what's up.

I don't think it's quite as bad for me as what you have going on, but the first day/day and a half of my period has always been ridiculously intense and then for the third and fourth days it's negligible. I never really looked into it before, always just been grateful it is shorter than most women I know. I think I'll do some research =)
Much love

I am on birth control pills. It has helped my period but when I was diagnosed with MS, my period became even lighter than normal. I thought it was because of the treatment or either my MS. I did not ask any questions to see why. I was glad that is was lighter. I hope yours get better.

djhbritt--my pereiod became lighter too when first diagnosed...on of my diagnosing symptoms was incontinence, i was horrified i was wetting my pants and stopped drinmking top avoid that, i think thats what made my periopd lighter at first...then mother nature kicked in and it got heavier...i don't think ms affects heavienes of periods, i think how a person lives with ms , does.

What helped my heavy flow and clots and pain was removing gluten from my diet as it was aconstant source of inflammation. It took about 2 mos. since then ( about 18 mos) my periods have been normal with very little pain. Try it and see if it works.