I had the same bloodbath issue. Estrogen is a nono for pe people but the gynecologist put me on progesterone for the first 14 days each month which has been shown to be safe for pe people while on anticoagulation with the agreement of my hematologist. Complete bloodbath continued for 6 weeks and has been completely resolved since. I take 150 MG of Feramax a day for the anemia (Feramax is apparently easier on the stomach than most other forms of iron). Also fyi if you end up soaking one an hour that's when you're supposed to head to the hospital.

Two other things that helped me - for the lightheaded bit, drinking more to replace the lost blood volume (salty broths especially so you retain a bit more liquid than of you drink water); and ibuprofen (Advil) to reduce the bleeding although be aware some docs theorize that ibuprofen may increase the likelihood of a bleed in general while you're on anticoagulation.

Most docs would not recommend ibuprofen while on anticoagulants. It can increase your risk for GI bleeds. My period is heavier for a few reasons: stopping hormonal birth control, use a copper IUD, my age and to some degree, the anticoagulants. I noticed when I switched from warfarin to xarelto, it felt like my blood flow was less dense, more watery, "thinner." I know for me, the biggest culprit in my menstruation changes were directly related to changing birth control. I was on the pill for over 20 years,and that amounted to having a very light period for 1-2 days. It's hard to know what is a normal period when that is your experience.

I wouldn't go by soaking through a pad to gauge heaviness. I would go by using a tampon. I use super plus ot ultra plus. At peak heaviness, I sometimes have to change them every couple of hours. But that is just usually for day.

Anyway, now my period is 7 days, with 2-3 days super heavy. The other days are easier.

The fact that I'm 52 and still have a period pisses me off. I've been doing this since I was 11. I'm so over it, haha!

I had a similar problem. Two SUPER-HEAVY periods 28 days apart immediately after quitting birth control. (Typical for me is 40 days apart and pretty light, 4-5 days long.)

I wasn't super-tired or anything, they were just SO heavy! I couldn't find information online, either, so I just attributed it to being on Xarelto and being on birth control 4 years prior.

My OB/GYN didn't have much to say about it, either.

Thanks for posting. I'm glad others will have a resource I didn't have!

Ugh, mine lasted for 2 weeks. Literally heavy almost the whole time and then just stopped. Like turning off a spigot. I'm not looking forward to the next one.

I was diagnosed with PE at the end of Jan '17.
I've not experienced a heavy period in all 39 years of my life. I was given Rivaroxaban dose (as per normal now in the UK). Having stopped the birth control pills 2 days earlier (it was the 3-week-on, 3-week-off kind) my period was due to start. And yeah, it was heavy. I mean, I was changing the super absorbent sanitary towels and heavy-duty tampons every 4 hours. Hands up here – I mean there are women who live with this and its normal but yeah, this was unusual for me. THEN after 6 whole days of this...oh boy! It REALLY kicked off. I couldn't use the sanitary towels and tampons for more than an hour without needing to change. I couldn’t leave the house because if I wasn't near a lavatory to take care of business every hour, I became the 13 year old girl with the blood stain on her trousers (you remember - when we didn't know enough to anticipate the next cycle?). But only worse because it was like I'd punctured an artery! The stain wasn't the issue. It was the fact that it was only the start. I found myself in absolute despair. Chronic diarrhoea would have been more manageable. Then there were the clots in the blood itself. Wow - sometimes I could barely keep the tampons in as huge blood clumps (like £5 coins) were slipping past the tampons. Wtf? It was scary. Thank god for the online forums as it helped no end reassuring me that this was actually ‘par for course’.
I found the best support at the time were the sanitary towels that are created for people with weak bladders. They're huge but a thousand times better than the most absorbent of the thin sanitary towels available today. I only had to change these about twice during the night (used in conjunction with tampons mind) and every 2.5 hours during the day (also in conjunction with tampons). All in all this first period on Rivaroxaban lasted 12 days. The next period lasted the usual 5 days with a heavier than usual flow on day 2 and 3 (but NOTHING like the first one). Anxiety born from my earlier experience meant that I did use the bladder towels the first 2 days (I was working and absolutely needed the peace of mind) but it wasn't necessary. It’s now been 3 months since that first period and it’s almost totally back to normal. I say normal because on a short city break to Paris (the worst timing ever), 2 weeks ago, I missed taking my medication on the 2nd day and (after 2 glasses of champers at the top of the Eiffel tower) it flowed with a VENGEANCE. But I'm putting this down to my 2 naughty glasses of alcohol and not taking the meds that I've been religious with for the months leading up to it.
The long and short of it is this – the heavy flow is normal. An extended period (eg. 12 days instead of 5) is not unusual with some complaining of even longer stretches. Be smart about it though. Recognise that your body needs to find its middle ground again. Take a (good brand) of iron tablets – my partner gave me his expensive slow release ones and it definitely helped. And yeah – you’re going to tire easily (blame that as much on the PE recovery as the blood loss) and, unlike me after 8 days of boredom at home on sick leave (I was booked off for 2 weeks with the option to extend) go into work. Apparently showing up with a skin tone comparable to ‘bleached white’ is not reassuring to colleagues. That and being stupidly exhausted, irritable, anxious and prone to embarrassments like not packing in the right sanitary towels and having to change your TROUSERS like twice. Yeah you heard me. Trousers – not underwear.
​So sorry for the gruesome details but it would have been a huge help in settling my mind when I was searching like crazy for this info in early Feb this year.
Hope its of some help.

Sorry - it was the birth control pill that is 3 weeks on and 1 week off (not 3 as stated above)!