11 Jun
Right so I have to write this down because if I say it out loud to my husband he'll just look worried and unhelpful. Forty-two years old and my periods have turned into something I don't recognise. Last month I bled so heavily on day two that I had to leave a work meeting, change my clothes in the disabled loo like some kind of panicked teenager, and then sit back down and pretend to care about Q3 projections. I am forty-two. I have been managing periods for nearly thirty years. I should not be carrying a full change of outfit in my bag like this is year eight. The thing that's getting to me as much as the bleeding is the tiredness. Not normal tired. Tired like my bones have been replaced with wet sand. I've started keeping a rough diary thing, just scribbling in my notes app when it's bad, when I'm floored, when I had to go to bed at half eight because I simply could not stay upright. Mostly so I can see if there's a pattern rather than it all blurring into one long grey fog. GP appointment in two weeks and I want to go in with something concrete. Last time I said "my periods are heavier" she nodded and said that can happen. That was it. So this time I'm writing down cycle length, how many days heavy, what heavy actually means (I've started counting products used which feels mortifying but apparently that's what they need). I want to ask about iron levels too because I have read enough on here to suspect that might be part of why I feel like I'm wading through treacle most of the time. Anyway. Has anyone else had to basically turn up to a GP with a spreadsheet before they got taken seriously? Because that seems to be where I'm heading and I'm equal parts prepared and furious about it x