The case of Izzy, the 21-year-old who had a menstrual cycle for 4 consecutive months. How is this possible?

Having your period for four months? It seems impossible to believe, but it happened to a young English woman, who said she had been suffering since first menarche at 11 years oldOf painful periods. Izzy Hawksworth21 years old, journalist for the newspaper SWNShas highly disabling menstrual cycles, according to a recent article published in New York Post: She suffers from excruciating cramps, reports abdominal swelling and the flow is very heavy. After undergoing ultrasound, MRI and laparoscopy to investigate the origin of her symptoms, hypothesizing a case of endometriosis you hate adenomyosisa disease in which the endometrium grows into the muscular wall of the uterus, the results of the analyses instead discarded these two options.

Doctors then thought that Izzy might be suffering from a chronic disease called pelvic congestion syndromewhich manifests itself with chronic pain in the pelvis due to an accumulation of blood in the veins, or uterine arteriovenous formations, a rare cause of heavy bleeding.

But this test also came back negative, leaving Izzy with the disconcerting feeling of feeling misunderstood and alone: “In some ways, I feel pretty alone because no one understands how I feel,” Izzy writes on her channels. “None of my friends or family have periods like mine, so I feel like I’m the only one in this situation. I’m also terrified at the thought of deciding that she wants a child in the future, because of the fertility problems that I might have because of all my symptoms. I feel like my period is ruining my life: I’m in constant pain and there’s nothing I can do to ease it.”

To avoid these very heavy and irregular periods, which can last from the standard 5 days up to 2 months, Izzy started using the contraceptive patch when she was 16. Since then he has then tried different types of pill, implant and injection, but all these methods caused her irregular bleeding and severe pain.

“I went to several doctors, but they never listened to me about my symptoms,” Izzy says. “I would make an appointment because I was bleeding and they would just make me change the type of birth control I was using. I started using the implant and it ruined my life: I had my period for 4 months and never had a break.».

According to doctors, the situation could settle down only with the arrival of a pregnancy: until then Izzy would have to try to manage the symptoms with the most appropriate contraceptive. “I don’t plan on having a child any time soon. It seems impossible to me that with the arrival of a child, this condition could improve, but at the thought of feeling like this for another 10 years, I feel faint“, commented the young woman.

Painful and prolonged menstrual cycle: what the expert says

We tried to analyze together with the doctor Manuela Farris, gynecologist, Izzy’s situation, trying to understand how it is possible that a menstrual cycle can last so long.

«I would like to clarify two things: that This article should be taken with a grain of salt because of how the story was reported. And now I will try to infer an explanation, deducing it from the context, but more detailed information would be needed. In any case, It is entirely possible that Izzy had a menstrual cycle for 4 months: It happens when you put the implant subcutaneously, which – let’s remember – can only be inserted by a gynecologist, under local anesthesia, and has a contraceptive duration of 3 years. In this case, however, we cannot speak of a cycle, but of spotting, or lighter blood loss.

The system is based on etonogestrel and among the side effects it can have in the first 6 months of use, there are the menstrual irregularities, which can manifest themselves with menstrual cycles that last from one to several months, but never more than four: usually, after that, menstruation becomes regular. Another side effect can be the exact opposite: amenorrheaor the absence of menstruation.

Considering Izzy’s situation, perhaps as a doctor I would have recommended the medicated spiral, but it is not clear whether it is a path he has taken. Based on progesteroneis an effective contraceptive system, particularly indicated in treatment of heavy menstrual bleeding.”

SOURCES:

• Article of the New York Post
• Doctor Manuela Farrisspecialist in Obstetrics and Gynecology