Thank you my lovely friends.
Back from my appointment. Have to say, very, very impressed. This was a doctor specialising in contraception, and boy did she know her stuff.
She really heard that I wanted to control the bleeding more that anything at the moment - which I do. It's wrecking my mental health and my life. Was shaking really badly as I told her and tearful as well.
So she looked at my symptoms on the Loestrin 20 and the Cerelle. I'd been really careful to note down was was happening as i was taking them: breakthrough bleeds, heaviness, PMS symptoms, etc.
She said that POPs would give you the highest chance of breakthrough bleeding, and that she thought I hadn't been given a strong enough dose of the Loestrin to start with. So she gate me Loestrin 30.
I can stay on that until I'm 50. And then there's a POP with the exact same Norethisterone as I have at the moment, just at a much, much smaller dose, that I can take after I'm 50.
She also said there was no reason for me not to take the pill, the Tranexamic Acid and the Norethisterone all at the same time, if that's what I wanted to do. I explained about the work situation and she said to play around with the dose of Norethisterone tablets if I wanted to. So if I'm having a heavy bleed at some point while I'm taking the Loestrin 30 and I need to work, she said I knew already that 3 x5mgs a day would totally stop the bleeding. But she said to try maybe 1 x 5mg, or 2 x 5mgs a day to see if that made the bleeding bearable and left me able to work.
I asked her about the Progesterone therapy, and she said she thought that would be too strong for me.
She's also got me a referral to a consultant for fibroids. She made a note that I was not to have an internal examination one because of my PTSD and made sure to tell me there could be oral medication that I could take for the fibroids, if it came to that. The thought of an internal examination/treatment, and there being no option about it, had been making my PTSD much, much worse.
She gave me a box of 3 strips of Loestrin 30 and a box of 63 Norethisterone. She said I could come back and get more Norethisterone if I needed to.
I said having the safety blanket of being able to take the pill *and* Norethisterone, and being able to go back for more if I needed to, was already making a big difference to my state of mind.
I sat and cried with relief before I left.
So I think, between everything, I might at least have a temporary measure to deal with the heavy bleeding. Hopefully at some point in the middle of all of this, I will have gone through the menopause and be through to the other side. Although I won't know for as long as I'm taking contraceptive pills.