# Female dopers - The world's longest period? (TMI) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 19, 2003, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-dopers-the-worlds-longest-period-tmi/202695 "2003-09-19T22:05:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![sultana\_of\_slash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@sultana\_of\_slash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sultana_of_slash)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2003, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-dopers-the-worlds-longest-period-tmi/202695/41 "2003-10-06T21:36:45Z")
Sven, I’m glad your period ended, but you could now be short of iron. Do you find yourself curiously breathless after going up stairs or running for a bus? Can you take your resting pulse in the morning, and is it over 80? If you choose to take iron supplements, be aware that iron is only absorbed in the Fe++ state, not Fe+++ (rust). So you need to take it with something acid. Taking it with meat seems to help absorption, too. Tomato sauce is acid, so the ideal meal with iron is something like spaghetti with meatballs. If you take iiron in the morning, and you can’t face meat, do drink juice. ---
**Author:** ![AngelicGemma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/439d5e/32.png) [@AngelicGemma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AngelicGemma)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2003, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-dopers-the-worlds-longest-period-tmi/202695/42 "2003-10-07T10:42:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by sultana of slash \* > \*\*Sven, I’m glad your period ended, but you could now be short of iron. \*\* ]# Thanks for the advice. The nurse I saw actually recommended I started to take some vitimins and iron tablets. And I DO have a bottle of multi vitimins that I bought. I just can’t open them! They’ve been sat on my shelf for two weeks. I feel fine though. ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2003, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-dopers-the-worlds-longest-period-tmi/202695/43 "2003-10-07T15:57:51Z")
YAY! Finally! I’d definitely up my iron intake if I were you, at least for a little while. But I’ve never had a period that lasted more than five or six days, and they normally last about three, so I’ve not been in your particular situation. I’m still amazed at the doc that told you to come back in a month if you were still bleeding. Aaaaaack! ---
**Author:** ![DaisyKay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee59a6/32.png) [@DaisyKay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaisyKay)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2014, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-dopers-the-worlds-longest-period-tmi/202695/44 "2014-06-21T04:31:52Z")
I’ve been on mine for about 55 days straight. It blows. :mad: I just want to get everything cauterized and be done with it for life. ---
**Author:** ![Lucretia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/13edae/32.png) [@Lucretia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucretia)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2014, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-dopers-the-worlds-longest-period-tmi/202695/45 "2014-06-22T03:25:08Z")
**DaisyKay** , if you don’t want children or are done with child-bearing, you can do exactly that. The procedure is called an endometrial ablation, it’s a short outpatient procedure with a recovery time of just a couple of days. Basically, electricity or hot water is used to sear away the lining of the uterus permanently. It sometimes, but not always, stops periods completely, and makes them much, much lighter when it doesn’t. I had one back in 2008, one of the best things I ever did. ---
**Author:** ![Reepicheep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@Reepicheep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reepicheep)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2014, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-dopers-the-worlds-longest-period-tmi/202695/46 "2014-06-22T03:44:01Z")
Another vote for a possible endometrial ablation. It works well for many women, but not for me. My uterus was so strangely shaped the fan could not open – it took 8 more months to get the hysteroscopy scheduled. So I think I hold the record for an 8 month period – including 3 transfusions, due to hemoglobin below 6 (I passed out at 4.8). ---
**Author:** ![Lydia\_Phalfav](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a6a055/32.png) [@Lydia\_Phalfav](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lydia_Phalfav)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2014, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-dopers-the-worlds-longest-period-tmi/202695/47 "2014-06-23T08:18:10Z")
7 days for me, or 2 weeks after a miscarriage. Starting to get up there w/ no kids (genetic conditions) & the ablation has been looking like a good option for awhile now - to get away from horrendous cramps. ---
**Author:** ![Believe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Believe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Believe)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-dopers-the-worlds-longest-period-tmi/202695/48 "2014-08-17T13:51:35Z")
I’ve been on mine for almost six months. I went to the doctors and they didn’t do anything. Also, it is getting in the way of many things. I have about a three day break every now and then and then it starts as if it usually would. Please help. ---
**Author:** ![EmAnJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@EmAnJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmAnJ)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-dopers-the-worlds-longest-period-tmi/202695/49 "2014-08-17T13:54:24Z")
You need a second opinion. Bleeding for six months is not normal. Find a new doctor. ---
**Author:** ![lorene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/65b543/32.png) [@lorene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lorene)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-dopers-the-worlds-longest-period-tmi/202695/50 "2014-08-17T14:02:05Z")
Hopefully the OP’s period has not lasted the 11 years since the thread was started. ---
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Mama](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5ac83/32.png) [@Atomic\_Mama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Mama)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-dopers-the-worlds-longest-period-tmi/202695/51 "2014-08-17T22:59:17Z")
> [@AngelicGemma](#): > > Okay, so it’s been 16 days and my period is STILL going. And I’m finding it SLIGHTLY annoying. Have any female dopers had periods this long, or longer? > > Oh, and sympathy is much appreciated! 😃 SYMPATHY IN SPADES 2 U !!! Mine were going on a month or more … took me another 10 years to finally decide to have a hysterectomy, however. Hope you have GREAT DOCS checking you over, and a solution (less drastic than mine had to be) will be found. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-dopers-the-worlds-longest-period-tmi/202695.md?page=2)