Menstrual Stress

For the past two months I've been bleeding nonstop. Some days are light, some are heavy and mixed in are moments of what is called "flooding", which feels like you've turned on a faucet when you stand up, or cough, or get out of bed. I could own stock in Always maxi pads. I'm taking a multivitamin with iron to make up for any iron loss. I have zero pain or cramps. I pass clots during the flooding moments...some large, some small. Just the lining of the uterus shedding, I suppose.


The only odd thing...and it's extremely odd...is that I'm bleeding from my urethra as well as vaginally. Yes, I'm sure. Yes, I've checked. Yes, I've been to my gynecologist (twice). The first time was close to two years ago, when, after my gallbladder surgery, I had sex with my ex-fiancé, and noticed I was bleeding afterward. Then, I noticed it was coming from my urethra as well. She checked me and said everything looks fine - sometimes it can look as though it's coming from other places. I took her word for it. This kept happening every time I got my period but I just let it go. The second time I went back to see her was a few months ago. I had my first "flooding" experience and thought for sure I was dying, lol. She ran blood tests, did an ultrasound, pap smear, and came to the same conclusion. Everything was perfectly normal. She said the lining of my uterus was thick but that's only because my next period was due soon, and that it would probably be heavy. It was; in fact, it never ended. I'd go for a few days without bleeding vaginally, but it always comes through my urethra. That was the situation during my visit. I kept reiterating the fact that the bleeding really was coming from both areas (I told her "look at my urine sample and you'll see"). But she said even if I was, she couldn't do anything - so she referred me to a urologist for a cystoscopy or whatever, where they shove a camera up your urethra and take a look and do a biopsy if needed. Um, no thank you! I was scared to death of that thought, but agreed. I just wanted to know what was wrong with me. I started reading about people who have the identical problem as me, and they said that they have worse symptoms after the cystoscopies and that they can cause all sorts of problems. Most of the time, nothing is found so there's still no fix. So most of them just live with it or take BC to stop the bleeding. When I received almost a book's worth of paperwork in the mail to sign for the urologist, telling me all of these fees I'd have to pay up front, if my deductible hadn't been met (which it hadn't), I just said "screw this".  I couldn't afford it, so I called and cancelled the appointment. I figure, I'm not in pain, my bloodwork is normal, the bleeding only occurs during my period, so it's not as though I have bladder cancer or anything, God forbid. At the worst, it could be endometriosis of the bladder - but I hear that's in only very advanced cases of endometriosis that hasn't been addressed and is extremely painful. So I think I'm just getting old and will probably need a hysterectomy down the road to get rid of everything and live normally again.


My gynecologist and my primary care physician gave me a prescription for two diff BC pills - they both said they shouldn't cause any problems with migraines (I suffer from those). I researched those online and both received terrible reviews, with migraine and weight gain being the top two problems. I just don't want that stuff in my system, so I never took either of the prescriptions.


So I'm left with the question "do I want to bleed and wear pads every day?" (I mean seriously - what if I find someone I like and want to have sex??) or do I suck it up and take the BC and risk the side effects?