Estrogen dominance can contribute to heavy periods (and fibroids.) I highly recommend reading Dr. John Lee's book "What Your Doctor May NOT Tell you about Pre-Menopause." I linked to his site, but you can also get it on Amazon.

Also, I recently wrote a guest blog post on menopausal nutrition that may be helpful.

Eat some liver! Liver contains lots of bio-available iron, plus folate & Vitamin A--all needed for good hormonal balance. 3-4 oz per week is good. Chicken liver paté is tasty.

ETA: I am 49 & have experienced less bleeding & complete cessation of my peri-menopausal symptoms after 18 months of Primal/Paleo eating & some judicious bio-identical progesterone cream use. I have a regular 28 day cycle.

I have always had very heavy periods; I typically wore an overnight pad and a super absorbent tampon at the same time, changing every few hours. I found relief through Chinese herbs and acupuncture. My periods now are so much more manageable and I can make it through without any accidents. Seek out homeopath, naturopath, or Chinese acupuncturist (I recommend avoiding any acupuncturist that was not trained in China). They can and do help!

I feel for you Debbie!

I also have fibroids, up until 3 years ago, they never bothered me nor created heavy bleeding and even then the dr. was pushing to do a hysterctomy. I feel pretty strongly about keeping my bits especially if theres nothing bothering me.

I move around alot so I've seen numerous dr. and every time, told the same thing. It seems to be the one and only option they want to discuss, there are other options to try first.

That said, I convinced my last dr. to laser the fibroids off (my sister had fibroids all her life and with numerous issues and had it done twice...but they grow back quickly with pregnancy hormones-she finally had the big surgery, but after 10 years of fighting them).

After my laser surgery I was monitored every 3 months for the first year, no significant growth, then eveyr 6 months. I just moved again so I'm at 3 years now, I need them checked. I have noticed a slightly shorter cycle...about every 2 1/2-3 wks..so I'm guessing they are growing again (I have one large one in the wall that is the main issue). I don't have heavy bleeding in general, just note a few small clots; these supposidly fall off the fibroid when they get heavy.

Generally when my weight is down my cycles are shorter and lighter, but right now I'm pretty low weight and they are normal'ish. I never miss a cycle either, so I'm sitting here also hoping to hit menopause (I'm 47), its around the corner so why would I not wait if I can, because then I won't have the hormones that make them grow.

I don't know the size of your fibroids or the growth rate, but possibly ask about laser and other alternative options you might have. Theres nothing wrong with doing the surgery if thats what you need to do, its important to be healthy-especially if you are anemic, thats not fun either.

Sorry Debby, that sounds brutal! Vitanica makes a product called Iron Extra. Its a whole foods iron supplement and is very easy on the tummy and doesn't cause GI upset for most people (according to my ND). I used it for a long time and I know several other women who tolerated it well too. I was advised to take 1 with each meal. Good luck.

Hysterectomy improved the quality of my life. If you can hang on until after menopause, maybe things will improve on their own for you. I wasn't willing to wait that long. I have been able to go backpacking for months on end and not have a care in the world about menstrual issues. The only downside is a loss in intimate pleasure.

I had a uterine ablation a few years ago. Also had very heavy bleeding...soaking a pad every 2 hours and I was becoming anemic. I was nearly hospitalized for the anemia because my hct got so low. Had the ablation and couldn't have been happier. No more bleeding. I also was close to menopause and was told I could wait if I wanted (before the anemia). Very glad I had it done.