His and Her Health

My dear wife just turned 43. She has had a lot of stress in her life recently, including her mother's recent passing due to cancer.

Her last period was delayed by about two weeks. When it started it was light for one week and then became very heavy for a few days until she was able to see a Dr. The doc put her on high levels of BC pills (4 per day) and ibuprofen to stop the bleeding. When the bleeding stopped, she reduced the BC pills to one per day and stopped taking ibuprofen.

Yesterday she had a dizzy spell, a hot flash and spotted. She is still taking the BC pills one per day and has a follow up with her Dr. today.

She has been taking four 1200 mg fish oil capsules per day. The capsules each have 410 mg EPA and 274 mg DHA.

We understand that the fish oil acts as an anti-inflamitory but can also be a blood thinner at high doses. I have recommended that she stop the fish oil for a while.

We are both wondering:
- Can the fish oil be contributing to her heavy flow?
- Is she just experiencing symptoms of menopause/perimenopause?

Thank you so much for any input or advice.

Thank you for that feedback. That's the first I've heard of that. Usually women find that high dose fish oil helps with periods because it reduces cramping. I'm not sure how it would increase the flow, because having a period is not like a wound, it's not flowing from the body, it's a shedding of the uterine lining. Of course I am not a doctor Very strange, but good to know! By all means, stop the fish oil for a while and see if it goes away.

Do you mind if I cross post this on my own messageboard?

It is true that high-dose fish oil can cause excessive bleeding from wounds, and can also cause easy bruising, in which case the amount should be reduced.

I have no objection to a cross-post. Any feedback on this is appreciated.

My wife's doc doesn't think the fish oil contributed to the heavy flow. She is going off of the BC pills now and will avoid the fish oil for a while.

Has anyone out there experienced this while taking fish oil?

I'm 48, and I started taking one fish oil capsule per day after the New York Times reported various health benefits.

At the end of the month, my period lasted for 10 days! Scary. I stopped taking the fish oil, and my flow returned to normal to next month, and has remained normal since.

So beware of the side-effects of supplements. In my case, the blood-thinner impact of fish oil was very obvious, even at a low dose.