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.

She skipped her last period by about two weeks. When it started it was light for one week and then became extremely heavy for a few days until she was able to see a Dr. who then 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.

I am not sure about the medical questions you have but I will pass them along to Red Hot Mamas medical experts.

I think it is great you are on these boards and actively involved in your wife's health. It really helps to have a supportive partner when you are stressed with medical concerns. I'm sure she is appreciative too... :p

Red Hot Mamas medical expert, Dr. Mache Seibel says the following about fish oil:

"Fish oil is a very common over the counter medication. It contains anti-inflammatory ability and is helpful for joints, heart, depression and others. The dose she is on is not excessive and it is typically not responsible for vaginal bleeding. While at 43 your wife could be approaching menopause, she could have other reasons for her bleeding ranging from stress to a growth in her uterus or other causes. The fact that she is still on the birth control pill would be expected to control hot flashes due to menopause as the pill is estrogen and progesterone. If she is dizzy, it could be to her becoming anemic from a lot of bleeding, an irregular heart rate, or an inner ear infection. There are other causes as well.

It might be a good idea for her to see her internist to be more certain about the cause of the dizziness. Her gynecologist might need to do an exam, an ultrasound of her uterus, or look inside the uterus with a telescope called a hysteroscope. A blood test for FSH will tell if she is near or in perimenopause, but the birth control pill will make it inaccurate. She could try taking the blood test for FSH the last day of a 28 day pill pack. The last pills usually have vitamins and iron and not hormones so she would be off the pill for about a week at the time of that test and it will be more accurate.
Best,
Machelle M. Seibel, MD"

Hope this helps!

That's reassuring to me too, thanks!