Calling Dr. Hive! TMI alert about pre-teen girls

[dirty ethel rackham]

Dd12 just got her period last month. She is now getting it every two weeks. I expected them to be irregular at first, but irregular meaning infrequent. They are not particularly heavy, but just too frequent. She is very concerned (and I am as well). She eats a healthy diet and we eat as much organic as possible. She is not overweight. She has been quite thin every since toddlerhood, but has filled out a bit in the last several months (still thin (5'4" and under 100 lbs, but not as willowy.)

 

I will call the doctor tomorrow, but I fear that the only thing they will say is put her on BCP. I really don't want to go that route. We try to live as chemical free as possible (use natural cleaning methods, organic foods where possible, very conservative use of medication - preferring natural alternatives when they make sense.) Any ideas of where this could be coming from? What questions to ask the doctor? What they might recommend? If I were to look for a wholistic solution, where would I start?

[JFSinIL]

When my kid sister first started, her periods were also very frequent, to the point that she had few days off between periods. She had to go on birth control just to fix the timing. You might simply have to go that route - for several months, then see if the cycle remains more normal when the pills are stopped.

 

Your dd must be miserable.

[deannajo]

I think I remember hearing that for the first year or two, ANY irregularities shouldn't be a concern. But that doesn't help the annoyance factor one bit. There may be some dietary things to try before going the birth control route, but I'm not knowledgeable enough to recommend anything. Poor girl.

[Paula in MS]

We are having the same problem here, only 3 weeks instead of two. We are about 9 months into this little adventure, and I plan to wait a little longer to see if her cycles will adjust themselves. They have been a couple of days longer the past 2 months. As along as she is not in any pain, you might want to just give it 6 months or so to see what happens. You will have to be sure to keep up with her dates, though, so that you can be sure. Hopefully, things will work themselves out before summer arrives.

[Parrothead]

Mine had it the same way for the first 4 or 5 months. Then it evened out.

[crazyforlatin]

Mine had it the same way for the first 4 or 5 months. Then it evened out.

 

We are not at that stage yet, but from personal experience, I had a similar problem - 2 times per month and then nothing for a year. My parents did take me to a doctor who said not to worry. It did eventually turn regular. This was years ago, so I'm not sure what the protocol is these days.

[Parrothead]

 

 

We are not at that stage yet, but from personal experience, I had a similar problem - 2 times per month and then nothing for a year. My parents did take me to a doctor who said not to worry. It did eventually turn regular. This was years ago, so I'm not sure what the protocol is these days.

According to the wife of an MD I am friends with, they often recommend BC pills to " fix" the problem. Her girls started earlier than my dd, and I implicitly trust her on these matters so I waited it out on her advice.

[TranquilMind]

Dd12 just got her period last month. She is now getting it every two weeks. I expected them to be irregular at first, but irregular meaning infrequent. They are not particularly heavy, but just too frequent. She is very concerned (and I am as well). She eats a healthy diet and we eat as much organic as possible. She is not overweight. She has been quite thin every since toddlerhood, but has filled out a bit in the last several months (still thin (5'4" and under 100 lbs, but not as willowy.)

 

I will call the doctor tomorrow, but I fear that the only thing they will say is put her on BCP. I really don't want to go that route. We try to live as chemical free as possible (use natural cleaning methods, organic foods where possible, very conservative use of medication - preferring natural alternatives when they make sense.) Any ideas of where this could be coming from? What questions to ask the doctor? What they might recommend? If I were to look for a wholistic solution, where would I start?

 

So she has only had a couple of periods?

 

I'd wait and do nothing. It will be irregular at first and then straighten out. I'd give it a year, unless she were clearly becoming anemic or something.

 

It's just that way at the beginning - and also at the end, by the way. Been going through that again the last couple of years.

[sparrow]

I started at 12.5 years and was irregular, as in sometimes having it 3 weeks out of 4 in a month (and not consecutive weeks :glare:) and sometimes going 2 months without, for years. The doctor said there was nothing medically to worry about, but I was miserable. Nothing helped but BCP, for about 4 months, when I was 16. What a relief. I was fairly regular, after that.

 

Given my own experience, I wouldn't worry if my daughter just started last month. I'm almost certain a doctor wouldn't recommend BCP, at this point, and will have you give it some time.

[Lynnae]

My daughter was very frequent for the first year or so. It's been almost 4 years since she's started, and now it comes at regular, typical intervals.

[dangermom]

It sounds like it's only happened 2 or 3 times? I wouldn't worry for a while yet, though it must be driving your poor girl crazy. Give it some more time.

[catz]

I agree that it can just be early periods are irregular and I don't think would be out of the realm of normal.

 

However, I had periods every 2 weeks when I was taking daily allergy medicine. So if she's taking anything else, it could be affecting it as well.

[catz]

I agree that it can just be early periods are irregular and I don't think would be out of the realm of normal.

 

However, I had periods every 2 weeks when I was taking daily allergy medicine. So if she's taking anything else, it could be affecting it as well.

[happyhomemaker25]

My daughter was like that for two years. It just started getting more regular. I remember asking if bc was absolutely necessary for health reasons and was told no so we just let it run its course.

[MrsJewelsRae]

If it continues I would personally try progesterone cream if it came down to that vs birth control pills. You can also look into cutting back on plastics and red meat, soy. (estrogen) You can use progesterone cream to do a shut down, but I'd look into that more carefully as she is so young. I had a serious bleeding issue a few years ago, we were ttc our third with significant fertility problems (PCOS and endo), I had a lap and my cycle went crazy. I bled constantly, sometimes nearly to the apoint of hemmoraging, for over 5 months. The gun I waited 3 months to see wanted to put me on the pill for 6-12 months and then ttc for another 6 months before addressing my IF. I had already been ttc for 2 years so it wasn't an option I would consider. I convinced my family doc to put me on provera (8 days) to give my cycle a fresh start. It worked, the bleeding stopped then restarted and I had a normal cycle from then on and we were off to the RE for fertility treatments which finally resulted in our youngest, after 3+ yrs of ttc.

[C_l_e_0..Q_c]

oh don't tell me that.. DD is 12 this year, so we're expecting this. But she's a competitive diver.. she cannot have problems with her periods like that. You're making me freak out!!!

[TravelingChris]

For all of you considering BCP, don't do this without further investigation if there is a history of blood clots or pulmonary embolisms or DVT in your family, I didn't realize I had a problem when a gynecologist recommended BCP to my dd but did know that I had a bad escalation of migraines and that child already had abnormal migraines so we went with another treatment. Then, later that year, I got a DVT (confirmed this time) and then found out that I had Factor V Leiden, which is present in about 8% of European ancestry people. I had my two underage children tested and the one who had been recommended to go on BCP was also found to have it. (Factor V Leiden has a 50% chance of being transmitted to each child). I was so happy we went with something else and she will now never use BCP or any hormonal treatments since they put her at a much higher risk of getting blood clots. I don't know if my hemiplegic migraines when I was on BCP were actually migraines or little blood clots in my brain and I guess we will never know.

[TravelingChris]

For all of you considering BCP, don't do this without further investigation if there is a history of blood clots or pulmonary embolisms or DVT in your family, I didn't realize I had a problem when a gynecologist recommended BCP to my dd but did know that I had a bad escalation of migraines and that child already had abnormal migraines so we went with another treatment. Then, later that year, I got a DVT (confirmed this time) and then found out that I had Factor V Leiden, which is present in about 8% of European ancestry people. I had my two underage children tested and the one who had been recommended to go on BCP was also found to have it. (Factor V Leiden has a 50% chance of being transmitted to each child). I was so happy we went with something else and she will now never use BCP or any hormonal treatments since they put her at a much higher risk of getting blood clots. I don't know if my hemiplegic migraines when I was on BCP were actually migraines or little blood clots in my brain and I guess we will never know.