What has helped you reduce your heavy periods?
I've had heavy periods for as long as I can remember, but the last few months have been the worst in my life. I'm 45 so it's probably hormones and stress. I even took myself to ED last month while on holiday in Italy because I was worried about how much blood I was losing. They did a scan and found no polyps, fibroids etc. They suggested Mirena - but I wouldn't consider this until I'm back with my primary care doctor in a couple of months. In the meantime they suggested Lutenyl (synthetic progesterone) or Tranexamic acid to reduce the flow, but both have risks that I'm not comfortable with. I really don't want to take any medication that increases risk of blood clots.
I've been doing seed cycling for about 3-4 months now. It seems to have helped with other symptoms like hormonal headaches and period pain, but not to reduce the flow. I also tried ginger supplements (2 x 330mg tablet daily, starting day before period). This seemed to help the first time I tried it - I had the lightest period I'd had in months. But then the following period was incredibly heavy - I forgot to take the ginger until first day of bleeding, but not sure if that's why.
I saw a doctor here in Italy and she said stress can cause heavy periods. I surely have been feeling very stressed lately, between world events and preparing for an international move with young kids.
I'd like to know if there are any treatments, natural remedies or lifestyle changes that have worked for you to reduce heavy flow -assuming there's no obvious physical cause to address such as a cyst?