I was taking a History from a pleasant, somewhat hypothyroid woman when she said, “…and then, I got the Period from Hell.”

“Excuse me, ma’am?” I said as I looked up from my notepad. “Well, they are crampy, painful, and you hemorrhage for about 12 days each month. Then, you pass things that look like calves’ liver” she replied. At that moment, I decided that mine was NOT the tough gender…I don’t think that there is a man alive who could deal with this pain and carnage on a monthly basis, and carry on as usual.

One of the most common complications of Hypothyroidism in women really are “Periods from Hell.” This fact was known, and effectively treated in 1899, by Dr. Eugene Hertoghe, of Antwerp, Belgium. By the early 1900’s, his treatment had spread to the United States. (Langer, MD in Hypothyroidism: The Unsuspected Illness).

Yet, I have lost count of the number of women who have come in, after their Hysterectomy for Periods from Hell, and who I found to be Hypothyroid. When I first discovered this, I thought about the huge number of Hysterectomies done for painful, hemorrhagic periods. I wondered why physicians in the 1900’s knew about the relationship between hypothyroidism and menses; but this connection seems unknown to doctors, today. I spent a long time wondering if this was Ignorance or Greed or just one of those “Oversights” that cause countless patients pain, suffering, and sometimes death.

If you, or anyone you know, have painful and / or heavy periods, it is critically important that you be given a good trial thyroid medication before you undergo what might be unneeded surgery. Blood tests do NOT always detect subtle thyroid abnormalities that are serious enough to cause problems with menstruation.