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About Heavy Periods
Overview: Heavy Periods
For most women, menstruation is a simple fact of life. But if you have heavy periods, menstruation is anything but simple.
Heavy periods may be disrupting your life. Do you:
* Need to change menstrual pads or tampons constantly?
* Wear dark clothes to avoid accidents?
* Suffer from exhaustion
* Experience significant cramping?
If you've experienced symptoms like these, you may have a treatable condition.
What Are Heavy Periods?
Heavy periods, also known as menorraghia (pronounced men-or-ah-jah), is surprisingly common, affecting 1 in 5 women of reproductive age.
Almost every woman has a heavy period now and then, but some women have periods so heavy that they consistently interfere with their regular activities.
What are common symptoms of heavy periods?
* Periods that last longer than 7 days
* Menstrual flow that soaks through one or more tampons or napkins every hour for several consecutive hours
* Heavy menstrual periods even while taking a birth control pill
* Menstrual flow that includes large blood clots
* Fatigue or shortness of breath (which are symptoms of anemia caused by blood loss)
You don't have to accept the limits heavy periods can put on your lifestyle. Learn about treatment options.
Causes of Heavy Periods
Several medical conditions may cause or contribute to heavy periods. It's also possible to experience heavy periods with no known cause.
Hormonal imbalance: An imbalance of the female hormones estrogen and progesterone. Hormonal imbalance can also be signs of early menopause (also known as perimenopause), which can lead to irregular or heavy periods.
Fibroids: Benign (noncancerous) growths in the smooth muscle tissue of the walls of the uterus, or womb. They can be as small as a pea or grow larger than a grapefruit. Pressure from fibroids may build with each menstrual cycle and cause heavy periods. Learn more about fibroids.
Medication: Some drugs, such as anticoagulants (drugs that prevent the clotting of blood) or anti-inflammatory medications, can cause heavy or prolonged periods.
Infection or Disease: Heavy periods can also be a sign of more serious conditions like certain types of cancer or infections in the uterus.
You don't have to accept the limits heavy periods can put on your lifestyle. Learn more about treatment options that may help. Find a doctor who has experience treating heavy periods.
Read more articles about Heavy Periods:
- Treatments for Heavy Periods
- About Fibroids
- Focus On: One Treatment for Heavy Periods
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