While menstrual flow varies from woman to woman, heavy menstrual bleeding, medically known as menorrhagia, can disrupt your daily life and lead to complications like anemia.
Knowing how to identify excessive bleeding is the first step in seeking the right treatment and improving your quality of life.
What Counts as Heavy Menstrual Bleeding?
Bleeding is considered excessively heavy if you need to change your pad or tampon every hour for several consecutive hours, or if you need to wake up during the night to change your sanitary protection.
Passing blood clots larger than a quarter, bleeding for more than seven days, and experiencing symptoms of anemia (such as fatigue or shortness of breath) are also key indicators of menorrhagia.
Causes of Menorrhagia
Several conditions can cause heavy periods. Uterine fibroids and polyps (noncancerous growths in the uterus) are common culprits.
Hormonal imbalances, particularly an imbalance between estrogen and progesterone, can cause the uterine lining to build up excessively, leading to heavy bleeding when it sheds.
Other potential causes include adenomyosis, pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), and certain bleeding disorders.
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