During the menstrual cycle, many women feel quite uncomfortable, however for a few, the term menstruation brings along pangs of severe pain and abnormally heavy blood loss.
This severe situation of heavy menstrual bleeding is known as Menorrhagia and to aid it, medical attention is needed.However, before you consult a specialist to aid heavy menstruation it must be understood, whether or not, the flow is actually bad enough to be categorized as Menorrhagia.
Usually pre-menopausal women face this condition of heavy vaginal bleeding; however this is not the only possibility. Other causes of heavy menstrual period could be hormonal imbalance, especially during adolescent years, uterine fibroid tumors, cervical polyps, endometrial polyps, pelvic inflammatory disease, few forms of cancer and more.
Though depending upon the exact cause treatment varies, however for the purposes of this article we will restrict to a normal situation, where due to menopause or hormonal imbalances, women find it difficult to continue normal routine during heavy menstrual cycle.. Besides, for any of the causes, doctor must be consulted, before going ahead with any remedies.
Common Symptoms Of Prolonged Or Heavy Bleeding
• Need to change a good quality pad, almost every consecutive hour
• Increased frequency of pad change during the night hours than normal. Typically not more than change during sleep hours is needed.
• Prolonged bleeding for more than 7 days, and continuing for more than two months
• Inability to pursue routine activities due to pain
• Irregularity in menstrual cycle, usually increased frequency
• Experiencing tiredness, fatigue and other signs of anemia
If the stated symptoms persist, it is best to consult a doctor. Doctor will diagnose and confirm the reason and based upon the same will suggest ways to aid heavy menstruation. Under normal circumstances, medicinal treatment will be suggested. Most likely gynecologist will suggest intake of:
• Contraceptive pills: For irregular cycle and heavy bleeding, contraceptive pills solve the purpose. Not only these pills control the flow, but also stabilize the regularity of periods. Additionally of course these pills perform the basic function of birth control.
• Pain relievers: NSAIDs i.e. nonsteroidal anti inflammatory drugs lessen the blood flow during menstruation. Examples of these pain relieving medications are ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin, others) or naproxen (Aleve)
• Iron supplements:Heavy menstrual flow leads to anemia and thus whether you are already anemic or not, treatment of heavy flow will be accompanied by intake of iron supplements.
• Non hormonal treatment: Tranexamic acid is used to control blood flow.
If however the stated measures to do not work to aid heavy menstruation, surgical treatments are applied. Again the specific treatment will depend upon the severity of condition. Surgical actions which usually initiated are dilation and curettage (D&C), operative hysteroscopy, endometrial ablation, endometrial resection, hysterectomy and more.
Under whatever circumstances, just bear one thing in mind, menstrual cycle is perfectly normal and all women must live with it. However, it does not mean that you should endure too much pain in the process. Besides there is nothing to be shy about. If you are facing any difficulties with respect to the menstruation bleeding, do discuss it; in fact immediately consult a specialist.
