Heavy Menstrual Bleeding (Menorrhagia)
If your menstrual periods are so heavy that you dread your period and cannot maintain your usual activities, you may have excessive menstrual bleeding. Manorrhagia is the medical term for periods that are excessively heavy and last longer than normal.
Symptoms of Heavy Menstrual Bleeding
Symptoms of heavy bleeding during period may include needing to use double sanitary protection, having to change tampon or sanitary pad every hour for several consecutive hours, bleeding for longer than a week, and symptoms of anemia.
Causes of Heavy Menstrual Bleeding
Excessive menstrual bleeding is a common condition that occurs for many of reasons. Two of the most common causes are: a hormone imbalance and uterine growths.
Hormone Imbalances
Heavy menstrual bleeding may be caused by a variety of reasons, one being hormones which include estrogen and progesterone. Having too much or too little of certain hormones will cause an imbalance, which then causes heavy bleeding.
Causes of Hormonal Imbalances may Include:
- Certain medications
- Hormone changes in teens and in women nearing menopause
- Diabetes
- Thyroid disease
- Obesity
- Stress
- Strenuous exercise
- Eating disorders
Types of Uterine Growths
- Uterine Fibroids – Benign or non-cancerous growths of the uterus
- Uterine Polyps – Growths that attach to the inner wall of the uterus and extend into the uterine cavity
- Adenomyosis – Occurs when endometrial tissue which normally lines the uterus grows into the muscular walls of the uterus
- Endometriosis– Disorder when the endometrium tissue grows outside your uterine cavity or uterus.
- Endometrial cancer – Starts in the inner lining of the uterus and the cells of the endometrium multiply without control
- Hyperplasia – An increase in the number of cells in a tissue or organ, and the lining of the uterus becomes too thick. It is also called endometrial hyperplasia.
PN 1002176 Rev A 04/2013
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office on Women’s Health. FAQs. Available from:http://womenshealth.gov/
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