What Are Heavy Menstrual Periods
With heavy menstrual periods , your bleeding may be heavier or last longer than normal. You may:
- Pass large blood clots and soak through your pads or tampons often.
- Bleed for more than 7 days.
- Have menstrual cramps.
Heavy periods may disrupt your life. But in most cases, they aren’t a sign of a serious problem.
Still, it’s a good idea to see your doctor. A doctor can suggest treatments to ease your symptoms and make sure that you don’t have a serious condition.
Ive Been Using Contraception Will This Affect My Cycle
This depends on what type of contraception youve been using. If youve been taking the pill, your period may be irregular when you first come off it, so try to give yourself up to 3 months for your natural menstrual cycle to get back to its normal routine.
The first period after stopping the pill is known as a withdrawal bleed. The next one after this is your first natural period.
The contraceptive injection can also affect your cycle. Your periods may change and become irregular, heavier, shorter, lighter or stop altogether. This can carry on for some months after you stop the injections.
If you use the contraceptive implant your fertility will return to normal as soon as it is taken out.
What About Right Before Your Period
The likelihood of getting pregnant right before your period is extremely low. For women with a typical 28- to 30-day cycle or longer and their cycles are regular, it is fairly safe to say your ovulation occurred between Day 11 and Day 21. The egg is only available for 12 to 24 hours for conception.
This means the days right before your period are the safest to have sex without the expectation of getting pregnant. The number of safe days right before your period go up with longer cycles and lessen with shorter cycles.
If you wait 36 to 48 hours after ovulation, you should be beyond the possibilities of conception. The further you are from ovulation, the less likely your chance for conceiving. This is not the time to have sex if you are trying to conceive. Its still a good time to enjoy intimacy with your partner.
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Can I Use My Menstrual Cycle To Predict My Due Date
Yes. You can work out how far along your pregnancy is by counting from the first day of your last period.
This can be confusing because you probably didnt get pregnant until around 2 weeks later, after you ovulated. Even if do you know the date you got pregnant, this is counted as day 14 of your pregnancy , not day 1.
Your pregnancy is calculated from your last menstrual period because every time you have a period this is the bodys way of getting ready for pregnancy. It also gives healthcare professionals a standard to follow because its very difficult to know exactly when the sperm fertilised the egg.
If your period is irregular or if youve recently been on the pill it will be harder to try and work out your due date.
The most accurate way to work out your due date is to have an ultrasound scan when youre around 11 to 14 weeks pregnant. This is used to see how for along you are and check your babys development.
Keep An Eye On Your Periods
A healthy menstrual cycle and healthy periods are the foundation of your fertility. So it makes sense to keep an eye on your periods when youre trying to conceive.
Being aware of signs and symptoms that can indicate a problem is incredibly valuable. If youre not getting pregnant, these symptoms can help you and your doctor figure out where the problem might lie.
In my Fast Track to Pregnancy Program I show you step by step, how to recognise if you have a problem with your periods or your menstrual cycles. I also discuss the possible causes and what you can DO about it.
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Heavy Bleeding Periods And Fertility
If you bleed very heavily, here is what your period says about your fertility:
What It Is
Menorrhagia is the term given to excessive or heavy bleeding that occurs in women during their period and that occur on a regular basis.
Impact on Fertility
There are times when very heavy bleeding could be because of certain conditions, endometriosis, chronic inflammatory disease and others it can also occur in the absence of any such condition and is caused by the normal clotting of blood in the uterine lining. There are other signs present if the case is due to a disease, in which case, you should keep a careful eye out for symptoms and consult your doctor.
Why Are My Periods So Heavy
Eliminating an underlying cause for heavy periods should be your first port of call. Polycystic ovary syndrome , endometriosis, fibroids and pelvic inflammatory disease are all possibilities. So consider a trip to your GP to rule these conditions out. It is not uncommon for periods to be heavy, and this may be whats normal for you. That doesnt mean you have to suffer in silence, however. Treatment options such as tranexamic acid are available to you.
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Menorrhagia Heavy And Prolonged Periods
Heavy and prolonged periods that follow a regular cycle are medically referred to as menorrhagia. Every individual woman’s menstrual cycle is different, and the same goes for the length of menstrual flow itself. It is still possible to say that a normal, average menstrual cycle lasts somewhere between 24 and 32 days. Most women bleed between four and six days during most cycles. Your typical woman will lose between 25 and 80 ml of menstrual fluids during any given cycle.
Those suffering from menorrhagia experience periods that are longer and heavier than normal. If a woman’s menstrual bleeding continues beyond seven days during a typical cycle and she loses more than 80 ml of blood and related fluids, she meets the conditions to be diagnosed with menorrhagia, in other words heavy and prolonged periods.
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Unfortunately, menorrhagia is coupled with dysmenorrhea, unusually painful periods, quite frequently. A menorrhagia diagnosis requires the woman to still have her periods at regular and predictable intervals those who also have more frequent or unpredictable periods will get another diagnosis, such as menometrorrhagia.
Do you recognize yourself in this? Any woman who has periods from hell that she dreads on a monthly basis should absolutely seek care. You should see your family doctor or OBGYN whether you think your period is unusually long, abnormally heavy, or very painful.
How Can You Tell How Fertile You Are
Your doctor will give you a pelvic exam. They may also use an ultrasound to look at your ovaries and uterus, and give you a blood test to check your hormones. Sometimes youll need to start tracking your ovulation patterns by checking your cervical mucus, taking your temperature, or using home ovulation tests.
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What Your Menstrual Cycle Says About Your Fertility Tracking Duration Can Help Women Trying To Get Pregnant
Every time we go to the OB/GYN, we hear the question, When was the first day of your last period? Although seemingly redundant, the duration of our menstrual cycle can reveal a lot about our health, and the changes our bodies go through each month. This allows us to get a better gauge at our fertility window, as the body prepares itself for pregnancy, but what does our cycle say about our ability to conceive naturally?
Painful Periods And Fertility
Every woman has experienced painful periods at least once in her life.
What It Is
Painful periods are caused by cramping. This happens due to a chemical that can be found in the body, called Prostaglandins. These occur naturally in the body and can be found in tissue all over, including the uterus. When you get your period, these prostaglandins cause the uterus to contract. If levels of this chemical are too high in the body, then it causes painful period cramps.
Impact on Fertility
While all painful cramps do not mean you will have trouble getting pregnant, the painful periods that cause fertility problems usually develop later in life due to certain diseases such as endometriosis, fibroids, Pelvic Inflammatory Diseases and Adenomyosis.
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Why Is My Period So Heavy
Heavy periods have a wide range of causes, most commonly, theyre due to hormone imbalances, particularly high estrogen levels or not ovulating, but they can be due to a variety of underlying causes from PCOS to an uncommon but not completely rare genetic bleeding disorder that can cause heavy periods .
You can read about the causes below and see if you can identify whether any of these sound similar to what youre experiencing in addition to your heavy flow. The underlying cause will help you to find the best strategy for reducing your heavy flow once and for all. Depending on the cause, self-care strategies may be all you need or you may need to pay a visit to your favorite medical provider to help you sort out a diagnosis and the next best steps.
Lets start with the most common causes of heavy periods and then Ill walk you through what you can do both natural options and some conventional medical ones, too. Then you can decide whats best for you!
High Estrogen Levels
Estrogen is a marvelous hormone. At the right levels it plays a central role in our reproductive, brain, bone, and heart health. During the first half of each menstrual cycle, called the proliferative phase, your uterine lining naturally builds up under the influence of estrogen. This lining is then shed with each menstrual cycle, leading to our menstrual flow. Heavy periods can be a sign that this layer has been building up too thickly as a result of estrogen levels that might be too high.
What Does A Heavy Period Entail
Ive mentioned women having heavy periods, but what does it entail? Heavy periods refer to longer menstrual cycles. Typically menstrual cycles last for 25 to 30 days, but they can extend to 40 days or even more during heavy periods.
As a result of longer menstrual cycles, women will bleed more and also lose more of their menstrual fluids.
Typically bleeding stops after 4-5 days, but women experiencing heavy periods can bleed even after a week. This is a sure-fire symptom of a heavy period and often needs to be diagnosed.
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Does Heavy Menstrual Bleeding Mean More Fertile
Friday 22, 2022 by Sudha Hospitals
Heavy periods may indicate an underlying condition affecting fertility. Some women experience a few days of light flow, while others regularly experience heavy periods and painful cramps.
Women who experience very heavy, painful periods may be showing signs of endometriosis, a condition where tissues usually found in the womb are present elsewhere in the body. Endometriosis is a risk factor for infertility.
Top Reasons Your Vaginal Bleeding May Not Be A Period
One of the biggest margins for error while using fertility awareness as a method of birth control comes from a misidentified period. Not all vaginal bleeding is a period. A woman may bleed from a hormonal imbalance, cervical lesion, recent trauma and even pregnancy.
If you are tracking your menstrual cycle and the bleeding is consistent in terms of heaviness, color and timing, then you can likely count on it being your period, Harper said. However, there are many women that find it difficult to track their period because irregular bleeding can be due to illness or another underlying cause.
If you are having difficulty or need help starting, talk with your OB-GYN or primary care provider.
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How Can You Get Pregnant On Your Period
The chances of getting pregnant when you’re on your period are low, but they’re not zero. So how could a pregnancy happen at the same time your body is deciding its not pregnant?
Lets break it down: At ovulation, your ovary releases an egg into your fallopian tube, where it can live for 24 hours awaiting fertilization before it travels to the uterus. Meanwhile, the uterus is building up a lining just in case it needs to host a growing embryo.
If egg meets sperm during ovulation and implants in that lining, bingo baby on board. If not, your body sheds both lining and egg .
Most womens menstrual cycles last about 24 to 28 days, from the first day of their period to the first day of the next period. Because the egg can survive for 24 hours after ovulation and sperm can live inside a woman for up to five days, a woman can get pregnant starting five days before ovulation and ending a day after.
Ovulation usually occurs 14 days before the first day of your next cycle which, if you have a 28-day cycle and a week-long period, leaves you a week between the last day of your period and the first day you ovulate.
But what if you have sex on the last day of your period and you ovulate a few days early? There could still be viable sperm inside you, and you could get pregnant.
Your Periods Aren’t Extremely Painful
For many of these fertility signs, the absence of symptoms rather than the presence of anything specific indicates that you may have an easy time getting pregnant. Another benefit, in this case, is that the periods aren’t too painful.
The article is contributed by Dr Aindri Sanyal, Fertility Consultant, Nova IVF Fertility East, Uttam Kumar Sarani, Kolkata.
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Causes Of An Extreme Menstrual Period
If there is a sudden and noticeable change in the length or intensity of your period, you should not take it lightly. Of course, it is possible that stress can affect the cycle and thus also your period. In this case, you may easily find an explanation for the heavy menstrual bleeding.
But the following causes can also trigger extreme menstrual bleeding:
- Ulcers and/or myomas in the uterus
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What Does Your Menstrual Cycle Say About Your Fertility
03/08/2021
One of the most common questions OB/GYNs have for their patients is When was the first day of your last period?. The answer to this question may feel like part of the usual routine at your annual OB/GYN appointment. If you have been trying to conceive without success, the answer could provide important insight into factors central to the menstrual cycle and conception such as hormonal imbalances and ovulation.
Medical contribution by Isaac E. Sasson, M.D., Ph.D.
Isaac E. Sasson, M.D., Ph.D., FACOG, is board certified in obstetrics and gynecology and reproductive endocrinology and infertility. He has expertise in the diagnosis and treatment of infertility, including in vitro fertilization, donor egg treatment, endometriosis, polycystic ovary syndrome, and preimplantation genetic diagnosis. Dr. Sasson sees patients at SGFs Chesterbrook, Pennsylvania, office.
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What It Can Mean If Your Period Seems Off
Light Bleeding
If your periods start off light and stay light, you might think youre just one of the lucky ones but your uterine lining may not be thick enough. The lining of the uterus needs to be thick in order for the fetus to attach. Things like age, hormones, birth control pills, and stress may cause the flow of your period to change so, its best to consult with your doctor if you are experiencing a lighter flow than usual.
Heavy Bleeding
It is common to have heavier flow days, especially toward the beginning of your cycle but if youre having consistently heavy periods that arent confined to the first few days of your cycle, it could be a sign of hormone problems, growths in the uterus, or certain female cancers.
Clotting
Some clotting is normal throughout your cycle. However, when the clots are constant and larger than dime size, it could be cause for concern. Something could be blocking the flow from the uterus such as polyps, causing the clotting. Clotting can also be a sign of endometriosis.
Cramping
Menstrual cramps are a regular experience. Stagnant blood is stuck inside the uterus so, your uterus uses cramps to shake the blood loose. If those cramps get to be unbearable, it may be a sign of a condition like endometriosis, pelvic inflammatory disease, or a narrowing of the cervix.
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Your Hormones Seem To Be Balanced
Hormones play a huge role in fertility, so keep an eye out for signs they might be out of whack. For instance, “hot flashes and night sweats can mean waning ovarian function or other hormonal/system abnormality, and should be assessed by a doctor,” Chang says. “Women with excellent hormone production tend not to experience these symptoms.”
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