How Can You Tell How Much Youre Actually Bleeding
You expel more than just blood during menstruation. Your menstrual fluid also contains a mix of mucus and uterine tissues, which can add volume to your overall fluid loss. Thats what makes measuring blood loss tricky.
But its definitely possible. The hygiene products you use can help you get a rough estimate of your overall flow. And if you want an accurate account of pure blood loss, math is on your side.
Common Reasons You Experience Bleeding After Your Period Has Ended
Observing blood stains after your period is over is not something very unnatural, unless you have been diagnosed with some major health complication. This HerHaleness article presents the most probable reasons behind such bleeding. Read on…
Observing blood stains after your period is over is common. This HerHaleness article presents the most probable reasons behind such bleeding. Read on
Normally, a woman undergoes periods for 3 to 5 days. The time span between onset of the next period ranges between 28 to 30 days, and this phase is known as a menstrual cycle. In most cases, discharge of blood or spotting doesnt take place during the break period. However, a woman might observe bleeding after a period has ended. But why does this happen? Is it normal to undergo spotting during mid-menstrual cycles? Or do you need an immediate medical check up? Well, its natural for a woman to ponder on these health questions, because menstruation holds considerable significance in a womans life. Here, in this article, we shall let you know why menstruation takes place, and the reasons behind blood after period is over.
- Implantation bleeding. You will observe dark reddish brown fluid in a discharge from your vagina. This usually occurs 8-10 days after fertilization. You might think that this spotting will lead to your period because such spotting occurs often before you test positive on a pregnancy test.
What If I Just Have Light Periods
Having a light period doesnt have to be a sign of something bad! Most peoples periods are around 2-3 tablespoons of blood, but light periods are often referred to as hypomenorrhea and this often leads to significantly less than 30mls of blood per cycle. In many cases, there could be hormonal issues behind this, so if you have gone from a normal period to a much lighter one, its best to check with your GP to make sure everything is A-OK. If it is, then lighter periods are nothing to worry about, as there is no correlation between lighter periods and fertility issues.
Got questions about your light periods? Were always happy to help answer them. Join in the conversation on our Full Stop FB group, or ask us your Qs on Instagram at . Don’t forget that our personalised period box can get organic tampons, period cramp supplements and much more delivered easily and regularly through your letterbox, so you’ll never be stuck without the essentials – whatever your flow.
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What Causes Menstrual Bleeding
The hormones that fluctuate during your menstrual cycle regulate the lining of your uterus , and as these hormones change, the endometrium breaks down and separates itself from the walls of your uterus. The blood and tissue from the break down and separation flow through the cervix and out through your vagina. Thats when you get period blood!
How Is Heavy Menstrual Bleeding Diagnosed
Your healthcare provider will ask a series of questions about your medical history and menstrual cycle to diagnose heavy menstrual bleeding.
Your provider may ask about:
- Your age when you got your first period.
- The number of days your period lasts.
- The number of days your period is heavy.
- Family members with a history of heavy menstrual bleeding.
- Your pregnancy history and current birth control methods.
- Current medications you’re taking, including over-the-counter ones.
Come prepared to talk about your quality of life, too. Your provider needs to know if you’ve been doubling up on menstrual products, avoiding activities or placing restrictions on your life in any way because of heavy periods.
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When Should I Be Concerned About A Heavy Period
If you experience any of these signs and symptoms of a heavy period, you may want to schedule an appointment with your primary care doctor or gynecologist.
- Your period lasts more than seven days.
- You soak through one or more tampons or pads an hour for several hours in a row.
- You need to double up on sanitary protection.
- You wake up during the night to change your sanitary products.
- You experience painful menstrual cramps.
- You pass menstrual blood clots that are larger than the size of a quarter.
- You lose so much blood that you feel tired, fatigued, or short of breath, which are signs of anemia, or low iron in the blood.
- You cancel or scale back activities due to heavy menstrual flow.
What Are Period Clots
During menstruation, the hormones in your body cause the lining of your uterus to begin shedding. During that process, small blood vessels bleed. To prevent your body from losing too much blood, plasma and platelets work together to form blood clots.
Blood clots will form anytime you have a certain amount of blood that just sits there, Dr. Zanotti says. Blood clots are supposed to happen to some degree, like when you cut yourself. But with period clots, what happens is if youre having a good amount of bleeding, it collects inside your uterus and as it sits there it will make a clot.
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What Blood Clots During Your Period Mean
Monique Rainford, MD, is board-certified in obstetrics-gynecology, and currently serves as an Assistant Clinical Professor at Yale Medicine. She is the former chief of obstetrics-gynecology at Yale Health.
For most women, occasional clots in period blood are normal and nothing to be concerned about. That said, it’s also possible that another condition is causing abnormal blood clots to appear in your period blood.
This article is a guide to menstrual blood clotswhat they’re made of, how they form in your period blood, and possible signs that something else could be causing them.
What Procedures And Tests Diagnose The Cause Of Abnormal Vaginal Bleeding
The your doctor or another healthcare professional will take a medical history. You will be asked questions about any other medical issues and other general questions in regard to your health. This episode of vaginal bleeding, your last known normal menstrual cycle, any previous episodes of abnormal bleeding, if you may be pregnant, any previous pregnancies, and the outcome of those pregnancies, current sexual activity, birth control use, number of sexual partners, medications, over-the-counter , or illicit drugs that you taking, history of problems with clotting or bleeding disorders, and recent surgeries or gynecological procedures.
The doctor also will perform a complete physical examination, including a thorough pelvic exam. A pelvic exam includes a careful inspection of the external genitalia, urethra, and anal area. The vaginal walls and cervix or birth canal are inspected for any abnormalities or retained foreign objects. Sometimes a tampon or other object is left in the vagina, which can cause abnormal vaginal bleeding. While the doctor is examining the vagina and cervix, he may take cultures to test for sexually transmitted diseases such as gonorrhea and chlamydia. The doctor may take cells from the cervix that will be examined for cancer. This is known as a Pap smear. It is also important for the doctor to place his or her hand into the vagina and sometimes the rectum to detect the shape of the uterus and ovaries as well as to feel for any masses.
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A Recurring Period Thats Heavy And Painful
If every period is heavy, painful, and difficult to work around, you may have underlying, long-term issues.
Hormone problem
Your body typically balances progesterone and estrogen, the two hormones that play the biggest roles in menstruation.
Too much estrogen, however, can lead to a thickened uterine lining. This can cause heavy bleeding as the lining is eliminated during your period.
An underactive thyroid gland may also cause heavy or irregular menstrual bleeding
Bleeding disorder
Roughly 10 to 30 percent of women with heavy periods have a bleeding disorder, such as von Willebrand disease. These disorders can make it difficult to stop your bleeding.
Uterine polyps
These small growths on the lining of the uterus can make periods heavier.
Uterine fibroids
Fibroids are noncancerous growths of the muscle tissue of the uterus. They can develop on the outside of the uterus, within the wall, or protrude into the cavity or some combination of these.
Certain cancers
Cancer in your uterus, cervix, and ovaries is rarely the sole cause of heavy bleeding, but a heavier period may be a symptom.
Perimenopause
During this transition before menopause, you may experience hormonal changes and unusually heavy bleeding during your period.
Childbirth recovery
After you have a baby, heavy periods arent uncommon. These changes may be permanent, or your period may return to a flow similar to what you had before getting pregnant.
Adenomyosis
Endometriosis
- painful periods
How Much Bleeding Is Too Much
Heavy menstrual bleeding is characterized by experiencing any of the following:
- Bleeding that lasts more than 7 days.
- Bleeding that soaks through one or more tampons or pads every hour for several hours in a row.
- Needing to wear more than one pad at a time to control menstrual flow.
- Needing to change pads or tampons during the night.
- Menstrual flow with blood clots that are as big as a quarter or larger.
You can learn about the causes of HMB here.
If you are concerned about your menstrual bleeding, or other bleeding tendencies, you can use the self-administered bleeding assessment tool available at the Lets Talk Period website . This tool is designed to evaluate menstrual and other bleeding tendencies and tell you if you should be screened for a bleeding disorder.
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It May Be Due To Polycystic Ovary Syndrome
PCOS is a condition where the ovaries produce an abnormally large amount of androgens, which are male sex hormones. Some women with PCOS will have small fluid-filled sacs, or cysts, form in the ovaries. These hormonal changes can prevent a woman from ovulating normally, which can lead to a host of unpleasant symptoms, including acne or oily skin, weight gain, and excess body hair. Other symptom of PCOS are irregular and missed periods. When women do get their period, it may be heavier or lighter than average. Talk with your doctor if youre experiencing these symptoms.
Your Period Causes Days Of Pain So Bad Its Hard To Leave Your Bed
Unbearable pain also falls into the category of menstrual cycle problems that absolutely warrant a chat with your medical provider. Dr. Streichers rule of thumb is that if youre experiencing even an iota of period pain beyond what youre fine with, its too much.
The first step in dealing with period pain is typically to take nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, since they block hormone-like chemicals known as prostaglandins that cause uterine cramping. If that knocks out your cramps, awesome. If youre still curled up in the fetal position after a few hours, thats a sign that talking to a doctor makes sense for you, Dr. Streicher says. Youre likely dealing with severe dysmenorrhea , and doctors can help. Dysmenorrhea is the most commonly reported period problem, with more than half of women who get their periods experiencing it for one to two days each month, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists . There are two types of dysmenorrhea: primary dysmenorrhea and secondary dysmenorrhea. Primary dysmenorrhea is pain thats due to natural pain-causing chemicals associated with your period. Secondary dysmenorrhea is the result of a disorder in the reproductive system.
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Butwhat About Menstrual Cups
Methods and data on how alkaline haematin yields the quantity of blood already exist in the scientific community. So, thats how researchers achieved the results. I was really surprised. As a menstrual cup user, I thought: How come no new method has emerged since then instead of this seemingly complicated method?
Using menstrual cups just seems so much easier to me than all these mathematical equations and chemical reactions.I tried to find information about using menstrual cups as a method, but I only found vague sources, where a menstrual cup or something similar to it was deemed unsuitable as a diagnostic tool for the quantification of menstrual blood loss .
The justifications were that these devices were not suitable for heavy bleeders and have a generally low acceptability rate within society based on articles from the 90s . But with a clear increase in happy menstrual cup users across the world as well the availability of cups with a higher capacity than the Gynaeseal , this argument is outdated.
So – what now? At this point, I was mostly just confused. Strange images stuck in my head with research assistants washing disposable menstrual products while writing complicated equations on aboard. I hadnt come any further in finding an answer to my initial question: How come there is such a huge difference between my personal period experience and the sources claiming a blood loss of 80 – 120 ml as risky, abnormal, and see a doctor-like?
How The Blood Changes During Your Period/is My Period Blood Supposed To Change Colour
Yes, it is normal for your period blood to change colour throughout your cycle daily, month to month, or even throughout your lifetime.
During a period, the colour can vary in brightness, darkness, and hue, from bright reds to dark browns. This will depend on the flow and how new the period blood is. These often change on different days of your period e.g. on day one or two, your flow will be faster, the blood will be newer and therefore is likely to be bright red. Further into your period as your flow might slow or blood might be older, your period blood is likely to be darker in colour.
However, if you see a colour that isnt usually what youd expect, its always best to check in with your doctor, especially if youre experiencing other symptoms that are out of the ordinary for you.
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Bright Red To Dark Red Or Dark Brown
Healthy Period
A healthy blood color ranges from bright red to dark red or brown, depending on how new the blood shed from the uterus is. Some people might describe their old period blood as black, but this can be a sign for something else .
Egg Implantation Spotting
Less likely, brown period blood could also be spotting from egg implantation light bleeding that can occur in the very early stages of pregnancy.
Ovarian Cysts and Lochia
Lochia is natural bleeding that occurs after having a baby. It is mild-to-heavy and lasts around 6-8 weeks after birth, but youll know if youve given birth recently. This colour of period blood may also be a sign of ovarian cysts. Cysts on your ovaries can often go unnoticed, but if youre worried or experiencing other symptoms, like pain during and after sex, or bloating of your abdomen, you should book in to see your doctor.