Women talk about struggling with heavy periods: 'Blood would leak everywhere'
Kathy Mou, 34, of San Jose, Calif., got her first period at age 13. While her period started out light at first, it shifted within a few cycles.
“I would have so much blood and blood clots, I would have to wear a heavy tampon and heavy pads, and I would have to change it out every two hours for at least three to four days of this heavy flow," Mou, who later learned she had endometriosis, tells Yahoo Life. “If I didn’t change it out, the blood would leak everywhere.”
Eva Keller, 28, also experienced heavy bleeding early, after getting her first period at the age of 10. The Anaheim, Calif. resident and travel blogger says painful periods meant having to leave school in order to manage her symptoms. Later in life, it also meant having to do the same for work.
“I had to call out of work every time,” she tells Yahoo Life, ultimately deciding to become self-employed. “It was always my biggest concern about maintaining a full-time job because that would leave me no time off if I actually got sick.”
For Felicia Persaud, 49, it was stressful to always make sure she was using the appropriate products for her heavy flow.
“I had to use numerous pads daily, sometimes two at once to avoid leaks and embarrassing situations, like blood running down my legs and leaking as I walked,” Persaud tells Yahoo Life. “So on a daily basis, it was perhaps six to eight [menstrual products]. That, combined with pain that was debilitating, was a nightmare.”
What are the signs of having very heavy periods?
Period talk is still somewhat taboo, which can make it difficult for people to know whether or not they have a heavier-than-average flow. Ob-gyn Dr. Staci Tanouye tells Yahoo Life there are several symptoms that indicate you should talk to a doctor about your menstrual cycle:
If your cycle (day 1 of one period to day 1 of the next period) lasts less than 21 days or more than 35 days
Bleeding that lasts more than 7 days
Bleeding through a full pad or tampon within 1-2 hours
Heavy bleeding that has significant pain associated with it
Tanouye says it's important to see a medical professional regarding heavy bleeding. “Anemia or low hemoglobin is the main concern here,” she explains. “When people are chronically anemic from heavy periods, they often also have iron deficiency as well. These things can lead to fatigue, shortness of breath and lightheadedness.”
It’s not uncommon to experience heavy bleeding. Dr. Sara Arian, a reproductive endocrinologist at Boston IVF, tells Yahoo Life that “up to one-third of women will experience abnormal uterine bleeding in their life.”
Why do people get very heavy periods?
Exactly what causes the heavy bleeding differs from person to person.
“Some of the common causes include structural abnormalities of the female reproductive system including uterine polyps, uterine fibroids, adenomyosis [or] cancer,” Arian says. “Other causes can include bleeding disorders and ovulatory and hormonal dysfunction.”
It’s also possible for periods to become heavier as one’s hormones change over time.
“Sometimes periods start heavier and irregular in frequency at the time of puberty,” says Arian. “As a woman approaches menopause, periods can become irregular during perimenopause.”
Experts say it's crucial to see a physician as soon as you notice this issue. “Some people need medical intervention to prevent heavy periods and anemia, so an early evaluation is very important,” Tanouye says.
Arian agrees, saying that “treatment must be tailored based on the underlying cause and diagnosis.” She explains that treatment options can include medical management using hormonal pills, birth control pills and a medication called tranexamic acid. In some cases, Arian says, surgical management including dilation and curettage (D&C), endometrial ablation, uterine artery embolization, surgical removal of uterine fibroids (myomectomy), surgical removal of polyps (polypectomy) and hysterectomy may be necessary.
While there’s no special diet or supplements that can help with heavy periods, says Tanouye, there may be options to relieve symptoms.
“Taking a daily multivitamin with iron or an iron supplement or eating iron-rich foods may help if someone is developing iron-deficiency anemia,” she says. “Besides that, an overall healthy diet with lots of water, fruits, vegetables and whole grains can help support a healthy menstrual cycle.”
What helped the women manage their periods
Mou says after her endometriosis diagnosis, she decided to figure out a holistic approach to manage her periods and pain.
“I started exercising, eating a nutrient-dense whole foods diet, which has helped me regulate my hormones which in turn helped with my periods,” she says. “Since it is a whole-body inflammatory immune dysfunction disease, I really have to take care of myself with holistic approaches to help regulate my hormones and my body daily. Managing my stress was a huge part [of it] and dealing with my mental health all has helped me with my period and period pain. I do have heavy flows but not as [much] as in my teenage years.”
Keller, meanwhile, says she also uses exercise to mitigate her period pain, and while she did go on birth control, which made her period “very light” for a short amount of time, the other side effects she encountered while on a hormonal contraceptive were “unbearable.”
Persaud says she had to undergo surgery in 2015 to manage her heavy flow after an MRI revealed that she had several health issues, including fibroids and adenomyosis, which is when tissue that normally lines the uterus grows into the muscular wall of the uterus. The surgery “removed the lining of the uterus to remove the adenomyosis, then the fibroids that were pressing on my urethra as well as cysts from my ovaries and the endometriosis,” she says. “Two back to back blood transfusions after and a long recovery, I’m finally healthy again with very light periods and no pain whatsoever!”
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