IS YOUR PERIOD TOO HEAVY?

30 Nov

Written By Bridget

Heavy menstrual bleeding is a primary cause of iron deficiency and anaemia. So, how much blood is normal to lose with your period?

We should lose 40-80mL of blood with each menstrual period.
For every 1mL of blood lost, we lose 0.5mL of iron.
A regular pad/tampon holds approximately 5mL of blood, and heavy/super pads and tampons hold approximately 10mL of blood.
Menstrual cups have the mL on the cup so are perfect for measuring blood loss.
Anything more than 80mL of blood lost per period is menorrhagia (heavy menstrual bleeding), and needs investigating.
Causes of heavy periods include: hormone imbalances (oestrogen excess), poor gut health, fibroids, polyps, polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), endometriosis and adenomyosis.
Treatment should focus on correcting the root cause, not mirena coils, contraceptive pills or tranexamic acid.

Bridget

ADENOMYOSIS