Common Menstrual Problems and How to Manage Them

What Are Menstrual Problems?

Every month, your uterus prepares to welcome a baby, by cushioning its inner walls with blood tissues. If the sperm for some reason doesn’t reach its destination, these blood tissues shed themselves and leave your body through the vagina, in the form of a monthly period.

Sometimes, things could go wrong and this could lead to irregularities in your periods. These irregularities in your periods could be indicative of various menstrual disorders.

What are the Most Common Menstrual Problems?

Types of menstruation disorders are based upon the symptoms and the reasons why these are caused. We have created a menstrual disorders list, but this in no way is a comprehensive list of all the menstrual disorders that exist. If you are suffering from symptoms that are not included anywhere in this blog, it might be a good idea to visit your ob-gyn.

Here’s a few common causes of menstrual irregularities:

Heavy Periods

Menorrhagia is a medical term for a heavy bleeding period that lasts too long or sometimes during which you lose too much blood than is normal. It can affect your daily activities with heavy menstrual bleeding and severe cramps.

Symptoms that could be an indication of menorrhagia are:

• Bleeding that’s longer than 7 days

• Soaking through a pad in less than an hour

• To control your flow, you have to stack pads on top of each other

• You have to wake up in the middle of the night to change pads

• Period blood that has really large blood clots

• Discomfort during periods due to which you have to restrict your activities

• Feeling anemia symptoms such as fatigue, tiredness and shortness of breath

Women with menstrual disorders usually have to deal with a heavier flow than what regular pads are engineered to take. But RIO takes your heavy flow like a pro! Want to know why? Because it’s especially made keeping the needs of women with a heavy flow in mind, and because RIO pads are:

• Filled with world- class SAP (Super Absorbent Polymer) that instantly absorbs liquid blood and turns it into gel form

• Shaped like an hourglass, to catch the flow at the front and backs of the pad

• Armed with two pairs of wings to keep you doubly protected

• 3X more absorbent than regular pads

• Engineered to soak liquid blood as well as blood clots to keep the surface dry and moisture- free

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Absent or Irregular Periods

Absent or irregular menstruation , or amenorrhea is the absence of periods for the duration of a month or sometimes more than a month. You could be suffering from one of the two types of amenorrhea depending on your symptoms. They are as follows:

• Primary Amenorrhea – this means you haven’t had your first period even after reaching 15 years of age.

• Secondary Amenorrhea – you were having regular periods, then they stopped suddenly and for a duration of three or more months.

Symptoms associated with this type of abnormal menstrual cycle are listed below:

• Headaches

• Acne

• Pelvic pain

• Weak vision

• Loss of hair

• Growth of facial hair

• Milky discharge from your nipples

• No growth in the size of your breasts, for pubescent girls (mainly for primary amenorrhea)

Painful Periods

Painful Periods or dysmenorrhea is a very common menstrual cycle disorder that not many women know of because of lack of awareness. It means cramps that are caused by periods. You are likely to experience it a few days before and during your periods.

The two types of dysmenorrhea that you might be suffering with:

• Primary dysmenorrhea- Primary dysmenorrhea causes regular menstrual cramps. These are recurrent in nature, meaning they come back over and over again and are not caused by any serious underlying medical condition.

Primary dysmenorrhea symptoms include:

• Mild or manageable pain

• Pain that starts one or two days before your periods begin

• Pain in your lower abdomen, back or inner thighs.

• Pain lasting for 12 – 72 hours

• Nausea and vomiting

• Fatigue

• Diarrhea

Secondary dysmenorrhea – If you are experiencing dysmenorrhea due to a disorder or an infection in your reproductive system, you might be suffering from secondary dysmenorrhea. The symptoms are as follows:

• Pain that begins earlier than one to two days before your periods

• Your menstrual cramps last too long

• You don’t feel nausea and vomiting or even fatigue or diarrhea, symptoms that are commonly accompanied by menstrual cramps

PMS or Premenstrual Syndrome

PMS, meaning Premenstrual Syndrome is a condition almost all of us suffer from but might be unaware of it. All of us have at some point in our lives during or before periods experienced things such as sensitive breasts, mood swings and cramps. These are symptoms of PMS. These symptoms can sometimes begin to affect your quality of life.

Symptoms of PMS show up a week before you start your periods and last till a few days later. They include:

• Terrible mood swings

• Feeling fatigued all the time

• Changes in your appetite

• Problems with sleeping or sleep apnea

• Cramps and bloating

• Depression

• Feeling anxious

• Easily irritable

• Issues with concentration

• Sensitive breasts

• Hot flashes or feeling warm all over your body alongside sweating

• Pain in your muscles and joints

• Headaches

Diagnosing Menstrual Problems

The first step to treating any health issue is visiting your doctor. They will want to know about your symptoms, how long you’ve been experiencing them, their intensity and so on. It would be of help to go prepared with notes of your own on these.

Your doctor will likely do a pelvic exam and recommend some other tests such as a blood test, ultrasound, pregnancy tests, etc.

Treating Menstrual Problems

Your menstrual disorders treatment will depend on what’s causing you problems during periods. Birth control pills can relieve menstrual cycle problems such as PMS, as well as regulate heavy flows. Hormone replacements for an abnormal period that is heavy usually works.

We would simply not recommend you take any of these medicines on your own because your symptoms and their intensity could differ. Your doctor can provide you with the best medical advice and treat you according to your symptoms.

If you want to know more about menstrual abnormalities, read our other blogs.