What Causes Heavy Periods?

Having a bloody ‘shark week’ is normal for all menstruators. But, what if your periods are more than bloody? What if the downpour of blood just doesn’t seem to stop? What if it lands you in a hospital bed?

To you this might seem like a scary scene from a dystopian film, but it is a reality for many menstruators. It often leaves them wondering, “Why am I bleeding so heavy?”

What Is Menorrhagia?

To put things simply, menorrhagia is extremely heavy period flow that lasts for more than seven days or makes you lose more than 40 ml of blood. If you have this condition, you might be soaking through pads within an hour or so. Or you might be one of those who need to stack pads on top of each other to get some time away from constantly having to change your pads every hour.

How Common Are Heavy Periods?

There are over 355 million menstruating women in India. 60% of these women may need medical help to deal with heavy menstrual bleeding. Yeah, that’s how common heavy periods actually are. This isn’t common news because instead of talking about such issues we are busy telling women how eating pineapples can make their vaginas smell tangy and eatable for a man.

Is Heavy Menstrual Bleeding Serious?

Usually, heavy periods aren’t life threatening. However, they do cause you to feel really drained and stop you from truly living your life.

Heavy periods might be a problem if you’re soaking through more one pad an hour. It can lead to a fatal condition called anemia, which happens due to an excessive loss of blood. If this is happening to you, rush to a doctor immediately!

What causes menorrhagia?

Here are a few common causes of heavy periods:

1.Life changes

For some, life changes are what can cause heavy periods. A new diet, a change in your workout routine, your stress levels affect your periods. You might be experiencing a heavier flow because of these.

2.Changes to your medications or birth control

Why do I have a heavy period? You have probably missed taking your birth control. A birth control pill alters the hormones a little. This alteration can cause you to experience lighter periods. When you stop taking them your period returns with a vengeance for some time, before things calm down a bit. Doctors often prescribe birth control pills to manage a heavy flow.

3.Hormonal imbalance

Changes in your hormones is one of the most common reasons for heavy period. You might have higher levels of the hormone estrogen as compared to progesterone. This imbalance causes the uterine lining to thicken, which causes heavy periods.

If you are going through perimenopause, the notice period your ovaries need to serve before finally resigning from their job, you are likely to go through a lot of ups and downs. Sometimes you might have extremely heavy periods, while at other times, they are nowhere to be found.

Why do I have a heavy period if I’ve just started menstruating, you ask? Hormones. It’ll take a while for your hormones to settle down into their new normal. Just wait out this stage of your menstrual journey.

4.Uterine fibroids

Uterine fibroids are non-cancerous growths on the ovaries and the uterus. These often develop during the childbearing years of women between 14- 44 years of age. These rarely develop into anything harmful but often cause heavy and painful periods.

5.Endometriosis

Endometriosis is sometimes what makes periods heavy. Endometriosis is a condition in which the uterine tissue starts growing outside the uterus. It can cause painful swelling, inflammation along with extremely heavy periods.

Managing a heavy flow is certainly no small feat. What’s more difficult is managing your heavy flow with regular sanitary pads. RIO Heavy Duty Pads are made for women with a heavier flow. RIO is:

• three times more absorbent than regular sanitary pads
• super- absorbent with Japanese SAP technology 
• super- protective with side wings, wide back wings and raised flow guards 
• 100% Sulphur, paraben and artificial fragrance- free 

RIO Pads are built for better periods!

When Should I See a Doctor for Heavy Periods?

The best treatment for menorrhagia can only be sought from a health professional. If your period has started interfering with your day-to-day activities or lasts longer than seven days or if you soak through a pad in an hour, your period might not be a normal period. Run to your ob-gyn as fast as you can!