How heavy periods can lead to Iron Deficiency Anaemia
Did you know a 'normal' period, should NOT be more than about 80 mL of blood loss per cycle?
That's about 5 tablespoons spread over all the days of the bleed. It would fill about a fourth of a small glass. Bleeding is considered abnormal when more than 80ml is lost, because you are at risk of developing Iron Deficiency Anaemia.
If you're having heavy periods more than 5 tablespoons, then I recommend getting your iron status checked and explore the underlying root causes of your excessively heavy periods.
If you're not sure how much you're bleeding, using a moon cup will be extremely helpful to measure how many mili-litres of menstrual fluid you are losing each day.
Another indicator of excessively heavy periods, is having to change your tampons or pads within an hour and needing to use a tampon and a pad together to handle your heavy flow.
The Medical term for abnormally heavy or long periods is Menorrhagia
The medical definition for Menorrhagia is:
"Abnormal uterine bleeding occurring at regular intervals (e.g every month) or prolonged uterine bleeding lasting more than seven days" (National Institute of Health).
Your Doctor may diagnose you with Menorrhagia if you are having very heavy or long periods regularly, causing you to lose more than 80ml across your entire period.
Prolonged heavy menstrual bleeding over months will likely lead to Iron Deficiency Anaemia
And whole set of debilitating symptoms including:
- fatigue
- shortness of breath
- muscle weakness
- dizziness
- headaches
- palpitations
- pale skin
- dark under your eyes
- poor immune function, frequent colds or flu
This happened to me in my early 30's. I was losing what felt like more than one tablespoon an hour on my heavy days and I was changing tampons every half an hour! I was diagnosed with Iron Deficiency Anaemia and Fibroids.
Abnormally heavy periods can have many causes including:
- hormone imbalances
- fibroids
- uterine polyps
- perimenopause
- adenomyosis or endometriosis (displaced endometrial tissue)
- low or sluggish thyroid function
- blood clotting abnormalities
and rarely, vitamin K deficiency
The key hormone players are Oestrogen and Progesterone. Progesterone makes periods lighter, while Oestrogen makes periods heavier. If you have Oestrogen excess with Progesterone insufficiency you are more likely to experience heavier or painful periods and clotting.
This is why I use 24 hour urine hormone testing rather than blood hormone testing with clients on my Heavy & Painful Period Rescue Programme. It provides much more detailed information of Oestrogen to Progesterone hormone ratios and shows if the body is detoxifying excess oestrogen safely & effectively or not.
Gut testing is another tool I use, which indicates whether there is an oestrogen overload in the gut (the gut is phase three of oestrogen hormone detox). High Oestrogens which are not detoxifying effectively, can lead to more Oestrogen excess conditions and even Oestrogen dominant breast cancer, if levels get too high.
Do you need help with heavy periods?
Have you been experiencing any of the symptoms I've talked about? Has your doctor diagnosed you with Menorraghia or Iron Deficiency Anaemia and you're not sure what to do?
Perhaps you've been told the contraceptive pill is the only solution to stop heavy bleeding? Please note, the pill is a band aid, it doesn't balance your hormones, in fact it can make things worse.
Would you like to learn how Nutritional Medicine & Naturopathic Nutrition can help you better balance your hormones and cycle to reduce heavy bleeding and get to the root causes of what's causing your imbalances, so you can irradiate your symptoms and get back to living your life to the full!
If you are experiencing abnormally heavy periods, anaemia symptoms or Fibroids and would like to find out more about hormone testing and how I can help you, then click here to book a complementary 30 min call.
Click here for more information on my Heavy & Painful Period Rescue Programme or head over to the 'Work with Danielle' tab to find out more about other packages.
Danielle Roche, Dip CNM, CNHC
Danielle Roche is a Registered Period & Hormone Nutritionist.
She helps women fix Fibroids & Heavy or Painful Periods and have healthy, naturally balanced menstrual cycles without the pill or unnecessary surgeries, so they can live life to the full!