Understanding Menorrhagia: Causes, Symptoms, and Management

What is it?

Heavy menstrual bleeding, known as menorrhagia, is a type of abnormal uterine bleeding (AUB). One definition for menorrhagia is bleeding lasting more than 7 days or the loss of more than 80 mL of blood heavy flow. Causes can be categorized to uterine- related problems, hormone related problems and other disorders. Uterine related problems include benign growth- such as uterine fibroids or polyps, caner, usage of intrauterine device and pregnancy related problems such as miscarriage.
Other illnesses or disorders may be related to bleeding and platelet function or nonbleeding such as pelvic inflammatory disease, cancer, liver or kidney disease.

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Additional names

This group contains additional names:
- Heavy Menstrual Bleeding

Signs & symptoms

• Have a menstrual flow that soaks through one or more pads or tampons every hour for many consecutive hours.
• Doubling up pads to control your menstrual flow.
• changing pads or tampons during the night.
• Long-lasting menstrual periods (over 7 days).
• Blood clots the size of a quarter or larger.
• Disruption of normal function during periods
• Constant lower abdomen pain.
• Fatigue
• Tiredness
• Shortness of breath.

Diagnosis

After anamnesis and physical examination including gynecologist examination and a pelvic US, there may be a need to perform other test. These tests may include blood test including complete blood count to look for anemia, thyroid function and coagulation function. A PAP smear can be taken to look for changes in cervix cells, endometrial biopsy to look for changes and abnormalities in the endometrial cells, a sonohysterogram to examine the uterine lining and a Dilation and curettage (D&C). During this test, the lining of the uterus is scraped and examined under sedation. This test can also treat some of the causes

Treatment

Type of treatment depends on the cause bleeding and its severity, woman's general medical status and her preference. Drug therapy may include iron supplements for treating anemia, pain relievers, birth control pills or Intrauterine contraception to make periods regular and shorter. Surgical treatment may include dilation and curettage (D&C)- in which the top layer of the uterus lining is removed to reduce menstrual bleeding, Operative hysteroscopy to remove polyps and fibroids, correct abnormalities of the uterus, and remove the lining of the uterus to manage heavy menstrual flow. Other surgical procedures are endometrial ablation or resection in which all or part of the lining of the uterus is removed to control menstrual bleeding. These procedures prevent women from getting pregnant. The definitive treatment is a hysterectomy, where the entire uterus is removed. After having this procedure, a woman can no longer become pregnant and will stop having her period.

☝️ This is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Please consult with your physician before making any medical decision.

Learn more about our editorial process for content accuracy.

Source of Information - We analyze big data of more than 23 million patients de-identified medical records from the following sources:

National Institution of Health ∙ World Health Organization ∙ University of Illinois hospital