Menorrhagia - Know More About It!

Hello,

I am Dr. Krishna Agarwal, Gynaecologist. Today I am going to speak about a common problem i.e. menorrhagia. It means excessive blood flow during menstruation. Normally, blood should flow 4-5 days and every 30 days. For the first 2 days, it should be heavy but for rest days it should not be heavy. Or if it is happening expected than the longer period or heavy then it is called menorrhagia. It can be of 2 types where the cycle is of 30 days but the length of bleeding is more. And the 2nd type is where the cycle is shortened i.e. you are bleeding in less than 25 days, it can be 20 days, 15 days. If you have this kind of bleeding, this also comes under menorrhagia. Now it is a problem which has a lot of bad effects on the person's health. The cause of this problem is ovulation because when they start menstruation, it is not perfect. Their eggs are not perfect, they are not properly coordinated. Hormones are not adequate either from pituitary or the responsive ovary.

The girl has only estrogen and the ovulation doesn't occur and progesterone is not there. This kind of cycles has excessive bleeding. But this should not last for more than 2-3 years at the time of pituitary. Next cause is calcium and vitamin C deficiency. Most of the calcium we are getting from milk. Earlier days everybody used to drink a lot of milk. But nowadays it is not in fashion and people don't like it. And also the quality of milk is not good. People are not getting the exposure of sunlight causing vitamin D deficiency. Because of the calcium does not get dissolved. Vitamin C is also important for the integrity of small capillaries. It causes repeated ruptures and resulting in menorrhagia during menses. Then fibroid and polyp of the uterus also cause menorrhagia.

So, both should be excluded by ultrasound or hysteroscopy. The infection is another cause of menorrhagia because it causes widespread inflammation so the blood flow to the pelvis is increased. Because of inflammation vessels are also not so healthy. Both resulting in heavy menstruation. Nowadays abortion pills have come up, incomplete abortion has become another cause of menorrhagia. Because small amount left of the reproductive product keep causing bleeding. A left copper-T or a forgotten copper-T in the uterus also causes excessive bleeding. This problem should not be taken lightly because it is causing the loss of blood. Loss of blood makes a lot of difference to the body. Losing blood means losing protein, iron and losing all other components like calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, and vitamins. It should be treated on time so that the body health should not deteriorate.

This will also cause infertility because due to heavy bleeding it doesn't get implanted properly inside the uterus. Now heavy menstruation will also cause endometriosis. Because of so much blood when uterus contracts, some of the blood gets into the tube, it goes into the pelvis and causes ectopic endometrium. Because of this many other complications occur. So, heavy menstruation should be checked in time. Heavy menstruation causes dysmenorrhea i.e. excessive pain during menstruation because the uterus has to work harder to extrude the blood. Prolong bleeding may also result in infection because of this act as a foreign body. Therefore, menorrhagia should not be taken lightly. It should be taken care of in time so that the girl remains healthy all her life.

Thank You.