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Having heavy periods can be an absolute nightmare and cause so much discomfort. But are there more to heavy periods that you should worry about? Is there a correlation between period and anemia or can anemia be the cause of heavy periods? To help you wrap your head around period and anemia, we’ll give you some insights on signs you’re losing too much blood during your period, how to treat anemia from heavy periods, and how to tell if your period is making you anemic:
Signs you’re losing too much blood during period
Heavy periods, also known as menorrhagia can require medical attention. Here are a few symptoms and signs you’re losing too much blood on your period:
- Needing to change your sanitary pads or tampons every hour for several consecutive hours
- Doubling up on sanitary protection to prevent leaks
- Changing sanitary towels/tampons during the night
- Periods lasting longer than a week
- Bleeding blood clots that are bigger than a coin
- Not being able to perform daily activities as a result of your heavy menstrual flow
- Anemia symptoms such as fatigue, shortness of breath, and tiredness.
Period and anemia
Via: Yahoo – Heavy period
When your period is too heavy, you end up losing too much blood which results in blood loss anemia as a result of the reduction of circulating red blood cells. When your body tried to make up for the lost red blood cells, it uses up the iron body storage to make more hemoglobin, this results in a decreased iron level in the blood, resulting in iron deficiency anemia.
How to treat anemia from heavy periods
The first step to treating anemia that occurs as a result of heavy periods is by figuring out what is causing the heavy menstrual flow. Heavy periods can be caused by imbalances in hormone levels as well as other causes such as:
- Uterine fibroids
- Endometriosis
- Ovulation issues
- Polycystic ovaries
- Adenomyosis
- Scar tissue in the uterus
- Medications such as aspirin
- Certain IUDs
It’s always best to see your doctor to help you find the root of the cause and accordingly come up with a good treatment plan to resolve the initial issue or even prescribe iron pills to help your body make hemoglobin.
Further reading:
- How to Spot: Anemia in Pregnancy
- 21 Easy Family Meals that Include Iron
- Medical Conditions that Impact Female Fertility: PCOS
Sources used in this article:
- Can your period cause anemia? – Healthline
- Menorrhagia – Mayoclinic
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