These Symptoms May Indicate Your Severe Period Bleeding Is Life-Threatening
Posted on: 28 August 2018
Most women will go through their periods every month without any severe bleeding. In fact, normal bleeding for the average woman is anywhere between 5 ml and 80 ml—not very much at all. However, that's not true of all women. If you already know that you have severe periods, you should know that this kind of condition can be dangerous for you. In fact, severe period bleeding can even become life-threatening. Here's what you need to know about this condition.
Menorrhagia
Menorrhagia is the condition in which a woman bleeds far more than she should during an otherwise-normal period. This condition can affect women for all sorts of reasons. For example, taking certain types of medications can cause this problem. Alternatively, menstrual conditions like endometriosis or ovarian cysts can also trigger far heavier bleeding than normal.
Most women with this condition will be told that they have it by their doctors. Even if you don't bring it up, a blood test will reveal that your iron levels and red blood cell count are far too low. At this point, your doctor will ask you some questions and discover that you're experiencing this problem.
For some women, this condition can be controlled with birth control pills. Others, however, will continue to experience severe periods.
Symptoms of Severity
Like any condition that causes you to lose blood, this condition can actually become severely dangerous to your health.
Without enough blood, your body won't be able to send oxygen quickly around the body. This typically causes one of the first symptoms: an inability to catch your breath, or to feel like you can't breathe enough.
Another symptom is that you feel cold, and others notice that you are also cold if they touch your skin. You may be clammy, and your skin may be paler than usual. Even if you're dark-skinned, you can typically detect if you're paler than usual by pulling down an eyelid and looking. If your eyelid isn't red or pink, that may indicate anemia.
What to Do
If enough blood is lost, the body can start to experience organ failure. If you personally feel that you're bleeding more than you should or more than you normally do and you have any of these symptoms, you should get to an emergency room.
Urgent care facilities and doctors' offices aren't equipped to handle this condition. An emergency room, however, can. After an initial questionnaire and examination, most people with this condition will be given blood transfusions and drugs to stop the bleeding. Depending on the severity, you may need to be hospitalized for a while.
Since nearly all women will experience periods in their lives of varying degrees, it's easy to believe that you're blowing yours out of proportion and that you're not actually ill. However, keep in mind that menorrhagia is a very serious condition. If you don't feel well, go to the emergency room—it may save your life.
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