Menorrhagia: Abnormally heavy or prolonged periods.
Do you struggle with abnormally heavy or prolonged bleeding during your period?
There’s actually a name for this — it’s called menorrhagia.
Menorrhagia is the loss of more than 80 mL of blood during your period or if your period lasts longer than 7 days.
Heavy periods can be associated with disorders like:
↠ Thyroid disorders
↠ Uterine fibroids
↠ Endometrial polyps
↠ Adenomyosis
↠ Endometriosis
↠ Cancer
What I most often see, however, is an imbalance of the hormones estrogen and progesterone.
Estrogen is the dominant hormone in the 1st half of the cycle and progesterone should be the dominant one in the 2nd half.
Estrogen promotes uterine tissue growth to support potential implantation. But if there’s not enough progesterone to balance it out in the 2nd half of the cycle, we can end up having heavy, painful periods.
If we’re dealing with menorrhagia, how can we support ourselves?
↬ Support our progesterone production by eating adequate calories, balancing blood sugar, prioritizing vitamin and mineral-rich foods and getting sufficient rest!
↬ Support detoxification pathways by eating enough fiber, getting adequate nutrients that support detoxification and having satisfying, daily bowel movements.
↬ Reconsider stressors and lifestyle choices that can increase estrogen load like xenoestrogens, iron fortification and supplementation, over-consumption of phytoestrogens, alcohol consumption, etc.
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Not medical advice.
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This is not medical advice. Always consult your healthcare professional before pursuing any changes to your personal healthcare regime.
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References
Brighten, J. (2019). Beyond the Pill. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers.
Hendrickson-Jack, L. (2019). The Fifth Vital Sign. Fertility Friday Publishing.
Livingstone, M. Fraser, I.S. (2008). Mechanisms of abnormal uterine bleeding. Retrieved from: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11866241/.
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