Menorrhagia

Menorrhagia is called profuse uterine bleeding during menstruation, which is accompanied by the release of blood clots. In addition to a large loss of blood, a characteristic symptom of menorrhagia is poor overall health, dizziness and even anemia. The causes of menorrhagia may be a violation of the reproductive system, diseases of the female genital organs, stressful situations and an incorrect lifestyle. In order to diagnose menorrhagia, a woman undergoes a gynecological examination, ultrasound of the pelvic organs, analysis of gynecological anamnesis and more. Treatment of menorrhagia can be therapeutic (with the appointment of drugs that stop blood) and surgical (curettage of the walls of the uterus, as well as removal of the uterus itself in more severe cases).

The content of the article:
Menorrhagia — what is it?
Menorrhagia in adolescents
The main causes of menorrhagia
Symptoms of menorrhagia
Diagnosis of menorrhagia
Therapeutic treatment of menorrhagia
Surgical treatment of menorrhagia
Prevention of menorrhagia
Menorrhagia
Menorrhagia — what is it?
Menorrhagia (or copious menstruation) is prolonged uterine bleeding that repeats at the same intervals. If bleeding during menstruation exceeds the volume of 150 ml for more than 7 days, it is customary to diagnose menorrhagia. This disease can be a sign of a violation of the female reproductive system. Inflammatory processes in the uterus, ovarian dysfunction, uterine fibroids, neuropsychological fatigue – all this can be the cause of menorrhagia. As a rule, menorrhagia entails a violation of a woman’s normal working capacity. Copious menstruation can later even cause anemia. According to statistics, 35-37% of women of reproductive age are diagnosed with menorrhagia. Detecting menorrhagia at home will not be difficult. If a woman notices that during menstruation she began to change tampons or pads more often, if menstruation is so abundant that personal hygiene products do not have time to absorb blood, and blood flows onto the bed or clothes, then such abundant menstruation indicates the development of menorrhagia.

Menorrhagia in adolescents
We found out what menorrhagia is. Let’s now try to figure out why menorrhagia is so common in adolescents. Most often menorrhagia occurs in adolescents aged 13-17 years. It is during this period that the hormonal background is formed. The main reason for heavy menstruation in adolescents is an imbalance of the hormones estrogen and progesterone. It is these hormones that are involved in the processes of maturation and, as a result, rejection of the endometrium of the uterus.

Menorrhagia is especially difficult to tolerate in adolescence. Therefore, as soon as a teenager discovers the main symptom of this disease, namely constant copious menstrual bleeding, it is necessary to immediately consult a doctor. Usually, the effectiveness of treatment of such a disorder can be assessed only after six months. Such a period is necessary for the final restoration of menstrual bleeding to a normal volume. After undergoing effective treatment, a teenager should be registered with a gynecologist and visit a doctor twice a year.

The main causes of menorrhagia
One of the main causes of menorrhagia is a violation of hormonal balance (or, in other words, hormonal background), which can lead to the appearance and development of menorrhagia. The risk group includes both a teenager who has recently started menstruation, and a woman who has entered the menopausal period. Both a teenager and a woman going through menopause experience hormonal restructuring, which can take place with certain disruptions of the endocrine system.

Another important reason to pay attention to, and which causes the development of menorrhagia, is a violation of the reproductive system, leading to a particular disease. Such a disease can be ovarian dysfunction, uterine fibroids, fibroma, uterine adenomyosis, polyps. All this can provoke the occurrence of menorrhagia. In the presence of a benign tumor in the uterus, menorrhagia may also occur.

A possible cause of the appearance and development of menorrhagia may be the improper use of an intrauterine contraceptive. Such a drug leads to a side effect, which is copious menstrual bleeding. If a woman using intrauterine contraceptives notices the appearance of copious menstruation at home, she immediately needs to stop using this drug. Otherwise, there is a risk of developing menorrhagia.

In some cases, such a phenomenon as menorrhagia can be a symptom of a serious disease, for example, cancer of the female reproductive system (cervical cancer, ovarian cancer, etc.). The cause of the appearance of profuse bleeding, recurring with enviable regularity, may be ectopic pregnancy. Menorrhagia can also be triggered by a blood disease associated with a violation of its coagulability. Menorrhagia can be caused by a lack of vitamin K in a woman’s body, as well as a disease such as thrombocytopenia. In particularly rare cases, copious menstruation can be hereditary and transmitted from mother to daughter.

Menorrhagia disease can be triggered by diseases of the kidneys, pelvis, thyroid gland, liver and heart. Endometriosis can also provoke the development of menorrhagia. According to doctors, there are a great many reasons for the appearance and development of menorrhagia in women. Menorrhagia can be caused even by stress, overwork, an increased level of physical exertion experienced by a woman and even a change in climatic conditions.

Whatever the reason for the development of menorrhagia, having discovered the symptoms of this disease in herself, a woman should immediately consult a doctor. The first step is to consult with a therapist and an endocrinologist in order to exclude possible somatic and endocrine causes of menorrhagia.

Symptoms of menorrhagia
So, having found out that menorrhagia is prolonged and abundant uterine bleeding during menstruation, it will not be difficult to determine the symptoms of this disease. The main symptom is copious menstrual discharge, in which a woman loses significantly more blood than during normal menstruation. Another symptom should be considered a prolonged period of bleeding, which once again confirms the diagnosis of menorrhagia. If menstruation lasts more than seven days, then this is a sure sign of the development of menorrhagia in a woman. Menstrual discharge during menorrhagia occurs with blood clots. Additional symptoms of menorrhagia are weakness, dizziness, general malaise, and fainting.

Diagnosis of menorrhagia
It is necessary to diagnose as soon as a woman has certain symptoms characteristic of menorrhagia. As mentioned earlier, primary menorrhagia is characterized by profuse bleeding during menstruation. To begin with, the doctor should rule out a possible pregnancy. To do this, a pregnancy test is performed. The second mandatory procedure for diagnosing menorrhagia is a blood test to detect chorionic gonadotropin in it. Anamnesis data, taking into account the course of past pregnancies, the complexity of the course of childbirth, taking a particular medication in the past are also important for diagnosis.

Laboratory diagnostics for menorrhagia helps to examine the level of hemoglobin, as well as to properly perform a biochemical blood test and conduct a coagulogram to determine the hormonal background. Menorrhagia is also determined by analysis using cancer markers CA 19-9 and CA-125.

To determine menorrhagia, the doctor may prescribe a cytological analysis of a Pap smear. Such an analysis makes it possible to detect precancerous or cancerous cells on the cervix.

All women with suspected menorrhagia or those who have been accurately diagnosed with menorrhagia, doctors recommend having a menstrual calendar, where every month a woman would note the duration of her menstruation, as well as how much menstruation is abundant. It is very simple to determine whether there is an abundant menstruation or not — it is enough to pay attention to how often the pad or tampon is changed.

Therapeutic treatment of menorrhagia
Therapy of such a disease as idiopathic menorrhagia is performed depending on one or another cause that caused this disease, as well as taking into account the duration of menstruation and how much menstrual bleeding is abundant. Doctors forbid self-medication, especially if it concerns menorrhagia in a teenager.

Medical treatment of a disease such as menorrhagia involves the use of oral contraceptives (hormonal drugs) that would regulate hormonal balance. It is known that a prescribed hormonal drug containing estrogen and progesterone can prevent and prevent the proliferation of the endometrium, as well as reduce the amount of menstrual bleeding by more than 40-45%. The selection of a hormonal drug should be carried out only by a gynecologist. The drug should be taken strictly according to the doctor’s prescription.

A woman suffering from a longer menorrhagia, the doctor prescribes an iron preparation in order to prevent the development of possible iron deficiency anemia. Specifically to reduce bleeding during menstruation, doctors often prescribe rutin or ascorbic acid.

For the purpose of menorrhagia therapy, an anti-inflammatory drug such as ibuprofen is also prescribed, which affects the level of menstrual bleeding, as well as its duration. In case of very heavy bleeding, special hemostatic drugs are prescribed: calcium chloride (gluconate), dicinone, aminocaproic acid and others.

In addition to medications, the best treatment for a woman is a restorative regime of the day, restoring the balance of the working day and rest, normalization of sleep and nutrition. As soon as menstruation ends, it is necessary to conduct a course of special physiotherapy procedures, which involve about 15-17 separate procedures of ozokeritis and diathermy. In special cases, the treatment of menorrhagia is not limited to medications. In some situations, menorrhagia requires urgent treatment in the form of surgery.

Surgical treatment of menorrhagia
In the case of a recurrent course of such a disease as menorrhagia, with a physiological disorder, as well as with possible damage to the genitals and anemia that has arisen, with ineffective treatment with medications, surgical treatment is prescribed. To begin with, it is necessary to carry out such a procedure as hysteroscopy, which helps to identify any existing pathology of the uterus (for example, endometrial polyps) and eliminate it in a timely manner. Curettage of the uterine cavity can significantly reduce menstrual bleeding, thereby reducing the symptoms of menorrhagia, but the result of such treatment may be short-lived. Therefore, in some cases, special surgical treatment is necessary. In the case of menorrhagia in the presence of polyps or fibroids, the disease is treated by surgical removal of the uterus. Such surgical treatment of menorrhagia is prescribed to women after 40-45 years. If the woman is younger, such surgical treatment is used in particularly severe cases.

Prevention of menorrhagia
Compliance with preventive measures will help prevent the development of menorrhagia in both adolescents and mature women. Such preventive measures should include abstinence from heavy physical exertion, refusal of heavy strength exercises. It is necessary to avoid stressful situations and not to overwork too much. The change of climatic conditions also plays a role in the development of menorrhagia. Taking multivitamin preparations such as vitamins B and C, iron and folic acid are also preventive measures in preventing menorrhagia.

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