Here’s How You Know Your Periods are Normal

How do you know if your period is normal? The number of total cycle days tells you that for one, about 9/10 women will have cycles that last between 24 to 35 days and bleed for about 4-6 days. If you are a teen and just began to get your period, your cycles should have become regular in the first 5-7 years after puberty, but you could benefit from a gyno discussion right away if they are not regular. Interestingly, although most women have several cycle days of bleeding, about half of all the bleeding is in the first 24 hours after your period starts which is why women with heavy periods have so much trouble that very first day. Results have been released of a new treatment for those with heavy menstrual periods. The bleeding is in part due to the lining shedding, but some of the bleeding is due to the blood vessels sealing properly when an area of the uterus is done shedding. The clinical research trials we have been in at Women’s Health Practice, with studies that included women studied at research sites from across the country all had blood loss above the normal upper limit of 80 ml prior to medication use. Losing too much blood with your period is not only abnormal, but you may have side effects such as being dizzy, light-headed, crampy or even in pelvic pain. None of that is ‘normal’ for a menstrual period. We have shown with these research trails once you are properly treated, and menstrual blood loss dropped down almost 70 ml per menstrual period, you begin to feel good! Side effects to treatment of abnormal periods with the study medicine vs the control group patients showed lots of clinical benefit even if the treatment didn’t change the bleeding all that much. Side effects were minimal and out of 187 subjects three dropped out due to nausea, anemia and heavy bleeding in the control group and two in the treatment group one from palpitations and one irregular menses. This is a new approach for women seeking control of menses, and the medication was only given during the heavy bleeding and for no more than 5 days. The Women’s Health Practice Clinical Team was proud to be a part of this exciting study and we want to thank those women who participated with us .Now we’d like to extend a hand to women who might benefit from this treatment which is now FDA approved called Lysteda, and have you come in for a consultation to see if it would be right for you, or if any other gynecologic treatment would be better.