Heavy or Light Periods

Many women don't realize what an abnormal amount of bleeding might be. A heavy period is determined if you bleed through a tampon or pad every hour, pass large clots, have signs of anemia or your bleeding lasts more than 8 days.

A light period is one that lasts one or two days and requires very few tampon or pad changes.

For those using a menstural cup normal would be considered less than 60 mL blood, moderately heavy 60-100 mL, and excessive more than 100 mL.

 

Heavy Periods

It is a suggested a women with heavy periods visits her doctor in order to rule out fibroids, endometriosis and pelvic inflammatory disease. Heavy periods may be caused by hormonal imbalance that may or may not be related to lack of ovulation.

Often women are offered the birth control pill, other stronger medications or even surgery to treat abnormally heavy periods. In Chinese medicine, we seek to restore hormonal balance naturally with acupuncture, and diet.

Light Periods

A woman with a light period typically does not have enough thickness in her endometrial lining during the early part of the menstrual cycle. This is usually an indication that estrogen levels are lower than normal. In which case progesterone levels are likely to also be low and a woman may or may not ovulate with her cycles.

Acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine can help strengthen the body and encourage proper hormone production and balance.