- you’re worried about your bleeding
- your periods have got heavier
- you’re also having other symptoms, such as period pain or bleeding between your periods
Various treatments are available for heavy periods, including:
- some types of contraception, like an intrauterine system (IUS) or the combined pill
- medicines, like tranexamic acid
- surgery
How much is heavy bleeding?
It’s difficult to define exactly what a heavy period is because it varies from woman to woman. Heavy for 1 woman may be normal for another.
Most women will lose less than 16 teaspoons of blood (80ml) during their period, with the average being around 6 to 8 teaspoons.
Heavy menstrual bleeding is defined as losing 80ml or more in each period, having periods that last longer than 7 days, or both.
But it’s not usually necessary to measure blood loss. Most women have a good idea of how much bleeding is normal for them during their period and can tell when this changes.
A good indication that your periods are heavy is if you:
- are having to change your sanitary products every hour or 2
- are passing blood clots larger than 2.5cm (about the size of a 10p coin)
- are bleeding through to your clothes or bedding
- need to use 2 types of sanitary product together (for example, tampons and pads)