{ Specialized Womens Care

Heavy Menstrual Bleeding

Almost every woman experiences heavy menstrual bleeding at some point during her reproductive life. But some women have heavy and excessive periods almost every cycle. Menorrhagia, the medical term for heavy menstrual bleeding, affects more than 8 million women between the ages of 35 - 55 in the U.S. alone.

Normal menstrual flow occurs about every 28 days, lasts 4 - 6 days and produces a total blood loss of between 4 tablespoons and 1 cup. Most women don't realize this and put up with excessively heavy periods for more than 10 days. Heavy periods restrict many women from participating in normal activites, require them to change their feminine napkins every hour, and sometimes even keep them homebound while they manage their heavy flows. Increasingly, physicians find heavy bleeding is a condition many women ignore.

Women shouldn't have to organize their lives around their heavy periods. Historically, physicians had limited options for treating abnormal bleeding. These included hormone therapy and hysterectomy, both of which can have serious side effects. An alternative to these exists.