Learn what a typical Heavy periods prognosis is at Consumer Reports Health.

Heavy periods

What will happen to me?

Heavy periods aren't usually a sign of anything serious. But they can make life miserable if you don't get treatment. Some women find heavy periods can affect their day-to-day activities.

You may need to take time off work or miss social events when you have your period.
You may not feel confident about playing sports or going swimming.
If your periods are very heavy, you may prefer to stay at home so that you can get to the bathroom quickly.
Losing a lot of blood can make you feel tired and weak because your body doesn't have enough

red blood cells
Red blood cells are the part of your blood that makes it red. Their main job is to carry oxygen from your heart and lungs out to the tissues of your body. Once these cells unload oxygen, they pick up carbon dioxide. They take carbon dioxide back to your lungs so you can breathe it out of your body.

red blood cells. Doctors call this condition anemia. You may need a treatment, such as iron pills, to help you make more red cells.

Often, periods are heavy for only a short time. For example, they may be heavy at

puberty
Puberty is the time when boys and girls develop secondary sexual characteristics. For boys, the major changes include pubic hair, a deeper voice, and growth of their penis and testicles. For girls, major changes include pubic hair, breasts and starting to have periods. After puberty, girls are able to become pregnant and boys are able to father children.

puberty or in the year or so before

menopause
When a woman stops having periods, it is called menopause. This usually happens around the age of 50.

menopause.

If you're approaching menopause, you may not want to do anything about your heavy bleeding because you know your periods will stop soon. Or you may not want to seek help for what you see as a natural part of your life. The choice is yours.

But if your periods are heavy for three months or more, you may want to get help from your doctor.

What happens next will depend on which treatment you decide to use. It's your decision, and it's worth finding out all you can about the pros and cons of each treatment. To read more, see What treatments work for heavy periods?

Your choice of treatment may depend on:

How old you are
What's causing your heavy periods
Whether you want to get pregnant in the future
How much your periods are disrupting your life.

There are several different drugs for treating heavy periods. But if medications don't help you or give you side effects, you may want to have an operation to reduce the amount of blood you lose during your periods.

The only way to be sure that you don't bleed at all is to have your womb removed. This operation is called a hysterectomy.

About 1 in 3 American women have a hysterectomy before they are 60, and heavy periods are the reason for at least half.

Source:
Pokras R, Hufnagel VG.
Hysterectomy in the United States, 1965-84.
Available at http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov (accessed on 23 June 2008).

¹ But a hysterectomy is a big operation. You will probably want to try other treatments first.

Other operations can lighten your periods, but you may not stop bleeding completely.

Sources for the information on this page:

Pokras R, Hufnagel VG.Hysterectomy in the United States, 1965-84.Available at http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov (accessed on 23 June 2008).

This information was last updated on Sep 01, 2008

This information is for educational use only, and is not a substitute for prompt professional medical advice. Readers should always consult a physician or other professional for advice and treatment.
© BMJ Publishing Group Limited 2009. All rights reserved.

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