Facts About Your Period Options

[*mzkandi*]

Facts about abnormal periods

There have been a lot of topics on abnormal period so here is a guide that can hopefully answer some of your questions. Source information comes from
http://womenshealth.about.com/cs/menstruat...truabnormal.htm

You may be experiencing an abnormal period, abnormal uterine bleeding, an abnormal menstrual cycle if...

your menstrual cycle is longer than 31 to 35 days apart, or less than two weeks from day one of your period to day one of your next period.

you are soaking through more than one tampon or sanitary pad in 1 or 2 hours, or if your period lasts longer than 7 days, you may be experiencing excessive uterine bleeding or heavy menstruation.

you experience extremely severe cramps with menstruation. Some cramping is normal during your period, although not all women experience menstrual cramps, if your menstrual cramps seem more severe than normal you should see your health care provider to rule out and/ or diagnose the cause.

you may see clots of tissue in your menstruation, don't worry, this is no cause for alarm! Remember, your period consists of the lining of the uterus which is shed during menstruation, clots are very often a part of this shedding and rarely cause for alarm.

you are a young girl who has recently experienced the onset of menstruation, don't worry if you skip periods or have irregular periods for the first few years. This is very normal.

you are a young girl who extremely active in sports activities you may experience absence of menstruation for long periods of time. The cause of this is not clearly known.

you are a woman who is postmenopausal or a girl who is younger than eleven should see a doctor immediately if they experience uterine bleeding.

you are a young woman who is over 16 and have not started your period. See your health care provider and be sure to ask about the possibility of polycystic ovarian syndrome or PCOS, particularly if you are experiencing other symptoms of PCOS.

Remember, normal menstrual bleeding lasts about 5 days, and although it may seem like you are losing a lot more blood, the amount of blood lost during your period is only about 2 to 8 tablespoons. Menstruation occurs on average every twenty-eight days; but, anywhere from twenty-five to thirty-one days between periods is considered a normal menstrual cycle. If you think you are experiencing abnormal bleeding or abnormal periods, contact your health care provider for advice about what steps you should take next.

Additional Resource
http://womenshealth.about.com/gi/dynamic/o...Firregular.html

I felt that this topic would be better-suited for the Girls' Locker, considering guys don't have periods.

This post has been edited by Kathleen: Aug 27 2006, 04:02 PM

[*Duchess of Dork*]

^ I had to pop in here when I saw a response by AC.

I crave anything salty when I'm in full moon mode.

You know, actually I was thinking about it. I always refer to that time of month as full moon mode and I came upon this article on WebMD today:
Here's the part that I thought was cool

The Moon Cycle

A normal menstrual cycle is actually more like a moon cycle. Interestingly, the only event in human life that corresponds to the lunar calendar is menstruation. Time itself was probably first measured by the moon's phases. One of the problems with the current English calendar is that the months don't coincide exactly with the solar year. In our current system, the months were made to fit by Gregory XIII, who gave them an arbitrary number of days unrelated to the moon calendar. So our calendar actually puts us out of sync with the moon.

The word menstrual comes from the Latin word mens meaning "month"; the word month comes from the root word moon. The Greek word for moon is mene, while menstruation actually means "moon change." (In some dictionaries, the root word for month and menstruation is measure.) The point of all this is to simply establish that a far more accurate and positive interpretation of menstruation was recorded in our history through language.

Countless other languages and cultures link menstruation to the moon as well. German peasants literally refer to menstruation as "the moon," while the French term for menstruation is le moment de la lune ("the moment of the moon"). The Mandingo, Susus, and Congo tribes also call menstruation "the moon," while in parts of East Africa, menstruation is thought to be caused by the new moon. The Papuans believe that the moon has intercourse with girls, triggering their periods; the Maori call menstruation "moon sickness"; the Fuegians call the moon "The Lord of the Women." Clearly the belief that the lunar cycle is identical to the menstrual cycle is universal. There is even some remarkable physical evidence that connects the moon to menstruation even more; for example, the cervix, metra in Greek, referring again to the word measurement, and also called the "meter of a woman," changes color, size, and position during menstruation. In fact, when it's viewed with a speculum (an instrument doctors use to open up the vagina), the cervix has been said to resemble a globe. Even in pregnancy, the embryo is shaped like the moon; the embryo starts out round and full, and as it becomes a fetus, it curves like the half-moon.

All this evidence suggests that women are perhaps far more in tune to the natural rhythms of the universe than they think. Meanwhile, comprehending the similarities between the menstrual and lunar cycles is crucial in order to understand what a healthy, normal menstrual cycle really is. Women are also in tune with other women's cycles; two women living together will often synchronize cycles. The rhythmic timing of menstruation also provides women with a sense of their own timing, other than just daylight.

From Menstrual Health article at WebMD