Women’s bodies are built to go through menstrual cycles every month. However, some women experience painful symptoms, while some get through it just fine. Menstrual cycles are different for every woman, and some women have to deal with abnormal menstrual bleeding. If you are one of these women, MD365® wants to help you gain clarity in this subject and help you get the proper treatment.
What Is Abnormal Menstrual Bleeding?
Abnormal menstrual bleeding is also known as “abnormal uterine bleeding.” These terms are usually used to describe bleeding that does not follow a normal pattern. An example is spotting between periods. Menstrual cycles last between four to seven days, and women pass around 40 ml of blood during it. But some women can experience excessively heavy periods or they might bleed for longer than 7 days.
Abnormal menstrual bleeding can constitute two very different scenarios: bleeding for more than six months or having an acute, but sudden and severe bleeding. Examples of abnormal menstrual bleeding include bleeding after sex, bleeding after menopause, spotting or bleeding between periods, usually heavy or unusually light flow during periods, or even missing periods altogether.
What Are Common Causes of Abnormal Uterine Bleeding?
Although there are cases when we can’t determine the exact cause of the bleeding, there are quite a bit of common factors for many of the other cases. Let’s take a look at some of them below:
- Infection: including chlamydia or pelvic inflammatory disease
- Bleeding disorders such as leukemia and Von Willebrand disease
- Spontaneous miscarriage in pregnancy
- Hormonal disorders: if you have low levels of thyroxine (hypothyroidism) or polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), this can disrupt your menstrual cycle
- Ovulatory dysfunction: this is when your ovary doesn’t release an egg each month. This usually occurs at either end of a women’s reproductive years, either during puberty or during menopause
- Birth control pills
- Vaginal injury
These are just a few of the common reasons why women can experience abnormal menstrual bleeding. It can be an overwhelming topic, but MD365® is here to offer you clarity and support.
How Can We Diagnose You
In order to find the root causes of the abnormal bleeding, we have to run a number of tests including:
- Vaginal ultrasound
- Endometrial biopsy
- Blood tests
- Cervical screening test
- Physical examination
- Medical history
- Menstrual history
- General examination
Here Are Some Treatment Routes
The treatments vary depending on the cause of the abnormal menstrual bleeding, but here are a couple of examples we can take:
- Change of contraception: if your current birth control method is causing you to bleed abnormally, it is time to switch to a new contraceptive method.
- Surgery: if you have a tumor, we will need to remove it. We may also perform surgery to remove polyps, fibroids, or to treat ectopic pregnancy
- Medication: we can prescribe antibiotics, hormone replacement therapy, or prostaglandin inhibitors
Schedule an Appointment with MD365®
MD365® provides some of the top healthcare services in Shirley, New York, and surrounding areas. Our family physicians are friendly, professional, and vastly knowledgeable. They have mastered women’s health and will provide guidance and treatment for any health problems that arise. If you have been experiencing abnormal menstrual bleeding, schedule an appointment with MD365® as soon as possible. You will be in great hands.