Is it normal if your periods are not heavy, but last 7-8 days: what is the reason and what to do?

Why does menstruation last a month?

Such conditions occur with prolonged stress, severe anemia (anemia), the presence of malignant and benign tumors, diseases of the endocrine system and genital organs. The development of endometriosis and inflammation is possible.

Endometriosis is an overgrowth of the lining of the uterus, causing the formation of extra cavities. When menstruation arrives, the mucous layer is shed and heavy bleeding begins, which will last much longer than normal menstruation.

In this case, endometriosis must be treated, but this should only be done under the supervision of a doctor. If menstruation does not go away for a long time, for example, within 2 weeks, then the factors for prolonged bleeding may be:

1. Disruption of the functions of the endocrine system when hypothyroidism occurs - thyroid disease, diabetes mellitus - with pathologies of the pancreas. Against this background, a hormonal imbalance may occur, the duration of menstruation may increase, and it will become more intense and abundant.
2. Diseases of the ovaries and uterus, which can result in severe infectious and inflammatory processes in the body.
3. Diseases of the pituitary gland and adrenal glands, obesity and overweight. In this case, slight spotting is observed. It requires lifestyle adjustments and dietary changes that will help you lose weight.
4. Diseases of the uterus - fibroids and polyps. Myoma is a benign tumor that occurs in the muscle and connective tissue of the uterus. It looks like a knot that prevents the uterus from contracting normally. Therefore, endometrial discharge may be delayed. The tumor is removed surgically, while the menstrual cycle is not disrupted. Polyps can be single or multiple and look like growths created by endometrial cells. Their size ranges from 2-3 mm to 5-6 cm. Polyps are susceptible to injury, which provokes bleeding. They are removed by scraping or burning.

What should a woman do if her period lasts 15 days or a month? You must consult a doctor immediately.

Usually, during normal periods, a woman loses about 100 mm of ichor, which is then restored by the body. If the discharge lasts more than 15 days, then blood loss increases several times. In this case, the results may be negative for the patient:

• development of anemia;
• prostration;
• fast fatiguability;
• depression.

Menstruation cycle

The menstrual cycle is a monthly change in the female body, repeated at regular intervals and manifested by bleeding.

Menstruation begins in adolescence, at the stage of puberty in girls, and ends with menopause. The norm in gynecology is the onset of menopause at 45-55 years.

Duration

The duration of the cycle is taken into account from the first day of menstruation to the first day of the next menstruation. The result of the calculations is individual for each woman and depends on the physiological characteristics of her body.

How long is the ideal monthly cycle? 28 days. But there are women for whom its duration varies between 21-35 days.

How long should your period last? Normally – from 3 to 7 days. The process is accompanied by weakness, heaviness in the mammary glands, pain in the lower abdomen. If the duration of the critical days is longer or shorter, it is recommended to consult a gynecologist. Deviations from the norm may be a symptom of inflammation or hormonal imbalance in the body.

The menstrual cycle is on average 28 days

First menstrual cycle

In medical language it is called “menarche”. Typically, girls' periods begin by the age of 12, but they can appear at other ages - a period of 10-15 years will be the norm.

The cycle does not stabilize immediately: for some it takes 2-4 months, for some girls it takes a year for it to improve. Until the cycle stabilizes, it is difficult to talk about the frequency of menstruation, because some girls may not have them at all.

Not all teenagers know how long the first menstruation lasts. It usually lasts 3-5 days and is characterized by scanty brown discharge or a few drops of blood. This is explained by hormonal changes in the teenage body and should not worry girls and parents.

The menstrual cycle stabilizes by the age of 14 - from this moment on, girls are recommended to control its frequency. If your period lasts 1-2 days or more than a week, consult your doctor.

Menstruation in the postpartum period

How long should it take after childbirth or a “caesarean section” for women to regain their periods? The average period is 6 months provided breastfeeding. If the child is artificial, then the body recovers faster - the first menstruation can begin in 2-3 months.

The first menstruation after childbirth is often accompanied by heavy bleeding - many women are worried about this condition because the symptoms are similar to bleeding. Heavy discharge in this situation is normal, but if it has an unnatural smell and color, it is better to consult a doctor.

The period of recovery of the cycle after a “caesarean section” is the same as after a natural birth – closer to six months. Sometimes the operation is accompanied by complications - then menstruation may begin later because the uterus and ovaries require more time to recover, especially when stitches are applied.

Periods after childbirth begin around the 6th month

How to calculate cycle duration?

You already know that the normal menstrual cycle is 28 days with permissible fluctuations up or down. It is determined from the first day of menstruation to the next first day. The calculation formula for women looks like this: the date of the start of menstruation in the current month - the date of the start of menstruation in the last month + 1 day = cycle duration.

In practice it looks like this. August 23 - July 26 +1 day = 28 days.

Scanty and prolonged periods as a sign of pregnancy (hypomenorrhea)

After the fertilized egg attaches to the wall of the uterus, the level of estrogen in the body begins to steadily decrease, but the amount of progesterone, the hormone responsible for maintaining pregnancy, increases sharply. A side effect of this process is the absence of menstruation. However, it happens that pregnancy has occurred, and menstruation continues, although their character changes slightly: the discharge becomes scanty and acquires a brown tint. Why is this happening? The explanation for the current situation can be found in the following:

1. Physiological characteristics of the body: in women with a disrupted mechanism for the production of progesterone, pregnancy is often terminated early - this happens during menstruation, which, due to a deficiency of the “pregnancy hormone”, comes at the right time. However, the presence of this substance in the body, albeit in minute quantities, does not pass without leaving a trace: under its influence, the discharge becomes scarce and changes color.
2. Ectopic pregnancy: if the fertilized egg was implanted outside the uterus, for example, in the fallopian tube, menstruation comes on time, although the volume of discharge decreases sharply - instead of the usual bleeding, a brown spot appears.
3. Pathology of fetal development: if the embryo develops incorrectly, the body may reject it. Spontaneous miscarriage is accompanied by partial rejection of the endometrium and minor bleeding, which a woman may mistake for scanty periods.
4. Multiple pregnancy: If several eggs are fertilized and implanted at the same time, the body may not be able to cope with the load. In this case, some of the embryos will detach along with the endometrial layer that holds them in place, and will come out in the form of scanty periods of a dark brown hue.

There should be no periods during pregnancy. If bloody smears are found on the underwear, it means that something is wrong with the expectant mother’s body. In this case, you should consult a gynecologist. If this is not done, the pregnancy may be terminated for reasons beyond the woman's control.

Normal volume of discharge during menstruation

According to the volume of discharge, menstruation can usually be:

• plentiful;
• normal;
• meager.

The normal amount of blood is easily determined independently. It is believed that on the days of the most intense discharge, girls should use about 6-7 pads per day, changing them every 3-4 hours.

If you have to change pads more often, and no matter how much you change them, blood still leaks onto the underwear - this is too abundant. In the case where one pad lasts for 6 hours, or even more, the discharge is very scanty.

General recommendations - what to do?

Long periods of more than 7-10 days require careful diagnosis and comprehensive treatment. In cases where a woman is able to move on her own and she does not experience severe pain, she should visit a doctor as soon as possible.

In opposite situations, you need to call an ambulance, since no folk remedies or methods will help solve this rather serious problem. While waiting for an ambulance, you can follow these recommendations that will make the patient’s condition a little easier:

• take a horizontal position, raising your legs slightly higher than your body;
• if there is very severe pain and bleeding, you can apply a cold compress to the stomach, but do not get carried away with this method;
• drink more fluids;
• in case of very severe bleeding, you can take a hemostatic drug, for example, Dicynon or even a banal water pepper extract;
• take a painkiller or light a suppository to slightly reduce severe pain.

You should not get too carried away with medications, so as not to blur the clinical picture. But when the symptoms are unbearable, it is better not to endure and not lose strength.

My period lasts 2 weeks

My period has been going on for 15 days - what to do in this situation? This question interests women who are faced with this problem. Why does this happen and what needs to be done so that they stop and do not arise again? We will talk about this in our article.

If your period lasts 2 weeks and this happens regularly, then this is a reason to consult a doctor to determine the cause of such disorders. It is very rare, but it happens that long menstruation does not require treatment.

Your period lasts for two weeks: we will look at the reasons for its occurrence below. So, one of the leading reasons for prolonged menstruation is an unsteady cycle. This may be normal in a teenage girl for a couple of years from the first menstruation and, depending on the amount of blood loss, additional diagnostics and, if necessary, treatment must be carried out.

Menstruation may also be 2 weeks with hormonal diseases. To identify them, additional examination is often required, after which hormonal or surgical treatment is indicated. If the cause of the disorders is polycystic disease, then in this case surgical treatment is indicated, and if there are hormonal imbalances, then hormonal hemostasis is performed, followed by taking COCs to normalize the cycle and hormonal balance.

A period of two weeks or more may occur if hormonal contraception is not used correctly. If, three months after starting to take COCs, a woman notices heavy periods, then she should inform the doctor about this and replace the drug with others with a different hormonal composition. The use of an intrauterine device as contraception can also cause significant bleeding, which requires the doctor to remove it as soon as possible.

2 weeks menstruation can be observed with pathological development of pregnancy, its ectopic location, as well as with the threat of miscarriage. To clarify the cause, an instrumental study should be performed - ultrasound and find out the cause of the bleeding, find out the prolongation of pregnancy, if this is possible and the woman is interested in pregnancy. If prolonged bleeding is accompanied by a miscarriage or abortion in progress, then an instrumental revision of the uterine cavity is indicated.

Blood diseases and disorders of the coagulation system also often cause the development of prolonged menstruation. To identify this reason, it is enough just to take a clinical blood test and a blood clotting test.

Pathological conditions of the cervix and cervical canal also often cause the development of prolonged menstruation. If cervical pathology is suspected, colposcopy is performed and, if necessary, curettage of the cervical canal and uterine cavity.

My period lasts for 3 weeks and is not going to stop. And this, unfortunately, happens quite often. Here, every woman should understand that the sooner she seeks qualified medical help, and not for advice from a friend or acquaintance, the better it will be for her, because timely diagnosis and timely treatment is the key to a favorable outcome.

The danger of long periods, and even more so of heavy periods, lies in the fact that for the body it is dangerous due to significant blood loss and complications with health, the course of pregnancy, as well as the development of inflammatory changes. Such bleeding is called dysfunctional, the elimination of which is achieved by using various means and methods to stop bleeding: for adolescents, stopping bleeding begins with hormonal therapy, and in older women - with curettage of the uterus and further, if necessary, hormonal treatment.

Every self-respecting woman who monitors her reproductive health regularly visits an obstetrician-gynecologist and is very attentive to the characteristics of her body. The presence of bleeding for 2 to 3 weeks requires the doctor to hospitalize the woman and provide care in a hospital setting, because to completely eliminate the cause of bleeding it is often necessary to perform surgical intervention.

Be attentive to your health, because disease is easier to prevent than to treat.

Period more than 7 days

If you have prolonged periods, you should consult a doctor. The condition is dangerous due to large blood losses, which causes deterioration of health.

If your period lasts more than 7 days, the reasons may not only be pathological. Perhaps there was a malfunction in the body for physiological reasons.

Possible reasons

Let's look at the possible reasons why menstruation lasts longer than expected:

• Heredity. You should find out about the nature of menstruation from relatives. If the mother has always had long-term reguli, then the daughter may have the same thing. This is an individual feature of the body.
• Age-related changes. Applies to teenage girls and women over 45 years of age. In the former, the cycle begins to develop within two years after menarche, while in the latter, reproductive function declines. In any case, you should be examined to diagnose abnormalities if they exist.
• Oral contraception. Taking pills containing hormones to prevent unwanted pregnancy disrupts the entire cycle. From the start date of their use, it will take 2-3 months until the cycle returns to normal, and menstruation will last no longer than a week.
• Navy. The intrauterine device is a mechanical method of protection. In addition to a number of benefits, it causes side effects, including long periods. If the discharge is heavy, with clots, and continues for more than seven days, you should consult a doctor, remove the IUD and choose another method of contraception.
• Stressful situations. A woman’s emotional state is always reflected in her menstrual cycle. The stress experienced can cause disruption and an increase in the number of days of menstruation.
• Physical overexertion. Excessive stress, playing sports, lifting heavy things provokes heavy menstruation, which does not end for a long time.

If there is pathology

A number of diseases of the reproductive and other systems lead to disruption of the menstrual cycle. Violation can be caused by the following reasons.

Gynecological:

• Endometriosis. A disease characterized by excessive proliferation of cells in the mucous tissue of the uterine cavity. The endometrium grows into the walls of the organ - adenomyosis, and extends beyond its boundaries. Can be localized on the ovaries, fallopian tubes, bladder, and peritoneal organs. Why do my periods last until 9–10 or more? The reason is a thick layer of endometrium, which takes a long time to tear away from the walls of the uterus.
• Endometrial polyps. Formed in areas of tissue proliferation. The reason is most often hormonal imbalance. They may not pose a health hazard, but they do cause prolonged menstruation.
• Endometritis. Inflammation in the uterine cavity. In the chronic course, it affects not only the endometrium, but also spreads to the myometrium - the muscle tissue of the uterus. Bloody discharge lasts longer than expected and contains purulent admixture.
• Myoma. A benign tumor of the uterus that forms in its connective and muscle tissues. Myomatous nodes prevent normal contraction of the organ. For this reason, the process of endometrial rejection during menstruation is difficult. Therefore, menstruation lasts a long time, up to 10 days.
• STD. These are infections transmitted through unprotected sexual contact. Their symptoms are various types of vaginal discharge, pain in the lower abdomen, disruption of the cycle and the duration of critical days.

Non-gynecological reasons causing the failure:

• Diseases of the endocrine system. A lack or excess of hormones causes a malfunction in the functioning of the reproductive system. The consequence is long-term regulation.
• Blood diseases. In some of them, there are not enough platelets - the cells responsible for clotting. Iron deficiency anemia also leads to prolonged menstruation.
• ARVI, colds. They weaken the immune system in general, affect blood circulation in the uterus, disrupting it. The general inflammatory process in the body causes long-term regulation.

Video about dysfunctional bleeding

How many days should menstruation last?

Knowing how many days menstruation should last, you can notice deviations in time. Since each organism is unique and functions individually, there is no clearly established time for the duration of critical days. But there are still limits to the norm.

Typically, menstruation lasts from 3 to 7 days and is accompanied by weakness, decreased ability to work and nagging pain in the lower abdomen. This condition is normal and does not cause suspicion.

If a girl notes that menstruation lasts less than 3 or more than 7 days, you need to consult a gynecologist. Such disturbances in the duration of menstruation may be symptoms:

• inflammatory process of the reproductive system;
• hormonal imbalance.

Causes of long periods

There are several physiological reasons why menstruation lasts more than 7 days. Normally, the following menstruation occurs:

• due to heredity;
• after abortion;
• when taking hormonal contraceptives;
• when using mechanical contraceptives, for example, a spiral;
• before menopause;
• within 6 months after the first menstruation;
• after childbirth.

In other cases, if your period lasts for a whole week, you should urgently consult a doctor, since it is possible that pathological processes are occurring in the body. The greatest risks are associated with the presence of inflammation in the reproductive organs, diseases of the uterus, and hormonal disorders.

Inflammatory diseases

Failure of the menstrual cycle and protracted periods can be caused by sexually transmitted diseases, which provoke the development of an inflammatory process. If your period lasts more than 7 days, and other specific symptoms are observed, you should seek help from a specialist. The presence of pathologies can be recognized by such signs as:

• the appearance of painful sensations;
• the presence of pathological discharge that has a whitish, yellowish, greenish tint and an unpleasant odor of menstrual discharge;
• the appearance of itching and burning in the genital area.

If your period lasts 7–8 days, and the symptoms described above appear, it is necessary to diagnose the emerging pathology and begin its treatment in a timely manner. Situations when menstruation is on the 9th day deserve special attention. In this case, there may be an infection that increases the risk of developing dangerous complications that affect the reproductive function and general well-being of the woman.

Pathology of the uterus, endometrium

There are several uterine pathologies that prolong menstruation to 8 or more days. These include:

1. Myoma is a benign neoplasm localized in the muscle and connective tissues of the uterus. Such nodes prevent the organ from contracting, which reduces the activity of the endometrium. With fibroids, the menstrual cycle does not change, but the duration of menstruation can reach 10 days.
2. Polyps are benign growths in the uterus that are formed from the cellular structures of the endometrium. They can be easily damaged, causing bleeding.
3. Endometriosis is a pathology characterized by the growth of the layer that lines the internal uterine cavity into the area of ​​neighboring organs and tissues. There is a subtype of this disease called adenomyosis. It is characterized by the proliferation of epithelium in the muscular uterine region. With such disorders, menstruation may be characterized by a decrease or increase in the volume of blood discharge and cycle disruption. Most often, with endometriosis, menstruation lasts 9 days or more.
4. Endometrial hyperplasia is the growth of the epithelium into the organ, thickening of the layer. With such pathology of the endometrium of the uterus, there is a risk of developing a cancerous tumor.
5. Chronic endometritis of the uterus is an inflammatory process that can spread to the muscular uterine layer. At the same time, menstruation lasts longer, and pus appears in the discharge.

Taking birth control pills

Combined oral contraceptives can affect a woman's menstrual cycle. Most often, this phenomenon is observed during the first 3 months after starting to take contraceptive medications. In this case, menstruation lasts more than one week, and can also appear several times a month.

Hormonal disorders

The reason that your period lasts 7 days may be a hormonal imbalance. Normally, such changes are caused by:

• menopause;
• postpartum period;
• performing an abortion.

At this time, hormonal changes occur in the woman’s body, as a result of which menstruation lasts more than 7 days.

Hormonal imbalance can also be caused by pathological reasons. If you get your period on the 8th day, you need to check your thyroid function. With such an abnormal duration of critical days, the thyroid gland begins to produce an increased or decreased amount of hormones. Such a violation can reduce the likelihood of pregnancy and complicate its course in the future.

What is normal menstruation like?

Everyone's menstrual period is different. But there are several standard schemes.

As usual, this happens normally:

• Menstruation is heavy from the first day, often with dark clots. Every day the volume of discharge decreases and on days 5-7 (depending on the individual duration) it ends.
• Menstruation begins with a scanty dark spot, and towards the end it becomes more abundant. Thus, the heaviest discharge occurs on days 3-4.
• Allocations may vary. At the beginning they are abundant, and after a couple of days their volume decreases until they smear. On day 5, blood is released intensively again, and by day 7 everything goes away.

These are only approximate data. The same schemes apply for periods lasting less than 5 days. In this case, everything can go the same way, but changes occur not after a few days, but after a few hours within one day.

Why does the cycle change?

The average age of onset of menopause in women is about 46 years. Early menopause is considered to be 40 years of age, and late menopause - up to 56 years of age. But changes may begin to occur 1-2 years before. Many women report increased irritability, fatigue and changes in the nature of menstruation. Such manifestations are considered normal and do not require treatment.

Menstruation is an indicator of a woman's fertility. Its decrease with age is associated with depletion of egg reserves.

Until the complete loss of the ability to fertilize, each cycle the uterus goes through the following stages of hormonal changes:

1. Start of cycle and low estrogen.
2. Increased levels of progesterone and estrogen, growth of the endometrium. Preparations for conception are underway.
3. The rise of luteinizing hormone during ovulation, the formation of the corpus luteum.
4. A drop in hormones involved in menstruation. Endometrial shedding begins.

As menopause approaches, the level of luteinizing hormone increases. At the same time, the ovaries decrease in size, estrogen and progesterone are produced less and less. It is with their deficiencies that the usual changes in the body before menopause are associated.