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Q: Is heavy period normal?
asked by: DoctorQuestion on February 9th, 2008
Please Help me with this situation:

My girlfriend has always had a "lite to none" kind of period. The doctor to her mother that when girls are very athletic that sometimes their monthly cycle can be "lite to none". Well that was 2 years ago. And now, on February 6th, she started what seems to me a "real, full-blown" period. She is freaking out, asking me what does mine monthly cycle do and does bleed this much and so on. She had to get super tampons, which normally she didn't use one at all (tampons that is, or any feminine products). Ive looked in the toilet when she had went potty, and to my assumptions that is this looks normal.

My question to you is:

Is this normal for a girl to go from having a period "lite to none" to "super"?

Facts about situation
She changes her tampon maybe every 30 minutes to 2 hours for the past 3 days using super tampon.


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Dr. Nikola Gjuzelov , MD
replied on February 20th, 2008
Womens Conditions Answer A3695
It seems likely that the “little to none” menstrual periods your girlfriend experienced 2 years ago were not "real" periods. The hormonal function of the axis hypothalamus-pituitary-ovaries was probably still “sleepy”. Now, as the axis begins to “wake up” the relationship between the hormones are not yet balanced.

It seems that what is happening is that the follicles in the ovaries have been stimulated to grow and to produce estrogen hormones but ovulation is not established yet because there is no progesterone. Large amounts of estrogen hormones stimulate the endometrium to grow. However, without progesterone, estrogen stimulation can not be stopped so the endometrium grows more than normal and becomes thicker. The endometrium is the lining of the uterus that women actually bleed every month during menstruation.

So, when the time for your girlfriend's menstrual period comes, this overgrown endometrium bleeds more than normally. This condition is a kind of functional bleeding called metropathia haemoragica juvenilis. Easy cases are treated symptomatically but severe cases are treated with hormone therapy. Before diagnosing this menstrual disorder as a functional condition, all organic reasons for such bleeding should be excluded first such as : blood coagulation disorders, tumors, infections, foreign bodies, traumas etc. Your girlfriend can consult a gynecologist for these diagnostics and further advice.





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