Scanty and heavy periods, delay or absence of periods
What is menstruation (menstruation) is known firsthand to almost every female. Women also know that this biological process is characterized by cyclical changes that occur throughout the month in the body of all sexually mature women. Such changes usually end in bloody discharge from the genitals. The first menstruation begins in girls at 11-15 years old, and menstruation ends in women at the age of 45-55 years, during menopause.
Content:
- Scanty and profuse periods
- Causes of ovarian dysfunction
- Delay or absence of menstruation
- Failure and pain during menstruation
Scanty and profuse periods
If the menstrual cycle does not cause painful sensations and deviations in duration (no shorter than 20 and no more than 35 days), the amount of discharge (no less than 50 and no more than 150 ml) and cyclicity, then it is considered to be normal. Usually during menstruation, a woman feels aching and pulling pain in the lower abdomen, but this is normal for this process.
According to doctors, every woman should know the frequency of her menstrual cycle in order to respond in a timely manner to any changes in the normal activity of the body. To do this, you need to create a calendar where you should mark the date of the beginning and end of menstruation, the degree of bleeding.
Scanty and rare discharge, absence of menstruation or, conversely, prolonged and abundant discharge, as well as uterine bleeding not associated with the menstrual cycle, are symptoms of a number of gynecological diseases. If such phenomena recur, a woman should immediately consult a doctor.
So, oligomenorrhea refers to menstrual irregularities, characterized by scanty and infrequent bleeding. In this case, menstruation occurs less often than once every 35 days. This disorder is accompanied by the growth of unwanted body hair and weight gain, which indicates ovarian dysfunction.
Causes of ovarian dysfunction
The causes of ovarian dysfunction are different. It can be:
- congenital ovarian pathologies,
- diseases of the thyroid gland, pituitary gland, hypothalamus, adrenal glands,
- miscarriages (spontaneous abortion) or abortions (artificial termination of pregnancy),
- prolonged stress or infectious diseases of the genital organs.
Also, oligomenorrhea can be a sign of endometriosis and polycystic ovary disease.
Heavy periods is another of the menstrual irregularities called menorrhagia (hypermenorrhea), in which bleeding lasts more than 7 days, and the total volume of discharge is more than 100 ml.
The most common causes of menorrhagia are:
- endocrine diseases,
- diseases of the pelvic organs,
- violation of blood clotting.
Delay or absence of menstruation
A delay in menstruation is one of the most common female problems that requires a visit to a gynecologist.
If the reason for the delay in menstruation is not pregnancy, then these may be external factors such as:
- excessive physical activity - athletes and ballerinas often suffer from a delay or lack of menstruation;
- drastic weight loss - for catwalk models, the absence or delay of menstruation is common;
- psychological stress - a woman's body is designed in such a way that any adverse effect on the psyche can react with a delay in menstruation. The body, as it were, independently decides whether or not a woman can become pregnant in a particular situation, and then processes occur in the brain that cause the menstrual cycle to fail;
- acclimatization - moving to a permanent place of residence in another climatic zone, a trip on vacation to exotic islands or "eternal snow" can also cause a delay in menstruation.
In addition to external factors, the female body can malfunction in the following cases:
- ovarian dysfunction (lack of ovulation, polycystic disease),
- with a viral or bacterial infection,
- with hypothyroidism (dysfunction of the thyroid gland) or insufficient production of certain female sex hormones.
Another female problem is the absence of menstruation - amenorrhea. It happens: false - due to a mechanical obstruction to the outflow of blood, for example, when the hymen becomes infected. Such cases require urgent surgical intervention. Amenorrhea can be physiological and occurs during pregnancy or after childbirth, while breastfeeding. They also distinguish between pathological or secondary amenorrhea - a violation of the menstrual cycle with the absence of bloody discharge for more than six months with various diseases.
Failure and pain during menstruation
Pain during menstruation is a common occurrence in many completely healthy women. They can also be joined by: intestinal upset, weakness, nausea, headache, which are considered common female ailments during this period. Most often, during the examination, the doctor does not find any diseases in patients with such complaints and diagnoses "primary algodismenorrhea".
Experts know that there are different causes of pulling pain in the abdomen, and they conditionally divide them into 3 groups:
- Pain during menstruation with gynecological diseases. One of these diseases is endometriosis, when cells of the inner layer of the uterus (endometrium) grow in the cervix, peritoneum, rectum, ovaries, muscle layer of the uterus. And since the endometrium is subject to cyclical changes even in atypical places for it, this causes abdominal pain during menstruation.
- Pain during menstruation with hormonal disorders. If other menstrual irregularities are observed, then most often pain during menstruation is associated with hormonal disorders in the body. Such disorders are treated with preparations of female sex hormones. Pain that first occurs during menstruation may indicate an ectopic pregnancy.
- Pain during menstruation with a genetic predisposition. Pain in this case usually occurs during the first menstrual cycles and the reason for this may be a violation of the normal development of connective tissue - dysplasia. Naturally, when making such a diagnosis, the doctor must make sure that the patient has no gynecological diseases.
On the subject: How to distinguish menstruation from bleeding?
With dysplasia of connective tissue, women are advised to lead a healthy lifestyle, do aerobics and swimming, as well as other sports for recreational purposes. Professional sports and dancing are prohibited. Foods rich in magnesium and calcium will also help cope with pain, since in people with dysplasia, the concentration of these trace elements in the blood is reduced.
Depending on the results of the examination, the gynecologist prescribes appropriate treatment for the woman with menstrual irregularities. So, with heavy and prolonged bleeding, the doctor, first of all, uses drugs to stop them, and then prescribes progesterone drugs to stimulate ovulation in order to normalize the menstrual cycle. Usually, a woman takes such medications over several menstrual cycles.
The author of the article: Lapikova Valentina Vladimirovna | Gynecologist, reproductologist
Education: Diploma in Obstetrics and Gynecology received at the Russian State Medical University of the Federal Agency for Healthcare and Social Development (2010). In 2013 completed postgraduate studies at N. N. N. I. Pirogova.
