Menstrual Disorders
There is a wide spectrum of differences between how people may experience menstruation. What may indicate a more serious physical problem for one person, may be quite normal for another. There are several ways that a person's menstrual cycle can differ from the norm, any of which should be discussed with a doctor to identify the underlying cause:
| Symptom | See article |
|---|---|
| Infrequent periods | Oligomenorrhea |
| Short or extremely light periods | Hypomenorrhea |
| Too-frequent periods (defined as more frequently than every 21 days) | Polymenorrhea |
| Extremely heavy or long periods (one guideline is soaking a sanitary napkin or tampon every hour or so, or menstruating for longer than 7 days) | Hypermenorrhea |
| Extremely painful periods | Dysmenorrhea |
| Breakthrough bleeding (also called spotting) between periods; normal in many people | Metrorrhagia |
| Absent periods | Amenorrhea |
Dysfunctional uterine bleeding is a hormonally caused bleeding abnormality. Dysfunctional uterine bleeding typically occurs in premenopausal females who do not ovulate normally (i.e. are anovulatory). All these bleeding abnormalities need medical attention; they may indicate hormone imbalances, uterine fibroids, or other problems. As pregnant women may bleed, a pregnancy test forms part of the evaluation of abnormal bleeding.
Read more about this topic: Menstruation
Famous quotes containing the words menstrual and/or disorders:
“It is not menstrual blood per se which disturbs the imagination—unstanchable as that red flood may be—but rather the albumen in the blood, the uterine shreds, placental jellyfish of the female sea. This is the chthonian matrix from which we rose. We have an evolutionary revulsion from slime, our site of biologic origins. Every month, it is woman’s fate to face the abyss of time and being, the abyss which is herself.”
—Camille Paglia (b. 1947)
“A car can massage organs which no masseur can reach. It is the one remedy for the disorders of the great sympathetic nervous system.”
—Jean Cocteau (1889–1963)