Menstruation is a woman's monthly bleeding. It is
also called menses, menstrual period, or period. With menstruation,
come menstrual difficulties like menstrual cramps also known as
dysmenorrhea and pre-menstrual stress (PMS). Women can experience
cramps during menses and the following before period, like lower
abdominal pain, bloating, lower backache as well as breast tenderness,
acute burning sensation when urinating, giddiness, nausea and
some may even feel lethargic.
To understand some of these problems, we need to
know what takes place during menses. When a woman has her period,
she is menstruating. The menstrual blood is partly blood and partly
tissue from the inside of the uterus (womb). It flows from the
uterus through the small opening in the cervix, and passes out
of the body through the vagina. Most menstrual periods last from
three to five days.
During the menstrual period, the thickened uterine
lining and extra blood are shed through the vaginal canal. A woman's
period may not be the same every month, and it may not be the
same as other women's periods. Periods can be light, moderate,
or heavy, and the length of the period also varies. While most
menstrual periods last from three to five days, anywhere from
two to seven days is considered normal. For the first few years
after menstruation begins, periods may be very irregular. They
may also become irregular in women approaching menopause. Sometimes
birth control pills are prescribed to help with irregular periods
or other problems with the menstrual cycle.
Women can have various kinds of problems with their
periods, including pain, heavy bleeding, and skipped periods.
Some of them are:
· Dysmenorrhea - painful periods, including
severe menstrual cramps
Dysmenorrhea is simply the medical term for menstrual cramps,
that dull or throbbing pain in the lower abdomen many women experience
just before and during their menstrual periods. For some women,
the discomfort is merely annoying. For others, it can be severe
enough to interfere with everyday activities for a few days every
month.
Dysmenorrhea can be primary or secondary. Primary
dysmenorrhea involves no physical abnormality. These so-called
normal cramps affect 50 percent to 90 percent of all menstruating
women. Primary dysmenorrhea usually begins within three years
after a girl begins menstruating. Secondary dysmenorrhea involves
an underlying physical cause, such as endometriosis or uterine
fibroids.
If you have primary dysmenorrhea, there are some
measures you can take to ease the discomfort. You also can take
comfort in knowing that cramps tend to decrease in intensity as
you get older, and often disappear after a pregnancy.
In younger women, there is often no known disease
or condition associated with the pain. A hormone called prostaglandin
is responsible for the symptoms. Some pain medicines available
over the counter, such as ibuprofen, can help with these symptoms.
Sometimes a disease or condition, such as uterine fibroids or
endometriosis, causes the pain. Treatment depends on what is causing
the problem and how severe it is.
For secondary dysmenorrhea, managing your cramps
involves treating the underlying cause. The complications of secondary
dysmenorrhea depend on the underlying cause. For instance, pelvic
inflammatory disease can scar your fallopian tubes and compromise
reproductive health. The scarring also can lead to an ectopic
pregnancy, in which the fertilized egg stays in the fallopian
tube rather than traveling through the tube to implant in your
uterus, or it implants somewhere else outside your uterus. Endometriosis,
another possible cause of secondary dysmenorrhea, can lead to
impaired fertility.
On the other hand, some women can have lack of menstrual
period.
· Amenorrhea - the lack of a menstrual period
This term is used to describe the absence of a period in young
women who haven't started menstruating by age 16, or the absence
of a period in women who used to have a regular period. Causes
of amenorrhea include pregnancy, breastfeeding, and extreme weight
loss caused by serious illness, eating disorders, excessive exercising,
or stress. Hormonal problems (involving the pituitary, thyroid,
ovary, or adrenal glands) or problems with the reproductive organs
may be involved.
· PMS
Most women also experience PMS (Pre-menstrual stress) and usually
treatment or lifestyle can help manage PMS. An estimated 70 percent
to 90 percent of menstruating women experience some form of PMS.
These problems are more likely to trouble women in their 20s and
30s, and they tend to recur in a predictable pattern. Yet the
physical and emotional changes you experience may be more or less
intense with each menstrual cycle. Still, you don't have to let
these problems control your life.
Although the list of potential signs and symptoms
is long, most women with PMS experience only a few of these problems.
For an estimated 30 percent to 40 percent of women, the physical
pain and emotional stress are severe enough to affect their daily
routines and activities. For most of these women, symptoms disappear
as the menstrual period begins.
Abnormal uterine bleeding-vaginal bleeding that
is different from normal menstrual periods. It includes very heavy
bleeding or unusually long periods (also called menorrhagia),
periods too close together, and bleeding between periods. In adolescents
and women approaching menopause, hormone imbalance problems often
cause menorrhagia along with irregular cycles. Sometimes this
is called dysfunctional uterine bleeding (DUB). Other causes of
abnormal bleeding include uterine fibroids and polyps. Treatment
for abnormal bleeding depends on the cause.
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