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HealthInfo West Coast-Te Tai Poutini

Heavy periods

Mate marama āwai

When you have had several periods where the blood loss is excessive and causes problems in your daily life, it is called getting heavy periods. The medical term for heavy periods is menorrhagia.

Menorrhagia is very common, particularly when you have just started getting periods. Or when you are coming up to menopause. They are not usually a sign of anything serious.

Causes of heavy periods

In most cases there is no cause for the heavy bleeding. Occasionally, there is a cause, which can include:

Symptoms of heavy periods

The amount of blood that is lost during your period varies a lot from person to person. If your periods are heavy, you may:

The loss of blood might make you feel very tired. This could mean you have low iron in your blood, which can cause anaemia.

Getting help with heavy periods

If you are concerned about your periods or if period problems are disrupting your life, you should make an appointment with your general practice team.

It is important to see your doctor if you have heavy periods and any of the following are true:

Diagnosing heavy periods

It can be helpful to complete a menstrual diary, which is a record of your periods. The diary can help your general practice team understand how heavy your periods are and when you have period pain. You can also download a period tracker app. Recommended apps are Clue Period & Cycle Tracker and Flo Health Period Tracker.

Bring your diary along to your appointment to discuss with your general practice team.

Tests for heavy periods

You may need several kinds of tests to find the cause of your heavy periods. Your general practice team will do them or refer you to a specialist doctor called a gynaecologist. If you prefer, you can pay to see a private gynaecologist. You can find a private gynaecologist on Healthpoint.

Tests may include the following.

The doctor will check if you are up to date with your cervical screening. You may need a repeat test to check for infections.

  HealthInfo recommends the following pages

On the next page: Treating heavy periods

Written by HealthInfo clinical advisers. Last reviewed January 2025.

Sources

See also:

Overview of anaemia

Understanding your vaginal swab results

Page reference: 36981

Review key: HIPER-53354