Menorrhagia is a menstrual disorder characterized by heavier or longer-lasting bleeding than normal. It is a frequent alteration due to its incidence, since it affects between 15% and 20% of women at some time in their lives.
On many occasions it is difficult to detect if there is menorrhagia, since the amount of blood lost during menstruation is not qualified, and it is usually a cause for concern when it is accompanied by other symptoms. It should be taken into account that a menorrhoea means a hemorrhage greater than 80 milliliters.
Causes and treatment of menorrhagia
- The reasons that cause this disorder are varied and of different severity. In general, the appearance of menorrhoea is frequent in the first two years of menstruation and before menopause. During the normal reproductive period, these types of disorders should be reviewed by the gynecologist to avoid complications and determine their origin.
- Menorrhoea appears above all associated with hormonal disorders and the presence of benign tumors. It can also be due to eating and emotional problems, ovarian cysts or cancer.
Menorrhagia and hysterectomies
- One of the biggest concerns among experts is the high number of hysterectomies or unnecessary uterus removals due to menorrhoea and other menstrual disorders. In Spain, for example, 18.6% of visits to the gynecologist are due to abnormal menstrual bleeding, of which 60% end up undergoing this type of intervention, according to the Spanish Society of Gynecology and Obstetrics (SEGO).
- The problem is that about half of women who undergo a hysterectomy have a normal uterus, as the organization points out. For this reason, specialists recommend an intrauterine hormone release treatment as an alternative to removal, mainly in menorrhoea with no specific origin.
Menorrhagia and anemia
Although menorrhagia is usually a benign disorder, the truth is that it negatively affects the quality of life of women who suffer from it, mainly by causing the appearance of anemia.
According to SEGO, this disorder is the most common cause of this pathology in developed countries. In these cases, it is advisable to take iron and folic acid supplements.
