How heavy is my period?
Heavy periods are horrible. No girl or woman should be told they're common or "that's just a period" and left to cope. If you think you have heavy periods, it's important to speak with your GP.
If you've ever tried to explain your bleeding to a GP, you'll know how akward it can be. Is changing a pad every two hours heavy? What about passing clots? Bleeding through at night? And how are you supposed to know how much blood you're actually losing?
The good news is you don't need an exact measurement for your bleeding to be taken seriously. But understanding your flow and its impact on your life can help you have a much more useful conversation with your GP.
How do I know if my period is heavy?
Historically, heavy menstrual bleeding has been defined as losing 80 ml or more of blood during one period.
In real life, very few women know how many millilitres of blood they lose. So the NHS suggests looking for more practical signs.
Your periods may be heavy if you:
- change a pad or tampon every 1–2 hours
- use two period products together, such as a tampon and pad
- regularly bleed through clothes or bedding
- need to change period products during the night
- pass clots larger than around 2.5 cm
- bleed for more than seven days
- avoid everyday activities because of your period
- frequently feel tired or short of breath.
And the amount of blood isn't the only thing that matters. NICE recommends considering how your periods affect your quality of life, rather than focusing solely on blood loss.
If you're arranging your work, travel, exercise or social life around your period, that's worth telling your GP.
How is menstrual blood loss actually measured?
There are a few ways clinicians and researchers can assess menstrual bleeding.
Your experience
For most women, the starting point is simply describing what's happening: how long you bleed, how frequently you change products, whether you experience flooding or clots and how your periods affect everyday life.
You don't need to prove that your periods are heavy before asking for help.
A period blood-loss chart
A Pictorial Blood Loss Assessment Chart (PBAC) provides a more structured estimate. You record the pads or tampons you use, how saturated they are and things such as clots or flooding.
It's useful for tracking patterns, but it's still an estimate.
Laboratory measurement
The recognised laboratory method is called the alkaline haematin method. Used period products are collected and chemically analysed to determine the amount of blood they contain.
It's accurate, but understandably not very practical outside a research or clinical setting.
What should I tell my GP?
Rather than trying to remember everything during an appointment, keep a short record for a couple of periods.
Include:
- how many days you bleed
- your heaviest days
- how frequently you change products
- flooding, leaking or bleeding through at night
- clots and approximately how large they are
- pain or other symptoms
- tiredness, dizziness or shortness of breath.
But there's another part of the story that's just as important.
Tell your GP what your period is doing to your life.
Do you cancel plans? Work from home on your heaviest days? Avoid swimming, exercise or long journeys? Are you constantly worried about bleeding through your clothes?
It can also help to explain what you'd consider a good outcome. “Better” means something different to everyone.
Finally, tell them what you've already tried, what you'd be open to trying and anything you'd rather avoid, and why.
That gives your GP a much clearer picture than simply saying, "My periods are heavy."
Want more concrete evidence for your GP?
If you're finding it hard to get support from your GP - many are incredible and supportive, but sadly not all are brilliant - then giving them evidence is very convincing, and Joii can help with that.
Joii is a UKCA-marked Class 1 medical device that uses compatible menstrual pads and your phone to objectively measure menstrual fluid volume and clot size.
You use a Joii pad, scan it with your phone and build up a record of your flow over your period.
It's worth making one distinction clear: menstrual fluid volume isn't exactly the same as menstrual blood loss. Joii currently measures menstrual fluid and clot size, while its technology for measuring blood loss is still being clinically validated.
Joii isn't a replacement for speaking to your GP. But it can give you more objective information about your periods and help you track changes over time.
When should I speak to my GP?
Speak to your GP if heavy periods are affecting your everyday life, you've noticed a significant change in your bleeding or you're worried about your symptoms.
Heavy menstrual bleeding can have several causes, including fibroids and adenomyosis. It can also contribute to iron-deficiency anaemia, which can leave you feeling exhausted, weak, dizzy or short of breath.
Seek urgent medical advice if you're bleeding very heavily and feel faint or seriously unwell.
The Leio Take
You don't need to know exactly how many millilitres of blood you're losing to know that something isn't right.
Pay attention to what happens during your period and what it stops you from doing.
Tracking your flow, clots, flooding and other symptoms can give you a clearer picture and make it easier to explain what you're experiencing when you speak to your GP.
Because ultimately, the question isn't just “How heavy is my period?” it's also “How much is my period affecting my life?”
Useful resources
Medical disclaimer: This article is for educational purposes and isn't a substitute for personalised medical advice. If you're concerned about heavy or unusual bleeding, speak to your GP or another healthcare professional.
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