Vaginal bleeding
What is vaginal bleeding?
Bleeding that is not related to the menstrual cycle and even after an unusually heavy period can be a cause for concern. The medical term for excessive or prolonged vaginal bleeding that occurs during a regular menstrual cycle is more popularly menorrhagia.
A metrorrhagia is a term used to refer to abnormal uterine bleeding, especially in the time between expected menstrual cycles. There is also another medical term menometrorrhagia, which is a general term and means heavy uterine bleeding, both during a menstrual cycle and when it occurs abnormally.
It is important to find out what is the cause of the bleeding, its origin – from the uterus, vagina or some other tissue or organ, and to take measures to control the bleeding or stop it completely .
What are the symptoms?
Symptoms are blood on underwear or bedding. It can also appear on the toilet bowl after urination. Extremely heavy menstruation, in which the woman is forced to change more tampons or pads than usual.
What are the causes?
• dysfunctional uterine bleeding
– When the bleeding is not caused by the menstrual cycle, it is referred to as abnormal or dysfunctional uterine bleeding. This is the most common cause of abnormal vaginal bleeding in women of childbearing age. About 10% of women experience this condition at some point in their lives.
– When the complex hormonal processes that result in the menstrual cycle are disrupted due to imbalanced levels of progesterone and estrogen, heavy uterine bleeding may occur.
– The condition is diagnosed by the method of exclusion, meaning that all other causes of bleeding must be ruled out including trauma, tumors or other diseases.
– Depending on the age of the girl or woman, the causes of this condition can also be different.
– Dysfunctional uterine bleeding is most often associated with an anovulatory cycle. Anovulation is a condition in which the menstrual cycle begins without an egg being released from the woman’s ovaries. In some cases, together with the onset of bleeding, an ovum is released.
– The most common cause of abnormal uterine bleeding in teenage women is an anovulatory cycle.
• Pregnancy
– In women of childbearing age, the most common cause of abnormal uterine bleeding is pregnancy and its complications such as ectopic pregnancy or abortion. Anovulation can also be a cause of abnormal bleeding in women of childbearing age. However, anovulatory cycle sometimes occurs in less than 20% of fertile women, so all other causes such as pelvic inflammatory disease or uterine fibroids should be ruled out.
• Some medicines such as anticoagulants – which prevent blood clotting, can also cause abnormal bleeding.
Treatment of vaginal bleeding
Make sure the bleeding is coming from the vagina and not the rectum or urinary tract – in this case blood is only in the urine. You can insert a tampon into your vagina to confirm that the source of the bleeding is in the vaginal area, the cervix, or the uterus itself. If the bleeding is profuse, it is advisable to lie down.
You should also keep track of the number of tampons you change so that the amount of bleeding can be determined. You should avoid aspirin as it is possible that the bleeding will last longer due to the effect of the medication.
