Managing Heavy Menstrual Bleeding

What is this article about?

Heavy menstrual bleeding is the most common type of abnormal uterine bleeding, affecting 25% of women at reproductive age. Generally, about 30 to 40 ml (six to eight teaspoons) of blood is lost during each menstruation. However, what is considered ‘normal’ varies between individuals, making abnormalities difficult to quantify. Instead, heavy menstrual bleeding is defined by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care as: ‘Excessive menstrual blood loss which interferes with the woman's physical, emotional, social and material quality of life, and which can occur alone or in combination with other symptoms’.