Menorrhagia can be a symptom of what disease?

The article was professionally consulted by Specialist Doctor I Pham Thi Yen - Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology - Vinmec Hai Phong International General Hospital.

Dysmenorrhea is a sign of one or more different illnesses. In particular, prolonged menorrhagia causes discomfort, affecting the daily activities of women. Although not serious, the problem could be related to fertility. The following basic information contributes to providing women with an understanding of menorrhagia.

A normal menstrual cycle in a healthy adult woman should last between 28 and 32 days. In which, the menstrual period occurs from the first day to the third or fifth day of the cycle. Menstrual blood is dark red, does not clot, includes uterine blood and the sloughed lining of the vagina - uterus and many bacteria available in the female genitalia.
Menorrhagia is a menstrual cycle that lasts more than seven days, has a recurring cycle according to the menstrual cycle. At the same time, the amount of blood lost after each menstrual period is more than the normal cycle, usually over 80ml of menstrual blood per cycle (normally about 50-80ml/cycle).
This concept needs to be distinguished from hemophilia. This is also bleeding that lasts more than seven days but is not cyclical. The amount of blood can be small, medium or high. In the case of menorrhagia, if it lasts for more than 15 days, it will become menorrhagia and is called menorrhagia.

Menorrhagia is a manifestation of many diseases not only in the field of obstetrics and gynecology but also in other specialties.
To approach the diagnosis of the cause, this symptom is classified into two groups: Menorrhagia due to functional causes and menorrhagia due to organic causes.
2.1. Functional menorrhagia is the result of disorders in the regulation of the activity of female sex hormones. Accordingly, at different ages, the explanation for the cause of menorrhagia is completely different.
Menorrhagia is most common in the early and late stages of puberty and perimenopause. Immediately after the first menstrual cycle, the milestone of puberty is marked. For the next two years, girls often have irregular periods because they don't ovulate. It is caused by hormonal activity of the hypothalamus or immature ovaries. Estrogen is elevated for a long time, there is no corpus luteum, and there is no endometrial detachment. The endothelium keeps thickening while the blood vessels do not grow in time, so there is not enough blood supply, leading to necrosis and shedding in patches, causing profuse and prolonged bleeding. At the age around menopause, the phenomenon of menstrual cycles without ovulation repeats, due to the degeneration of the ovaries leading to a decrease in hormone levels. Menstrual cycles begin to become less frequent before disappearing altogether. On the other hand, the cycle can also be erratic, irregular and the menstrual period is prolonged, the amount of menstrual blood is more or less the same.
2.2. Organic menstrual bleeding is a manifestation when there are actual lesions or diseases in the uterus or ovaries such as uterine fibroids, endometritis, endometrial polyps, and mucosal proliferation. uterine cancer, endometrial cancer, cervical cancer, vaginal cancer, polycystic ovary syndrome, trophoblastic cancer,...
Besides, menorrhagia is also caused by infection bacteria after birth, after abortion, miscarriage, stillbirth, ectopic pregnancy,... Injuries on the genital tract, foreign bodies in the genital tract also cause menorrhagia.
In addition, menorrhagia is also a physical symptom of other systemic diseases such as hypothalamic dysfunction, pituitary disease, thyroid disease, thrombocytopenia bleeding or hemostasis disorders. autoimmune disease, leukemia, liver disease, kidney disease... and due to the use of drugs such as estrogen, aspirin, heparin, tamoxifen,... In these cases, menorrhagia is often accompanied by heavy bleeding.

Menorrhagia, if left for a long time, causes blood loss, in the long run, it leads to chronic anemia, which gradually worsens with symptoms of fatigue, shortness of breath, reduced ability to work hard, poor concentration, and susceptibility to diseases. infection...
Prolonged bleeding will create a favorable environment for bacteria to invade, leading to genital infections. Bacteria will spread back from the vulva into the vagina, into the uterus and possibly up the fallopian tubes, causing inflammation of the appendages, even causing infertility later on.
Menorrhagia is sometimes accompanied by discharge, lower abdominal pain, chest tightness, ... greatly affecting daily activities. Psychologically, a woman will always have feelings of discomfort, even fear, when it comes to menstruation and the relationship between husband and wife.
In addition, maybe due to lack of knowledge and subjectivity, fear of thought, many women think that these abnormalities are caused by changes in weather, diet, rest... Therefore, they have lost their lives. When treatment is delayed, the disease develops in the body and causes serious complications. At this point, treatment is sometimes too late.
In summary, although the severity is not serious, it should not be subjective when having menorrhagia, especially in the reproductive age or menopause due to physical causes. At this time, you should go to a specialist hospital for examination to determine the pathology, appropriate treatment orientation, to avoid prolonging affecting health and fertility. In addition, to help customers detect and treat other gynecological diseases early, Vinmec International General Hospital has a basic gynecological examination and screening package, helping customers detect early inflammatory diseases. Infection makes treatment easy and inexpensive. Screening detects gynecological cancer (cervical cancer) early even when there are no symptoms.
Basic gynecological examination and screening package for female customers, has no age limit and may have the following symptoms:
Abnormal vaginal bleeding Having menstrual problems: irregular menstrual cycle, irregular menstrual cycle Irregular vaginal discharge (smell, different color) Vaginal pain and itching Female clients have several risk factors such as poor personal hygiene, Unsafe sex, abortion,... Female customers have other symptoms such as: Abnormal vaginal discharge, itching, pain in the private area, abnormal vaginal bleeding. When registering for the Basic Gynecological Examination and Screening Package, customers will receive:
Gynecological Specialist Examination Transvaginal Uterine Ovarian Ultrasound Vaginal Bilateral Breast Ultrasound Tests such as: Treponema pallidum test rapid, Chlamydia rapid test, taking samples for cervical-vaginal cytology, bacterioscopic staining (female vaginal fluid), HPV genotype PCR automated system, Urinalysis by automatic machine.