What is amenorrhea and what causes it?

This is an automatically translated article.

The article was professionally consulted with Specialist Doctor II Tran Thi Mai Huong - Obstetrician and Gynecologist - Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology - Vinmec Hai Phong International General Hospital.
Among the types of menstrual disorders (irregular menstruation), hypermenorrhea is quite common. This phenomenon occurs for many reasons and sometimes it is a warning sign of dangerous diseases.

1. What is amenorrhea?

Hypermenorrhoea is a condition in which menstrual bleeding is heavy, massive, and lasts for many days. Heavy menstrual bleeding is more common in young women (who have not yet formed ovulatory cycles) and women approaching menopause. In addition to inconvenience, hypermenorrhoea also causes fatigue, which adversely affects women's health because of anemia and iron deficiency. Not only that, this is also a warning sign of many dangerous diseases. Therefore, when seeing heavy menstrual bleeding, the patient should seek medical attention from a reputable medical facility to be examined, determine the cause and have timely treatment measures.

2. Causes of hypermenorrhea

If you see a lot of menstruation every month, women need to be careful because it can be a sign of many other health problems. The main causes of hypermenorrhoea are:
Hormonal imbalance Adolescent and menopausal women are prone to hypermenorrhoea because at this time the hormone levels in the body fluctuate a lot. With this cause of hypermenorrhea, you only need to treat it with oral contraceptives or other drugs prescribed by your doctor.

Cervical polyp This is a small, thin tumor that grows from the surface of the cervical lining or from the cervical canal and protrudes from the ectopic opening of the cervix. Polyps are usually caused by bacterial infections, high estrogen levels, or congested blood vessels in the cervix. Women over 20 who have had children are more likely to have cervical polyps. The treatment when having cervical polyp is cutting or twisting the polyp, combined with antibiotics. After complete treatment of polyps, hypermenorrhoea will disappear.
Polyps develop from the endometrium This is also a common cause of hypermenorrhea. Polyps that develop from the endometrium are usually not malignant. Too much estrogen in the body after hormone treatment or some types of ovarian cysts can lead to polyps growing from the endometrium. The most commonly used treatment is hysteroscopy and dilation, taking tissue samples for testing to rule out malignancy.
Uterine fibroids Women in their 30s and 40s experience heavy menstrual bleeding, possibly due to fibroids growing in the uterus. Fibroids are tumors that appear due to some abnormality in the hormone estrogen. There are quite a few surgical intervention methods to treat fibroids such as: fibroid removal, endometrial removal, uterine artery occlusion or hysterectomy,... In addition, drugs such as tablets oral contraceptives, GnRH agonists, androgens, RU486 (abortion pills),... are also sometimes prescribed by doctors to treat uterine fibroids. Thorough treatment of uterine fibroids will completely eliminate hypermenorrhea. However, usually if the symptoms of fibroids are not serious, the doctor usually just asks the patient to monitor, not needing treatment because when reaching menopause, the fibroids will shrink and disappear.

Lupus This is a chronic inflammatory, autoimmune disease that can affect many parts of the body, especially the joints, blood, skin and kidneys. Genetic factors, infection, use of certain antibiotics, exposure to ultraviolet rays, prolonged stress, ... can all increase the risk of lupus. One of the symptoms of lupus is hypermenorrhea in women. And to treat the disease, the doctor recommends that the patient should avoid stress, use anti-immune drugs or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs,...
Pelvic inflammatory disease When pelvic inflammatory disease, the patient is prone to symptoms meridian. Pelvic inflammatory disease is an infection of one or more organs in the pelvis, such as the uterus, fallopian tubes, and cervix. Having a sexually transmitted disease, miscarriage, performing gynecological procedures, etc. can all increase the risk of pelvic inflammatory disease. In order to effectively treat the disease, help the menstrual cycle return to normal, and not have excessive menstrual bleeding, patients with pelvic inflammatory disease are often prescribed antibiotics by doctors.
Cervical cancer Disease occurs when the cells of the cervix become abnormal, grow uncontrollably and damage other healthy parts of the body. Dysmenorrhea is one of the typical symptoms of this disease. Cervical cancer is mainly caused by the HPV virus. Treatment includes surgical intervention, chemotherapy and radiation therapy.

Endometrial cancer Among the causes of hypermenorrhea, endometrial cancer is relatively common. When abnormal cells in the uterus or endometrium grow uncontrollably, it will damage the uterus and other organs, causing many characteristic symptoms, typically heavy menstrual bleeding. The treatment for this disease is hysterectomy combined with chemotherapy or radiation.
Some other causes Using an IUD is a potential cause of heavy periods. If your period is heavy due to an IUD, you should choose another method of birth control. Diseases that cause bleeding: there are many diseases that cause difficulty in stopping bleeding, causing heavy menstrual bleeding.
Hypermenorrhoea can be a manifestation of many dangerous diseases, so when you encounter this phenomenon, you should visit a doctor and get timely treatment according to the instructions of your doctor to avoid affecting fertility.
In order to help customers detect and treat gynecological diseases early, Vinmec International General Hospital has a basic gynecological examination and screening package, helping customers detect early inflammatory diseases and help treat Easy, inexpensive treatment. 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: Irregularly prolonged periods, irregular periods Abnormal vaginal discharge (smell, different color) Pain, itching in the intimate area 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.

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