"Heavy periods" means that a female loses a lot of blood during menstrual periods. This can happen because:

• Bleeding is very heavy during periods.
• Periods last longer than normal.

Heavy periods can lead to anemia (too few red blood cells). Someone with anemia may feel tired or dizzy, have a headache, and look pale.

If needed, there are ways to treat heavy periods. Help your child follow these instructions.

• Be sure your child follows the health care provider's recommendations for taking any medicines.
• Help your child to:
  • Track periods on a calendar or a smartphone app.
  • Eat a healthy, well-balanced diet.
  • Follow any changes in diet or exercise that the health care provider recommends.
• Someone with heavy periods can still get pregnant if they have sex. Talk to your child about using condoms to protect against pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs, also called sexually transmitted diseases or STDs).
• Follow up as instructed by your health care provider.

Your child:

• Has any of the following:
  • Periods that last longer than 8 days
  • Very heavy periods that soak through a pad or tampon every hour
  • A period more than every 24 days or less than every 38 days
  • Bleeding between periods
  • Heavy periods that prevent them from doing their normal activities
• Has signs of anemia, such as having headaches or being tired, pale, or dizzy

What causes heavy periods? Some of the things that cause heavy periods are:

• Changing hormone levels in the first few years after someone starts getting their period
• Hormonal problems
• Having extra body weight
• Medical conditions that cause easy bleeding
• Fibroids or other growths in the uterus

How are heavy periods treated? Treatment for heavy periods depends on what's causing it. It may include:

• Waiting to see if periods get lighter (in someone who has started getting periods recently)
• A recommendation to lose weight through changes in diet and increasing exercise
• Medicines that can balance hormones, such as the birth control pill ("the Pill"); also a birth control shot, a birth control implant, or an IUD
• Iron supplements for anemia