Almost all the women out there relate periods to uneasiness, messy, and a miserable experience all together. While painful cramps and heavy bleeding with occasional clotting is a regular experience, is there something to worry about painful periods with blood clots?
Women are not unaware of a situation where painful period cramps are accompanied with blood clots. It is a natural occurrence. Period cramps are painful because of the repeated contraction and expansion of the uterus.
While blood clotting is a normal affair since they are anticoagulants unable to maintain pace during such bleeding. These are normal occurrences during a normal menstrual cycle. However, a word of caution needs to be exercised when either of the two symptoms or both are on the higher side.
In usual cases, painful menstrual cramps and blood clots are part and parcel of the entire process of menstruation. The blood clotting too is necessary since it is a normal body mechanism to stop bleeding. However, women should not neglect symptoms such as very heavy bleeding and large clots or many clots with or without bleeding.
Usually, women with some kind of bleeding disorders like Von Willebrand Disease (VWD), or platelet function defects might experience heavy painful periods with blood clots because their body is unable to stop bleeding due to abnormal blood cells or loss of anticoagulants.
Periods are usually associated with painful cramps which essentially indicate that the uterus is experiencing expansion and contraction. Such movement of the uterus essentially helps in the occurrence of the natural cycle of periods. However, extremely painful periods are a symptom of endometriosis. It is a disorder where the lining of the uterine grows on other areas other than the uterus, such as your ovaries, fallopian tubes, or even the bowels of the individuals. Not only endometriosis, but extremely painful cramps can also be a sign of uterine fibroids (any benign growths inside the uterus) or of pelvic inflammatory disease (a disease that can develop from untreated gonorrhea or Chlamydia).
Occasionally such painful menstrual cramps are accompanied with clots of blood. While small clots of blood are nothing to worry about and are absolutely harmless since these are merely anticoagulants which could not maintain pace with the flow of the blood. However, noticing blood clots which are bigger than a quarter can be an indication of the presence of uterine fibroids and hereditary disorders like Von Willebrand disease. Large clots can also be a sign of miscarriage or the difficulty of the body in adjusting to the new copper IUD. Thus such big clotting should be referred to a medical practitioner without a delay.
In case the individual complains about such symptoms of painful periods with blood clots, certain diagnostic tests suggested by the medical practitioner include:
The definite causes of painful periods with blood clots can only be revealed after relevant tests and medical procedures. However, depending on factors such as age and medical history of the individual, some of the causes which can lead to painful periods and bigger than average blood clots include
Some of the Symptoms When the Patient Needs to Consult a Medical Practitioner Include
Treatment of painful periods and abnormal blood clots needs treating the underlying cause. Such treatments will depend on a number of factors such as the underlying cause of such large blood clots and/or heavy bleeding, the severity of such bleeding, pain and clotting, the age of the patient and other such factors.
Medications – Medical practitioners usually prescribe medications such as iron supplements, hormonal therapy, Advil or Motrin, antifibrinolytic medicines, and birth control pills.
Surgery – Such as Dilation and Curettage, Endometrial Ablation or Resection, Operative Hysteroscopy, Myomectomy, Laparoscopy, and Hysterectomy as the most common types of treatment for the conditions causing blood clots and/or heavy bleeding. Such symptoms and conditions with painful periods with blood clots need proper treatment immediately.
Medically Reviewed By
Samarpita is a dedicated freelance writer with avid experience in the space of health, she specializes in topics related to diet, nutrition, immune-related diseases, detection and prevention of diseases and taking a natural route to cure such diseases.
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