Every month, women endure the discomfort menstruation brings. This includes fatigue, nausea and uterine cramps—side effects that are perfectly normal for women menstruating.
However, if a woman menstruates for more than eight days and changes sanitary pads every two hours, she may be experiencing heavy menstrual bleeding or HMB.
During the press conference organized by Bayer HealthCare last June 1, medical experts stressed the need to make women aware of HMB.
“Women feel extreme fatigue, affecting their day-to-day activities but often do not associate this with their menstruation. Most women do nothing,” said Dr. Delfin Tan, head of the Gynecologic Endocrinology and Endoscopy Section of United Doctors Medical Center and of the Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility Section of St. Luke’s Medical Center in Quezon City.
Dr. Tan cited a case study, wherein a patient considered the heavy flow as normal and something even good, believing it cleanses her of “impure blood.”
He identified two kinds of abnormal uterine bleeding: organic and non-organic. Organic causes are clotting and bleeding disorders, hormone problems, adrenal disorders, and polycystic ovary syndrome (wherein the ovaries overproduce hormones). Non-organic causes, meanwhile, are hormonal imbalance and stress.
Heavy menstrual bleeding is due to non-organic causes.
HMB’s prevalence
“In the US, 2.5 million women are affected yearly,” said Dr. Ian Milsom, chairman of the Institute of Clinical Sciences, Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, one of the medical experts who talked about HMB during the press conference.
On the other hand, a study conducted by Nielsen Company in four countries in Asia—Korea, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia—shows that 12 million women have HMB. A study in the Philippines is still in the works, according to the Bayer HealthCare executives.
HMB is prevalent among women aged 35 years old and above. However, some young girls have HMB as early as 13-15 years of age.
Combatting HMB
Dealing with menstruation is hard enough, but HMB is a different matter, a serious condition that upsets the lives of women.
“It affects their work, causes emotional distress and drains their finances,” said Dr. Tan. According to him, 57 percent of women resort to having hysterectomy (surgery to remove the uterus) just to get rid of the hassles and health disadvantages HMB bring.
Today, there are options for women to counter HMB, such as FC BIO SANITARY PADS from Avail Beauty.
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