Does a Heavy Period Mean You Are More Fertile?

Does a Heavy Period Mean You Are More Fertile?

So, what does having a heavy period mean or signify? Does a heavy period mean you are more fertile?

As the short answer, while a heavy period may indicate that the ovaries are releasing eggs regularly, it is not a guarantee of superior fertility. 

There are some misconceptions surrounding it, and in this article, we’ll explore those and also look at why women can have heavy periods.

Heavy Periods and Fertility: Do Heavy Periods Affect Fertility?

A popular question among women is, does having heavy periods affect fertility? There is a common misconception that a woman’s fertility decreases or increases if she has a heavy period. Let me tell you, this is simply not true. A woman’s fertility is not affected by her menstrual flow. The amount of blood flow during menstruation has no bearing on a woman’s ability to conceive.

What Does a Heavy Period Entail?

I’ve mentioned women having heavy periods, but what does it entail? Heavy periods refer to longer menstrual cycles. Typically menstrual cycles last for 25 to 30 days, but they can extend to 40 days or even more during heavy periods. 

As a result of longer menstrual cycles, women will bleed more and also lose more of their menstrual fluids.

Typically bleeding stops after 4-5 days, but women experiencing heavy periods can bleed even after a week. This is a sure-fire symptom of a heavy period and often needs to be diagnosed. 

Does Having a Heavy Period Mean You are More Fertile?

There isn’t any proper relation between fertility and heavy period. While having your period is a good sign that you are fertile, longer ovulation or menstrual cycle doesn’t necessarily mean you’re more fertile. 

For a better means of tracking fertility, ultrasound tests by doctors can be performed to check women’s fertility. This is often followed by more extensive tests to give you a better idea of when during the menstrual cycle fertility peak.

Heavy periods do mean longer menstrual cycles. However, the time that a woman becomes fertile doesn’t necessarily extend. In most cases, the fertile period is the same, and there’s very little difference. 

There are some rare cases where the days a woman is most fertile can get extended but often by a day or two. This is rarely a great difference in the overall menstrual cycle.

Heavy periods and fertility does not have any connection, and experiencing heavy periods often does not have anything to do with fertility. It is still important to run pregnancy tests, and it should be noted that heavy periods are more of an abnormality. They also do not mean that you are infertile, so you should not be alarmed by that. 

Why Do Heavy Periods Occur?

Heavy periods occur from a condition known as Menorrhagia. Menorrhagia causes a woman’s menstrual cycle to extend beyond the average cycle of 30 days. As a result, there is usually more bleeding and loss of menstrual fluids. 

This condition can pop up in women sometimes, but for some individuals, it can persist between multiple menstrual cycles, which can cause issues. 

If you find that your bleeding persists even after a week, you should get medical attention. It can be difficult to identify Menorrhagia and differentiate it from normal periods if you don’t know of it beforehand. 

This condition is the primary cause of heavy periods. On its own, it’s not as severe, but it can cause a heavy toll on certain individuals. 

There is usually significant blood loss during this. If it continues during multiple ovulation periods, it can be incredibly threatening. It is possible to die from blood loss hence why it is important to get it diagnosed as soon as possible just to be safe. 

Alongside heavy blood loss, Menorrhagia can result in some other problems. These include severe abdominal cramps and dysmenorrhea, which is where your periods cause you extreme pain. 

Menorrhagia and Dysmenorrhea

While it is not uncommon to experience cramps while having your period, Menorrhagia and, in turn, dysmenorrhea can make that experience a lot more painful. 

There are two types of dysmenorrhea you can experience. The first and most commonly experienced one is dubbed primary, which is reoccurring pain during the menstrual cycle.

This usually manifests as painful cramping and can leave you unable to work or move at times due to the severity of the pain. These types of cramps are much more painful than those you may usually experience. You can experience nausea and bouts of vomiting from this. 

The second type, dubbed secondary, is much rarer. It results from disorders in the reproductive organs, and the painful cramps often start in the first few days of the cycle and persist. You can also experience back and hip pain along with abdominal pains. 

For some people, it can be difficult to differentiate the pain of having dysmenorrhea. It is recommended to seek medical attention and have them test you for the condition. 

Does Menorrhagia and Dysmenorrhea Affect Fertility?

These two conditions don’t necessarily affect your fertility but can have damaging effects on your health. Blood loss and menstrual fluid loss can be very harmful, and it is important to seek help if you have these conditions. 

Once again, having these conditions doesn’t necessarily mean you’re more fertile or infertile. In fact, Menorrhagia results due to hormonal imbalance mainly.

The pain and effects of cramps usually dissipate in pregnant women or as women grow older. So, these conditions are usually seen in women around 20 to 29 years old.

How Do You Treat Heavy Periods and Cramps?

Now that you have the answer to your question, ‘does a heavier period mean you are more fertile?’, with how intimidating these conditions sound, you might ask whether there are any treatments for heavy periods and cramps. There are a few, but the results can vary from individual to individual, so keep that in mind. Some of the treatments include:

1. Ibuprofen

One of the best treatments is usually taking ibuprofen to help with the pain. This usually lower inflammation and reduce the severity of cramps, so you can often work during bouts of dysmenorrhea. 

It is recommended not to overwork or stress yourself out even when taking ibuprofen. You should still take a rest and let the medicine do its work, or else you might end up feeling worse for exhaustion.

2. Avoid Caffeine and Smoking

The last thing you want when experiencing Menorrhagia is to have caffeine or smoke. These will deteriorate your health more and put you in danger so remember to avoid these.

3. Hormonal IUD

These release progestin which helps strengthen the uterus lining. This prevents the effects and severity of menstrual cramps and also prevents worse-case scenarios.

4. Herbs or Spices

Some spices like cinnamon can reduce the severity of bleeding in women. This results in lower risk and danger of blood loss. There are also healthy herbs that help combat menstrual fluid loss.

Wrapping Up

So, does a heavy period mean you are more fertile? No, it does not. However, there are concerns regarding having heavy periods, especially if they persist, so you should seek the help of a doctor and appropriate medication.

More to read:

• Why Is My Second Period Late After Egg Retrieval?