"What is Normal?" Part One, WWB Period Video Logs

​What is a normal period?

Heavy menstrual bleeding is something most women with a bleeding disorder experience, but it is not unique to our community. Around ⅓ of all women in developed countries will seek medical assistance at some point in their lives for menstrual blood loss they feel is heavy - but what does heavy really look like? This question, and the lack or resources around the world in understanding what heavy actually looks like was highlighted in our community survey, and we hope this post helps explain the mystery of what a heavy period is really like.

As I explained in the introductory video, ascertaining what “heavy” looks like from your pad and tampon use can be difficult for both patients and doctors - there are a wide variety of absorbencies from light to overnight or maternity, differing ingredients in these products, as well as a lack of any kind of regulation or notification of how much liquid products can hold. If you’ve ever looked at a soaked pad (or soaked clothes or towels) and thought “that’s a lot, but I have no idea how much!”, you have every right to be confused. ​

So, what is normal, and what is heavy?

​There is no universal standard for assessing what is normal or heavy based on blood loss, but many estimates put normal blood loss during a period at 40-60ml, or about 4 tablespoons, with heavy periods being over 80ml or 6 tablespoons of blood (I’ve used an international average of around 15ml for a tablespoon here). In most countries, when you’re loosing over 80-90ml of blood per period on a regular basis, doctors will look at investigating an underlying cause for excessive menstrual bleeding. As I mentioned, these amounts do vary slightly doctor to doctor and country to country.

A few tablespoons of blood doesn’t sound like a lot of liquid, does it? For those of us with bleeding disorders, especially those with undiagnosed, untreated or under-treated bleeding symptoms, such a small amount of blood may sound laughable, but I promise this is what many women loose. In my research to create this post, I asked some non-bleeder female friends who have healthy, regular cycles and, who like me, use a cup, how much blood they loose. They all estimated loosing around the 40-60ml of blood across their whole period. Yes, it really does happen!
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How have you created this post?

As I’ve explained over on my own blog, a little while ago I switched from using pads and tampons to using using a menstrual cup. Aside from saving me lots of money and saving the environment from lots of waste, this genius little thing also allows me to collect my blood. While usually I flush it down the toilet or the shower drain, last period I collected it all in a jar so I could create this resource for all of you! Below, in these photos, I’ve measured out my blood to show you what 80ml, or the generally regarded level of “heavy” actually looks like:
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What Heavy Looks Like

Here, I have measured 80ml in a measuring cup. It doesn’t actually look like that much when you see it like that does it? 80ml is a little bit under ½ cup by metric standards. Next to the cup, on the left, you can see a wine glass. I’ve measured into the wine glass a standard glass of wine, which here in Australia is 100ml.
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In this photo, you can see the first wine glass on the left alongside the 80ml of menstrual blood as a direct comparison. So heavy menstrual bleeding is a bit less than a standard glass of wine. ​

How can this help me?

We hope this post has given you some context to what heavy menstrual bleeding means. We would encourage you to take a read of the post linked above about menstrual products, and consider using a cup (please email me through my site, I’d love to answer any questions you have!). Both you and your doctors struggle with understanding what heavy really means - my personal experience has been that my medical team has loved the opportunity to understand my blood loss in quantifiable terms, rather than the abstract concept of “x completely soaked pads”. Based on this more accurate information my own treatment plan has been modified to better suit my needs.

For those of you for whom using a cup isn’t an option, we hope this post has given you some context of what heavy means, and can provide you with a reference to discuss your symptoms with your medical team.

Please share this post with your family, your doctors and anyone you know with a period or period problems - you never know who it might help! Comment below with your view, any questions or suggestions for other content around this issue. We also welcome  emails with your questions - send it through here!

​- by Jenna