1. What is menstruation?
Essentially, menstruation is blood. Periodic shedding and bleeding of the endometrium is associated with periodic ovulation of the ovaries causing cyclical changes in estrogen/progesterone.
2. What is menarche?
Menarche is an important sign of puberty, suggesting that the estrogen produced by the ovaries is enough to proliferate the endometrium, and estrogen reaches a certain level and fluctuates significantly, causing the endometrium to fall off and menstruation.
At present, the first menarche of Chinese women mostly occurs around the age of 12. The early and early arrival of menarche is mainly controlled by genetic factors, and other factors such as nutrition and weight also play an important role.
3. What are the characteristics of normal menstruation? What is abnormal menstruation?
Menstruation has four important basic characteristics:
Menstrual cycle: 21 to 35 days.
The menstrual cycle refers to the interval between the first day of two menstruations from the first day of menstruation.
The "first few days of menstruation" asked by the doctor refers to the first few days of menstruation, or the first few days of seeing blood.
Menstrual period: that is, the number of days that menstruation sees blood lasts, which is 2 to 7 days;
Menstrual volume: that is, the total blood loss of a menstrual cycle, which is 5 to 80 ml;
Menstrual regularity: the cycle changes within 7 days and there is no bleeding between periods (intermenstrual period).
Those who do not meet the above four basic characteristics of menstruation are considered abnormal menstruation. If you have repeated abnormal menstruation, you need to seek help from a doctor.
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4. What are the main components of menstrual blood?
95% of menstrual blood comes from venous and arterial blood, with the rest being fluid and cell debris oozing from tissues, inflammatory cells, cervical mucus, and shedding vaginal epithelial cells.
5. Characteristics of menstruation
Menstrual blood contains prostaglandins and a large amount of fibrinolysin from the endometrium, fibrinolytic enzymes have a lytic effect on fibrin in menstrual blood, so the menstrual blood is generally noncoagulated.
However, blood clots may occur in the case of heavy and fast menstrual bleeding.
6. Changes in the color of menstrual blood
Menstruation is blood. In menstrual blood, the iron atoms carried by hemoglobin, the amount and speed of bleeding affect the color of menstrual blood.
If the amount of bleeding is large, the outflow is also fast, because it is mainly arterial blood, so most of it is bright red, and sometimes it will form a blood clot; if the outflow is slow, some iron atoms are oxidized, which can be mainly dark red. So don't worry too much about the color of menstrual blood!
7. How much menstruation is measured?
Menstrual blood is excreted as soon as it is produced, unless there is a blockage. It can be seen that the more blood produced, the more menstrual blood; the less blood produced, the less menstrual blood, there is no toxin in the body, the need to use menstrual blood to excrete the reason.
Usually, when there is no structural change, the low amount of menstrual bleeding is not a problem that other blood is "held" somewhere in the body and cannot be discharged.
8. Normal manifestations of menstruation
Generally, there are no specific symptoms during menstruation, but due to pelvic congestion and the role of prostaglandins, some women will have discomfort in the lower abdomen and lumbosacral area or uterine contraction pain, and may have diarrhea or gastrointestinal dysfunction.
A small number of patients may have headache and mild neurodeterminal instability. Normal presentation.
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9. What symptoms may indicate PMS?
A few days before menstruation, the following symptoms may occur (called premenstrual syndrome)
Physical symptoms: headache, breast tenderness, weight gain and limb edema;
Psychiatric symptoms: irritability, anxiety, depression, emotional instability, etc.;
Changes in behavior: inattention, low productivity, memory loss, etc.
It recurs every month before menstruation. The specific cause of PMS is unknown, but because its manifestations vary with the menstrual cycle, it is speculated to be related to estrogens and progesterones, such as the role of estrogens in promoting water retention, which can cause headaches, weight gain, and limb edema.
10. How is PMS diagnosed?
Diagnosis is not difficult, and the following three elements are generally considered: the appearance of premenstrual symptoms; continuous recurrence before menstruation; and affecting daily work.
If self-adjustment does not alleviate, symptoms of PMS can be relieved with combined short-acting oral contraceptives or antidepressants. You need to go to the hospital for clarification and take the medicine according to the doctor's instructions.
11. What are the signals of the body during ovulation?
The signals fed back by the body during ovulation are related to the preparation for breeding the next generation and the ovulation process, which is the most estrogen secreted by women every month, and estrogen makes women most attractive during ovulation.
The time of ovulation each month generally occurs 14 days before the coming menstrual period.
During ovulation, the body often shows the following signals:
Increased cervical mucus and vaginal secretions: Increased mucus secreted under the action of estrogen, becoming thinner, egg white-like brushing, and easy passage of sperm.
Perovulation bleeding: a small number of women before and after ovulation will have vaginal bleeding, short duration, small amount, no special treatment, can be stopped by themselves, by monitoring the basal body temperature, can understand the relationship between bleeding and ovulation.
It is a symptom of estrogen fluctuations before and after ovulation that occur too quickly, is a physiological phenomenon in the menstrual cycle, does not require drug intervention, and does not affect sexual life for those who have fertility requirements.
If there is no fertility requirement and cannot accept perovulation bleeding, oral combination short-acting contraceptives can be used to solve the problem of contraception and perovulation bleeding.
Abdominal pain during ovulation: discomfort caused by follicle fluid irritating the pelvic wall or rupture of the ovarian surface during ovulation without special treatment.
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12. About the things that cannot be done during menstruation
We often hear the older generation say that girls should not be greedy during menstruation, do not have sex, can not do heavy physical strength, etc., so do they really have these taboos during menstruation?
This article will talk to you about "you've heard about the things you can't do during menstruation."
Menstrual diet: Elders often advise: menstrual "do not eat cold" and "do not get cold" or some truth, but the principle is hot expansion and contraction, cool things will make blood vessels constrict plus menstrual prostaglandin secretion increased, which may increase the degree of menstrual abdominal pain.
Spicy stimulating foods may also increase prostaglandin secretion and increase the degree of abdominal pain during menstruation.
Excessive consumption of coffee, strong tea and alcohol is harmful to the body at any time, and if it is occasionally drunk during menstruation, it has no effect.
Smoking at any stage is harmful to the body, and it is never too late to quit.
Menstrual hygiene: during menstruation, we should pay more attention to personal hygiene, pay attention to changing sanitary napkins, and wash your hair and shower normally. However, tubing and strenuous exercise should be avoided, which may increase menstrual blood reflux and increase the likelihood of endometriosis.
Menstrual sex life: Theoretically, menstruation does not hinder sexual life, mainly psychological problems, but menstruation is indeed a period when women are prone to infection, so menstruation if sexual life should use condoms.
*The content of this article is a popularization of health knowledge and cannot be used as a specific diagnosis and treatment recommendation, nor is it a substitute for face-to-face consultation by a practicing physician, for reference only.
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