What heavy periods can involve
Heavy menstrual bleeding is common and frequently dismissed, partly because there's no easy way to describe it. People compare their periods to a standard they have never seen, and are then asked in an appointment how heavy is heavy. Flooding, clots and changing protection hourly are the details that answer that question, and they're the ones easiest to leave out.
The knock-on effects are the part that gets missed entirely. Fatigue and dizziness from low iron, and the planning around leaks that decides what you wear and where you go. Written down as it happens, a few months of that becomes something concrete to hand over rather than an impression you're asked to summarise.
Symptoms checklist
Heavy periods symptoms checklist to take to your GP
Below are some of the symptoms associated with Heavy periods. You can print the Heavy periods checklist and weekly diary and fill it in by hand.
See what applies to you, note how often it happens, and take it to your appointment, so the conversation starts further along. It describes your experience. It does not say what is causing anything: having many of these does not mean you have Heavy periods, and having few does not mean you do not. Only a clinician can work that out with you.
- Heavy bleeding
- Flooding or leaks
- Clots
- Period pain
- Fatigue
- Dizziness
- Worry about accidents
- Something else I want to mention
Print the Heavy periods checklist and weekly diary Download as PDF
The list comes from the NHS and charity sources linked further down this page, and from what people living with heavy periods tell us they keep an eye on. It is a starting point, not a test.
How a day can feel
If your days sound anything like this, taluvu was made with you in mind.
- “I plan my week around it, every month.”
- “I was told this was normal for years.”
- “I'm changing things hourly and that's apparently fine.”
- “The tiredness afterwards is its own thing.”
- “I have ruined clothes and stopped mentioning it.”
These are the kinds of things taluvu invites you to say in your own words, never a checklist of what anyone “should” have.
