What heavy periods are
Heavy menstrual bleeding means losing enough blood, or bleeding for long enough, that it interferes with daily life. Common causes include fibroids, polyps, adenomyosis, cycles without ovulation (especially in the teens and in perimenopause), thyroid conditions, blood thinners and inherited bleeding disorders. Iron deficiency often follows quietly. Conventional options range from medication and hormonal treatment to procedures, depending on the cause.
When to get urgent care
Get emergency care first if you are soaking a pad or tampon every hour, bleeding with dizziness, fainting, shortness of breath or a racing heart, or bleeding heavily and could be pregnant. These come before any appointment with us.
The classical reading of flooding
The classics call sudden heavy bleeding 'flooding' and long, trickling bleeding 'spotting', together 崩漏. What matters next is why the blood is escaping. Pale, watery flow with fatigue and easy bruising points to the Spleen failing to hold. Bright red, heavy flow with thirst, restlessness and a fast pulse reads as heat. Dark flow with large clots and fixed pain suggests stasis, a picture where the blood cannot run in its channels and spills instead. For the deficient picture, a practitioner might consider Gu Chong Tang (Stabilize the Chong Decoction) or Gui Pi Tang (Restore the Spleen Decoction); heat calls for cooling the blood instead, and stasis for moving it.
How we work with it
Herbs do much of the work here, often one approach during the bleed and another between periods. Acupuncture supports the same aim, with gentle moxibustion only when the pattern is cold and deficient, never when heat drives the bleeding. Food advice focuses on rebuilding blood. Each cycle we note the days of bleeding, how often you change protection, clots and your energy, and we share anything concerning with you so you can take it to your gynecologist.
Formulas here illustrate how pattern diagnosis shapes treatment. They are not recommendations; a practitioner selects and adjusts formulas for the individual.
Questions people ask
How heavy is too heavy?
Soaking through a pad or tampon every hour for several hours, passing clots larger than a quarter, bleeding longer than a week or needing to change protection overnight are all reasons to see your gynecologist. Heavy bleeding with dizziness, fainting or a racing heart needs urgent care right away.
Can Chinese medicine help heavy bleeding?
Classical medicine has a long tradition of treating flooding and spotting, and herbal treatment of heavy bleeding is studied, with research ongoing. We work alongside your gynecologist's plan and never in place of a workup for fibroids, polyps or other causes.
I am anemic from my periods. Does that change the plan?
It matters a lot. Iron treatment belongs with your physician, and we keep their plan in place. In the classical reading, months of heavy loss leave the blood depleted as well, so building it back is part of what we treat.
My periods got heavier in my forties. Is that perimenopause?
It can be, as cycles become less predictable. It can also be fibroids or polyps, so it deserves a gynecologic exam. See our [perimenopause and menopause](/conditions/menopause/) page for how we read that transition.
This is general wellness information, not medical advice.
