What do large blood clots mean during menstruation? Why do my periods come in clots?

29.03.2019 Health

If blood clots are detected during menstruation, you should consult a doctor and find out the cause of their appearance. You should not immediately sound the alarm, because periods with mucus and clots are not always a sign of illness or serious pathologies. Let's look at several reasons why blood clots occur during periods and what modern medicine can offer you. Diagnosing yourself or inventing treatment is extremely dangerous; only a specialist should do this.

If your periods come in clots

  1. Congenital anomaly of the structure of the uterus. “Anomalies” should mean irregular shape or septations within the cavity. These partitions provoke stagnation of blood in the uterine cavity, which leads to the formation of clots. If you also have hormonal disorders, then your menstruation will be quite heavy. Anomalies are sometimes associated with a woman’s lifestyle (smoking, bad habits) and her work. Blood clots during menstruation appear as a result of the following anomalies: bifurcation of the cervix and uterine body with a common vagina, unicornuate uterus.
  2. The cause of clots during menstruation can be a woman’s hormonal background. In this case, rather long and heavy periods with clots are observed. Disorders of the thyroid gland or adrenal glands have a similar effect on the nature of menstruation.
  3. Blood clots during menstruation can be caused by an intrauterine device.
  4. Diseases can also cause large blood clots during menstruation. For example, endometriosis of the uterus. The first signs of the disease are very painful periods and irregular uterine bleeding.
  5. Clots at the end of your period are not a reason to worry. The fact is that at the end of menstruation, the blood begins to clot, which is why pieces are formed.

Heavy periods with clots: treatment

Treatment and diagnosis depends on possible reasons appearance of pieces. If we are talking about serious pathologies of the uterus, then surgical intervention may be required. A specialist can make such a decision only after a thorough examination, including hysteroscopy and hysterography.

When all organs are normal, the doctor may prescribe tests to determine hormonal disorders in the body. As a rule, suspicions of the hypothalamic-pituitary system cannot be ruled out. Therefore, a woman may be prescribed a magnetic resonance computed tomography scan. If the examination excludes a tumor, then hormonal disorders are treated conservatively.

To detect endometriosis, a woman needs to undergo a full examination. After laboratory and instrumental studies, the doctor suggests treatment. The fact is that often such a disease may not bother a woman at all and becomes dangerous only with serious cycle disorders. In this case, treatment of heavy periods with clots is carried out using hormones.

As you can see, clots are not always serious problems in the body. But there are absolutely clear recommendations for visiting a gynecologist. So, let's look at the main reasons to see a doctor:

Almost every woman in her life has encountered the fact that blood clots begin to come out during menstruation. This phenomenon may not pose a danger to life and health, or may indicate the presence of serious illnesses that require urgent medical intervention. Therefore, the question arises: why do periods come in clots and what to do about it?

Reasons why discharge comes out in chunks during menstruation

The situation when there are heavy periods with clots is considered pathological. The reasons for this can be very dangerous, so you need to listen to your body and notice other accompanying symptoms that indicate the need to consult a specialist:

  • discomfort and pain in the lower abdomen;
  • the discharge has become a different color, looks like a lump and smells unpleasant;
  • bleeding began.

In the absence of the above symptoms, if a woman has periods in chunks, specialists generally diagnose adenomyosis. To find out why discharge in the form of clots comes out during menstruation, and what to do in this situation, the patient is examined, colposcopy and ultrasound diagnostics are performed. You can go for an examination both after and during your period.

Often women complain that their periods come in chunks and have a brown tint. If such a picture appears only at the beginning and end of menstruation, then there is no need to worry. It is imperative to seek help from specialists if brown blood clots come out during your period, or instead of them. This may indicate an infection, hormonal instability in the body, or an ectopic pregnancy.

Blood clots during menstruation Brown may also appear while waiting for the baby to be born. The reasons for this may be different, but the most common is a hematoma localized on the internal pharynx. You can save your future baby if you limit yourself to lifting weights throughout the entire waiting period and don’t worry. If there are too many blood clots, then this picture may be a threat of miscarriage.


After childbirth, young mothers also come out with pieces of blood. This is a normal phenomenon and in most cases goes away within a month. If large clots in the discharge continue to come out of the vagina after this period, then the placenta remaining after labor is removed.

To definitely find the reason why blood clots come out during menstruation, it is necessary to exclude a number of such uterine diseases:

  • polyps;
  • hyperplasia;
  • myoma.

A woman should definitely go to the doctor:

  • if menstruation lasts longer and more often than once a month;
  • when during menstruation you feel pain in the lower abdomen and cramps;
  • if large blood clots pass with the appearance of nervousness, irritability and weakness;
  • when pieces of menstruation discharged from the vagina have an unpleasant aroma;
  • if a large clot of a gray-yellow hue comes out with the blood.

How to evaluate and treat menstrual problems

Very often, patients come to the gynecologist with the question: why do my periods come with clots? To answer it, it is necessary to undergo a full diagnosis, and in the presence of serious diseases, treatment.

If blood clots come out every month during menstruation, then specialists refer the woman for studies, including hysteroscopy and hysterography. This is necessary to exclude possible pathologies of the uterus. If they are detected, then treatment usually requires surgical intervention.

If on ultrasound examination have not determined why menstruation with blood clots bothers a woman, then we have to look for other reasons. Therefore, she is sent for an MRI after her period. Clots during menstruation may also indicate existing tumors in the urogenital area. If the study shows that there are no tumors in the area, then specialists carry out therapy with gestagen-containing drugs to eliminate the hormonal imbalance.

Large clots during menstruation may be a symptom of uterine fibroids. After menstruation, monophasic medicinal contraceptives are prescribed that can regulate hormones and reduce the risk of bleeding. In cases where therapy does not give the desired effect, it is necessary to perform surgery and remove the fibroid nodes. If it is huge in size and in a neglected state, then in some cases they decide to remove the uterus completely (the menstrual cycle then stops). Currently, for the treatment of fibroids, when a woman is bothered by clots during menstruation, the embolization method is used. It consists in the fact that after menstruation, blood access to the fibroid nodes is blocked, thereby stopping the process of reproduction and growth, which will lead to their death.

To check whether endometriosis provoked the appearance of discharge, after menstruation the patient is referred for laparoscopy. For the most part, this disease goes away without accompanying symptoms, so if you have your period with large clots, you should not delay visiting the doctor. This will help you get out of the situation without serious complications, one of which may be infertility.


When your period comes with blood clots, you need to clearly know the reasons for this phenomenon, based on which effective therapy is determined:

  • Conservative treatment helps to remove the factors that cause bleeding and periods with brown pieces, as well as replenish the lack of iron in the body;
  • Surgical intervention is performed if clots during menstruation are a consequence of existing uterine pathologies and fibroids. In the most advanced cases, the uterus or a piece of it is removed.

When menstruation occurs, a woman should not feel severe discomfort, which will somewhat limit her in her life activities. However, if she has menstruation with brown clots, which provokes pain and other unpleasant symptoms, she needs to be examined and undergo adequate therapy in order to detect serious diseases or oncology in time.

Why menstruation comes in dark clots is a question that worries girls who have not previously had any special problems with their menstrual periods. And they do it right. For some, this may be a fairly normal phenomenon. For others, abundant and weak periods with blood clots may be a sign indicating the formation of a gynecological disease. Therefore, it is impossible to step over such an important issue. So, when the monthly discharge is dense (there are huge pieces) and there are a lot of them, what can this mean?

Normal critical days meet the following criteria:

  • their course is regular;
  • bloody discharge has the same color;
  • the discharge is not aggravated by pain;
  • not protracted in duration.

Continuously arriving menstruation does not have a major role in changing the normal course of a girl’s life.

The timing of the onset of critical days in adolescence is personal and falls at different times. Menstruation can begin between 11-14 years. When critical days do not appear after reaching the age of 18 (at this time the individual completes his own sexual development), then we can talk about significant disruptions in development.

Critical days may be unclear regarding their consistency. However, in order to talk about the presence of oddities, it is necessary to understand the normal time of the monthly cycle. Ideally, the course cannot last less than 21 days and be longer than 35 days.

The monthly course itself is the period between the initial day of one menstruation and the initial day of the next. For 30% of women, the course is set in such a way that it must be perfect. Although for a huge proportion of women (70%), the development of menstrual periods takes approximately a year, and at times more. Other problems are classified as pathologies. However, disruptions associated with critical days can be noted not only in their timing. Differences can also be found in the nature of the discharge. For example, instead of normal bleeding, menstruation with clots may be noticed, when large pieces of dark or dark brown color appear along with bloody mucus.

A girl must pay attention to her own well-being when:

  • the color of the discharge changed from ordinary to more clear;
  • during menstruation, clots with coffee discharge disappear;
  • a dark brown “daub” is marked;
  • there is an unpleasant aroma.

It will also occur when certain symptoms are noted that are not typical for ordinary menstruation.

A discharge with a scarlet color and a slightly pickled aroma is considered good. The number of discharges should be around 10 ml any day.

Therefore, it is impossible to consider another color of a clear tone (black or brown) instead of bloody discharge as the norm. Differences in monthly rates can be seen in that:

  • the discharge is modest in the “daub” version of a clear tone;
  • copious discharge with clots.

In order to establish what kind of damage has appeared in a woman’s body, what its root cause is and how to rehabilitate it, it is necessary to know more about any of the deviations.

Why find out modest monthly? For starters, it will be clear that monthly periods are modest, at which less than 50 milliliters are released. In this case, the shaded secretion acquires the consistency of a “daub” of an unclear, hopeless tone.

In accordance with the root cause of the pathology, other signs may be noted:

  • leading disease;
  • vomit;
  • perversity in the lumbar region;
  • tight emotion in the sternum area;
  • a powerful disease in the body triangle of the abdomen.

Such signals appear to be restless messengers and can be coupled:

  • with terrible endometrial function due to a planned abortion with curettage or due to an inflammatory process or tuberculosis in the girl’s sexual system;
  • with malfunctions of the pituitary gland or ovaries;
  • with the introduction of inappropriate oral contraceptives;
  • with the last gynecological operation or with acquired injuries of the sexual organs;
  • with depressed capital, stress and mental problems;
  • with endocrine disorders (obesity in particular);
  • with unnecessary bodily overload;
  • with hormonal imbalance that developed against the background of endocrine pathologies;
  • with pregnancy (ordinary or ectopic).

For abundant monthly periods with clots, the underlying causes may be very different. Menstruation is a process in which pieces of the endometrium are torn off and come out together with blood. Clots noted during menstruation will only appear as similar pieces of endometriotic tissue. This situation is considered quite natural. Although the properties of such that some disorders in the girl’s sexual system start in the body, there may be clots that grow both in number and in size (the clots become huge).

The probable root causes of such an action could be the following capital:

  1. The disease is endometriosis, the manifestations of which include: recurring disease in the pelvic area, weak bowel movements and urination, painful eunuchoidism during sexual intercourse.
  2. Inflammation with rising temperature, pain in the lower abdomen, and the production of suppuration in the uterus. Will be able to credit a permanent disposition.
  3. Endometrial hyperplasia (growth of the mucous membrane inside the uterus). It may not be accompanied by symptoms, but it may be the root cause of infertility.
  4. Anemia, which results in a decrease in hemoglobin.
  5. Increased blood clotting, as a result of which the clotted blood comes off in the form of huge clots.
  6. Modification of hormone production.
  7. Pregnancy occurring outside the uterus.

Although the doctor will be able to determine the correct root cause of clots with abundant monthly periods and make a 100% reliable diagnosis when the girl completes the entire certificate and passes the appropriate tests.

There are also quite a lot of diagnostic methods. The first thing an obstetrician-gynecologist can advise is to measure your baseline fever every day and create a chart for it. In addition, he will be able to arrange a blood donation from a vein to determine the level of hCG levels. In addition, activities such as:

  • study of sound research of sexual organizations, adrenal glands and kidneys;
  • magnetic resonance or computed tomography, which excludes the possibility of the development of tumor-like formations in the area of ​​the pituitary gland and ovaries;
  • stripping;
  • capital's study of the shield-shaped shackle.

The primary course in curing abundant discharge with the presence of clots is considered to be the search and removal of the root causes that led to this task.

In case of disruptions of the healthy cycle, the doctor will advise you to shake up your food habits (increase your diet with good foods including protein, healthy microelements and vitamins), turn off unhealthy habits (smoking and addiction to alcohol), and aim for long periods of rest and sleep.

When any disease is noticed as the root cause of the appearance of dense menstruation, the gynecologist refers the patient to other professionals in the field of psychology, nutrition, endocrinology, immunology, etc. (due to the pronounced pathology). They will help bring clarity to the situation of women's health by prescribing a suitable certificate and hydrotherapy.

When damage to the monthly cycle appears to be an investigation into hormonal imbalances, then the doctor establishes a course of treatment with hormonal products.

When it is discovered that stress is the culprit for breakdowns, special comforting medications are prescribed with anti-stress results.

Classical methods of healing are quite likely to be combined with national ones. And popular wisdom has collected many recipes for renewing the morale of menstruation.

To make a regular and good monthly course will help not only hydrotherapy, proper feeding, but also the richness of life with a suitable number of entertainment and frequent walks in a cheerful atmosphere. A girl who has problems with her menstruation will have to deal with acute conflict situations and stress. It’s great when a girl can surround herself with a satisfied and calm atmosphere. Otherwise, you need to strive for this in order to fill your own life with sweet feelings and positivity.

Dark-colored blood clots in the discharge can only indicate trouble in a woman’s well-being and the need for urgent therapeutic measures.

During menstruation, almost every woman experiences blood clots. They are often accompanied by prolonged and painful bleeding, but doctors believe that this is normal. However, when a woman experiences too strong clots during her period, this may be a sign of a gynecological disease, and let’s try to figure out how to distinguish a deviation from the norm.

Why do clots come out during menstruation?

During the menstrual cycle, the walls of the uterus thicken in preparation for fertilization. If pregnancy does not occur before menstruation, the endometrial layer is shed, which is accompanied by bleeding. During menstruation, the body loses up to 250 ml of blood, but if the blood loss is larger, then this is considered to be excess of the norm. With strong discharge, blood clots form, which are essentially small blood clots.

Causes of menstrual clots

If during menstruation it forms a large number of large clots, then this is a reason to contact a gynecologist. After an examination, the doctor will identify their cause, because there may be several possible pathologies:

  • bend of the uterus;
  • blood clots;
  • uterine fibroids;
  • endometriosis;
  • diseases of the pelvic organs;
  • abnormal development of the uterus;
  • hormonal imbalance;
  • blood clotting disorder.

Myoma

Myoma is a benign tumor that develops due to hormonal imbalance. Due to myomatous nodes, the area of ​​the endometrium increases, so the uterus is enlarged, and during heavy periods, clots are released, the patient experiences pain when urinating or defecating. The peak of the disease occurs at 35-50 years of age, and is usually diagnosed in women of reproductive age.

Typically, fibroids do not produce pronounced symptoms and are detected during a medical examination. Vivid symptoms mean that the size of the fibroids is large, and therefore surgical intervention is required. But there are some symptoms that should alert a woman:

  1. Long and heavy periods.
  2. Large blood clots with mucus.
  3. Pain in the lower back and lower abdomen.
  4. Dysfunction of the gastrointestinal tract or urinary tract.


Endometriosis

Large blood clots can cause endometriosis, when the endometrium lining the inside of the uterus grows too much, affecting internal organs. Dense endometriosis is caused by multiple abortions, iron deficiency, obesity, hormonal disorders or genetic predisposition. The symptoms of endometriosis are so varied that they sometimes confuse even the most experienced gynecologists. However, there are also pronounced symptoms:

  • pain symptoms in the lumbar girdle or lower abdomen;
  • during menstruation, severe blood clots and menstrual irregularities;
  • infertility;
  • intoxication: vomiting, weakness, chills, sometimes fever.

Anomaly of the uterus

Heavy periods with blood clots occur if a woman has a congenital anomaly of the uterus. This disease occurs in 2% of women, and plays a decisive role in whether they can have children. Sometimes a woman with such a pathology manages to conceive and give birth, but pregnancy and childbirth are accompanied by complications: miscarriages are often observed different dates. Abnormal structures of the uterus:

  • two-horned;
  • saddle-shaped;
  • one-horned;
  • with partition;
  • agenesis;
  • complete doubling.

Saddle-shaped and bicornuate uteri are common. In the first case, the part of the organ under the upper arch has not a convex, but a bottom compressed inward, in which partitions are formed. With this anomaly, it is possible to carry the fetus to term, but the septum usually causes many problems. As for the bicornuate organ, it has 2 cavities that connect in the center or near the neck. Learn more about the bicornuate uterus in the video:

Pelvic organ disease

Inflammatory processes in the female pelvic organs include any combination of pelvic peritonitis, endometritis, tubo-ovarian abscess or salpingitis. Typically, these diseases are transmitted sexually, but can also be formed by microorganisms of the vaginal microflora. Inflammatory processes are diagnosed based on complaints and clinical examination. Treatment of diseases is carried out using conservative therapy, depending on clinical form diseases.


Blood coagulation disorder

The hemocoagulation (blood clotting) system activates fibrinogen dissolved in the blood plasma and forms firbin blood clots in the blood vessels, stopping any bleeding. Various vascular or blood diseases lead to blood clotting disorders, which manifest themselves in the form of causeless bruises, unstoppable bleeding due to injuries or heavy periods with blood clots in women.

Hormonal imbalance in the body

Hormones are produced by the ovaries, pituitary gland, adrenal glands, pancreas and thyroid gland. The totality of all hormones is responsible for women Health. If the body lacks any type of hormones, then the following deviations begin:

  • disruption of the menstrual cycle, as well as blood clots and heavy discharge during menstruation;
  • sudden weight loss or vice versa, excess weight;
  • indigestion;
  • breast swelling;
  • tumor development;
  • prostration.

There are many reasons for hormonal imbalance. For example, in adolescents this is a temporary physiological process associated with the development of the body. And in women, hormonal storms occur after childbirth, after a missed period or after a miscarriage, during pregnancy, at the onset of menopause or during breastfeeding. Also, hormonal imbalance can easily be caused by poor diet, bad habits or chronic fatigue.


In what cases should you visit a doctor?

If you are planning a pregnancy, then blood clots during menstruation should be a cause for concern. The appearance of clots indicates the inability of the fertilized egg to attach to the uterus. If during your period not only clots appear, but also aching pain in the lower abdomen, then you need to visit a gynecologist in any case: whether you are planning a pregnancy or not.

Treatment

Treatment of gynecological pathologies requires correct diagnosis. The examination includes MRI, ultrasound of the pelvic organs, laboratory and cytological studies. If the diagnostics do not show anything serious, the doctor will prescribe iron-containing drugs that will restore low level hemoglobin from blood loss during menstruation. In other cases, either conservative treatment or surgical intervention is prescribed if the situation is particularly advanced.