by Malcolm G. Munro, MD

Normal periods are perfectly natural and often quite welcome – especially by women who don’t want to be pregnant. But perfectly normal, natural periods also can be inconvenient, messy and a literal pain. They’ve been known to put a damper on a honeymoon, ruin a dress and, of course, dash the hopes of women who do want to be pregnant. If given the option, nearly two thirds of U.S. women say they’d like to have fewer periods; one third say they’d be happy to have no periods at all.  Many of those women have what doctors would consider ‘normal periods'.

But what is normal anyway? Is using 10 super-plus tampons a day normal? Is it normal to be afraid to leave your house on your heaviest days? Is it weird if your periods come every three weeks or every six weeks?   If you have no idea when they will start or  stop? Or they never seem to stop at all? 

The truth is that sometimes what’s OK for one woman may be a problem for another: If you use 10 tampons a day but are not anemic, don’t have any health problem causing your bleeding AND don’t mind it, you may be fine. If you do mind it, that’s another story.  Same goes for any technically normal periods that are nonetheless messing with your life.

But most of this site is about other kinds of problem periods - the kinds that strongly suggest something is out of wack with Mother Nature. When your periods never stop, or keep you locked in your home for days at a time, your body may be sending you a message: It's time to get help. This webside is designed to help you understand the hows, whys, and wherefores of both normal and abnormal periods and we hope that the information and resources provided her will contribut to at least some of the help you need.