Discussion Forums > Thalassemia Major

My daughter and the B-Thal major.

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Prets:
Andy,

One thing to note here, though it may be an exception to most women,

I was told that few women lose fresh blood during their cycles, I think I was one such case. Nothing helped pinpoint either a cause or a solution. The only thing that finally helped me is a med drug called ethamsylate. Even now I use it in emergencies to reduce the flow, but i do not know how it works or why it helps. Prior to that I was given hormonal pills for many years with no help.

I knew of another case several years back, who had a problem and her doctors made her take medicines too, saying she would have lost too much and turned into an emergency case.

This is rare so I dont mean to scare anybody here, bit I wanted to say that even there is a loss that seems more than normal, it should not be ignored under any circumstances.

Andy Battaglia:
Hi Preety,

About half of what is lost in menstruation is actually blood. The rest is cellular matter that is shed from the lining of the uterus. In a normal period, it's only 35-40 ml. This can be more with heavy periods. Thal majors tend to have less pituitary activity so lighter periods are often common among majors, although just as in all women, other conditions like fibroids can cause heavier periods. I would think heavy periods may in some ways be more problematic for thal minors than they are for transfusing majors, who have the blood loss compensated by transfusion.

I looked up ethamsylate and it's a fairly safe drug that is used to reduce bleeding by promoting platelet aggregation. The only common side effects are nausea, headaches and skin rash. I think its usefulness far outweighs the minor side effects.

And I agree. If anyone is regularly having periods much heavier than normal, talk to your doctor about it.

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