Menstruation
Menstruation (a period) is a major stage of puberty in girls; it's one of the many physical signs that a girl is turning into a woman. Menstruation (or period) is a woman's monthly bleeding. Women body prepares for pregnancy every month, if no pregnancy occurs, the uterus sheds its lining. The menstrual blood is partly blood and partly tissue from inside the uterus or womb. It pa1sses out of the body through the vagina. Periods usually start around age 12 and continue until menopause, at about age 51. These are considered as woman’s reproductive years and indicate a woman is physically able to become pregnant. Most periods last from three to five days.
Average blood loss during menstruation for a women is about 35 milliliters with 10-80 milliliters, this amount of blood loss is considered normal. Because of this blood loss, a premenopausal women have higher dietary requirements for iron to prevent iron deficiency. A lot of women experience uterine cramps, also referred to as dysmenorrhea during their menstruation, in this time, caused largely by the contractions of the uterine muscle as it expels the endometrial blood from the woman's body. A vast industry has grown to provide drugs to aid in these cramps, as well as sanitary products to help manage menses.
Menstruation is the most visible phase of the menstrual cycle, and corresponds closely with the hormonal cycle, and is therefore used as the limit between cycles. Menstrual cycles are counted from the first day of menstrual bleeding, a point in time commonly termed last menstrual period. The time from last menstrual period until ovulation is 14.6 days, on average, but with substantial variation both between women and between cycles in any single woman, with an overall 95% prediction interval of 8.2 to 20.5 days.
During pregnancy and for some time after childbirth, menstruation is normally suspended; this state is known as amenorrhoea, i.e. absence of the menstrual cycle. If your periodhas not resumed, fertility is low during lactation. The average length of postpartum amenorrhoea is longer when certain breastfeeding practices are followed; this may be done intentionally as birth control.
Due to the special physical characteristics of women, the sanitary pads are the women’s indispensable ‘friend’ but this friend may bring considerable troubles when it is not treated well. For ordinary sanitary napkins used continuously for two hours, its surface mayhave bacteria numbering up to 107 per square centimeter and this contamination may seriously affect the health of the women.
Symptoms of infection during menstruation include mild fever, external genital infection, skin itch, ascending infections (such as vaginitis, cervicitis, pelvic inflammatory disease, endometritis etc), leukorrhagia, localized burning sensation or lower abdominal pain, or with fever, nausea; infections of urinary system including urinary tract infection, bladder infection, pyelonephritis, frequent micturition, urgent micturition, dysuria, waist sore and waist pain with fatigue or fever. These may lead to other more serious female genital diseases.
