Menstrual Bleeding Self-Check
A simple way to track your period and flow so you know what's normal for you — and when heavier bleeding is worth a conversation with a doctor.
When to see a doctor
- You soak through a pad or tampon in 1–2 hours
- Your period regularly lasts more than 7 days
- You pass large clots (bigger than a 2-rupee coin)
- You feel dizzy, faint, or very tired (possible low iron)
- Bleeding is disrupting school, work, or daily life
This guide is for general education and does not replace professional medical advice. If something feels wrong, trust your body and check with a clinician.
Sources & medical basis
- FIGO menstrual-bleeding criteria (heavy: >80 ml or soaking hourly)
How is this calculated?
There is no score here — it is a checklist against the markers our guides use for heavy menstrual bleeding. The textbook definition is blood loss above 80 mL in a cycle, but nobody measures that in real life, so FOGSI gynaecologists define heavy bleeding as bleeding that interferes with your physical, social or emotional quality of life. Your own report of severity is the most important piece of information. The practical markers are soaking through a regular pad or tampon quickly, waking at night to change protection, passing large clots, and bleeding for longer than 7 to 8 days.
What this result means — and what it does not
It reflects your own description back against those markers. It cannot measure blood loss, and it cannot tell you why bleeding is heavy — fibroids, adenomyosis, polyps, a copper IUD, an underactive thyroid and bleeding disorders such as von Willebrand disease all present this way and are told apart by examination, a scan and blood tests. Clots are worth putting in proportion: in small quantities, especially on the heaviest day or two, they are a normal feature of menstruation, and they are not pieces of tissue or a sign of cancer.
Limitations of this tool
Our own sources do not agree on the thresholds, and we would rather say so than pick one and present it as settled. Soaking a pad is described as concerning at every two hours in two guides and at every hour in two others; a worrying clot is put at 2.5 cm or a 5-rupee coin in some places, a 50-paisa coin in another and a 1-rupee coin in a third. Treat these as a rough sense of scale, not a test to apply precisely. This checklist cannot detect anaemia, which is common alongside heavy periods and needs a haemoglobin and ferritin test. It is an estimate, not a diagnosis.
When to talk to a doctor
See a gynaecologist if bleeding is disrupting your life, whatever the numbers say — that is the definition our sources use. Any vaginal bleeding more than 12 months after your final period needs a gynaecology appointment within one to two weeks, however light. Get emergency care for soaking through a pad or tampon every 30 minutes to an hour for two hours in a row, which is haemorrhage-level flow, or for heavy bleeding with dizziness, fainting or breathlessness. Because heavy periods are the leading cause of iron deficiency in women, ask for haemoglobin and ferritin at the same visit.