Heavy periods are a health risk over the long term that most women do not realize can frequently be resolved with dietary intervention. Try this approach first before resorting to surgery or drugs to address the problem!
Heavy periods, or menorrhagia, is a common problem for women particularly as they approach menopause. It is also a problem for women with endometriosis.
This problem has also emerged as a common side effect of vaccination for coronavirus. Post-menopausal women are even experiencing breakthrough bleeding. (1)
Excess estrogen can frequently be a cause too. Estrogen dominance is a real threat in our modern environment loaded with estrogen-mimicking chemicals like BPA and pesticides seemingly everywhere.
In addition, estrogenic foods like soy are an ingredient in a majority of processed foods.
Be aware that soy protein and soya milk can trigger similar effects as edamame or other whole forms of soy.
Heavy periods put a woman at risk for anemia, infertility, weakness, and persistent fatigue if not corrected.
Unfortunately, conventional treatments for this condition involve only drugs and surgery. Options include the birth control pill, hormone-releasing IUDs, hysterectomy, or a more recent technique called endometrial ablation.
I know several women who have undergone endometrial ablation in recent months to combat heavy periods.
This surgical technique involves the destruction of the uterine lining either with a laser, radiofrequency or microwaves, or heated water.
The ladies I know who have had this procedure swear by it and were very happy with the results. However, this approach is not an option for younger women who want to have children.
It is also best to avoid a surgical procedure unless absolutely necessary. Complications are always possible such as infection of the bladder or damage to the womb or large intestine.
Nutritional Intervention for Menorrhagia
The good news is that heavy and/or irregular periods frequently respond well to simple nutritional support.
This approach also helps significantly with cramping. Heavy cycles are frequently painful ones as well.
Natural Vitamin A
Vitamin A is known to help with excess estrogen so a simple increase in the amount of natural Vitamin A in the diet can help reduce heavy cyclical bleeding.
The Vitamin A must be natural and not synthetic. Excess intake of synthetic Vitamin A can produce deleterious effects.
In fact, some researchers believe that synthetic vitamin A interferes with the proper utilization of natural vitamin A from food. Thus, avoidance of the many synthetically fortified foods on the market is important as well. (2)
Plant-based Sources Ineffective
It is important to note that beta carotene will not help here! The source must be true vitamin A best found in ideal doses in high vitamin cod liver oil.
According to a case study written about in the book Eat Fat, Lose Fat, 2 tablespoons of high vitamin cod liver oil per day supplying about 60,000 IU of Vitamin A for 3 days in a row eliminated this debilitating problem for one woman who had been suffering from what she called a “never-ending period” for 4 years. (3)
Ongoing Supplementation
Note that a daily maintenance dose of high vitamin unheated cod liver oil (1 tsp per day) after that was sufficient to keep the problem of heavy periods from returning.
This brand is what my family takes.
Cod Liver Oil for Heavy Periods Before Drugs or Surgery
Do you suffer from heavy periods and have reached the end of your rope? If you are considering surgery, why not try this simple remedy to see if it might work for you?
Be sure to use ONLY high vitamin cod liver oil that contains natural Vitamin A. I recommend Dropi cod liver oil.
Most of the brands on the market today use synthetic Vitamin A instead of the real thing.
Worse, it is not clearly labeled.
Using cod liver oil with synthetic A or supplements containing beta carotene will not be helpful for resolving heavy periods.
For vetted and tested sources of high vitamin cod liver oil that use only natural Vitamin A and no synthetics, check my Resources page.
References
(1) Post-vaccine menorrhagia, metrorrhagia or postmenopausal bleeding
(2) Vitamin A Saga
(2) Eat Fat, Lose Fat
I absolutely love this article although I must say I wish I knew this a few weeks ago. Yesterday I had one of the procedures mentioned in this article because of excessive menstrual bleeding. While the procedure went well and the hospital staff was great, I would have much rather treated this nutritionally than surgically. Oh well, lesson learned … I will research any problems that arise for me and my family BEFORE seeking a medical alternative. Thank you for posting this. It’s helped me to see where I need to look FIRST.
Thanks for this post.
I recently had a QXCI scan, and one of the things the naturopath said that it showed I was very deficient in EFAs, the dose I need to take just happens to be 2T. (of CLO.).
More confirmation for me 🙂
Will this help also with post partumbleeding also? I’m expecting number 6 and am not looking forward to 6 weeks of bleeding. Thanks!!
Yes it did for me at least ! I stopped bleeding within about a week. It was very very fast as I remember. It’s been a few years now 🙂
I’m pretty sure a wild yam cream, (or progesterone cream) is also very effective at balancing the estrogen dominance. Personally, I’d rather rub some lotion on, then have to eat that other stuff.
@Kelly W: same issues here. Recently bought milk thistle, but I’m unsure how much to take – how much do you take daily?
Thanks for the apple cider vinegar tip! I can’t do CLO, I took it with my son for a month but because I have low blood platelets, it actually made the bleeding worse. I stopped right away and last month it was WAY better.
I actually had to stop cod liver oil, I have low blood platelets and both krill oil and cod liver oil have the same effect for me. I got my period early and it lasted almost 12 days, thankfully I figured out the connection around day 8 as it was the only major change since I’d bought the CLO for my son’s cavities. I stopped as soon as I realized and my last period was much lighter.
I wa diagnosised with estrogen dominance about 4 months ago. I did an estrogen cleanse and am on daily estrogen and adrenal support and am feeling better than I did in jr high before I ever got my period! I’m 31 but felt 3 times my age until my doctor helped me out. No surgery either!
Those who can’t tolerate FCLO could try eating raw beef liver for heavy bleeding. Wikepedia has an article about the scientists who discovered raw beef liver cures pernicious anemia won a Nobel prize for that work.
Sarah, this is a very timely post! I just discovered this information myself last night after listening to an interview with Sally Fallon on Vitamin A on Super Human Radio from last year. For those who want to read the paper this came from in South Africa, it’s here:
Vitamin A in the Treatment of Menorrhagia
For me, I’m interested in how Vitamin A can help with fibroids. I don’t have the heavy bleeding either, but Sally recommended Vitamin A for fibroid treatment and endometriosis. Vitamin A is needed for hormone production, thyroid and reproductive hormones. The paper above talks about the Vitamin A increasing estradiol levels, if I’m reading it correctly.
I did a little searching on PubMed last night, to try an understand how Vitamin A might work in women with fibroids. I think it had something to do with these women not being able to convert Vitamin A, but I don’t really understand all the scientific lingo and I didn’t have much time to research it. I think the upshot of it is that women with fibroids are Vitamin A deficient. If anyone else figures out the mechanism, I’d be interested to know how this works!
In the interview, Sally recommended 3 Tbsp of fermented cod liver oil for 90,000iu of Vitamin A per day for “several” months. If I did my calculations right based on the most recent FCLO tests from the Green Pasture website, 2 Tbsp per day will get you 90,000iu of Vitamin A.