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You’re the proud owner of a menstrual cycle, but it’s impossible to be its mechanic. When it does something weird, there’s no manual to guide you or bonnet to peek under. Shouting at your ovaries is not medically proven.
Even for the experts, ‘periods’ + ‘normal’ isn’t straightforward maths.
“Periods vary significantly from woman to woman, and that includes the time between periods, their duration, the amount you bleed, and how many periods you have per year. These all mean that one person’s normal cycle is not necessarily another person’s normal,” explains GP Dr Sam Hay.
When your ‘normal’ suddenly changes, it’s easy to stress. But be reassured to know this: changes in periods are extremely common. On average, 50 out of 1,000 women a year will tell their GP about abnormal uterine bleeding.
