The most noticeable sign of puberty in girls is the appearance of the first menstrual bleeding. First menstrual periods are usually irregular and more heavy. Excessive blood loss can carry serious consequences. One of these is excessive loss of iron leading to iron deficiency anaemia and anaemia.
Adolescence, between the ages of 12 and 16, is a period of intense changes in the human body, both mentally and physically, as a result of which the child enters adolescence. Dynamic physiological and hormonal changes take place, the end result of which is sexual maturity and the ability to procreate. The first and most noticeable sign of puberty in girls is the appearance of the first menstrual period, which occurs as a result of the ovary beginning to produce an adequate amount of sex hormones, conditioning the growth of the mucous membrane lining the inside of the uterine cavity.
The first menstrual periods of young girls tend to be irregular and more heavy as a result of the immaturity of the endocrine system. The regularity of the menstrual cycle and fertility is influenced by an adequate, uninterrupted exchange of information between the hypothalamus, the pituitary gland and the ovary. Immaturity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian axis is the cause of most abnormalities associated with uterine bleeding in adolescents. Various menstrual abnormalities may therefore occur in this age group, which concern both the frequency of menstruation, the severity of bleeding and its duration. There are often very heavy and prolonged bleeding from the uterine cavity, accompanied by various discomforts that make daily functioning difficult, as well as haemorrhages that threaten health or even life. Such bleeding is referred to as juvenile bleeding (metrorrhagia juvenilis). They are transient functional disorders that present as irregular, often with intervals of several months, prolonged bleeding lasting more than 10 days, even up to several weeks, often with clots, as well as acute, profuse haemorrhages. They mostly occur during the first six months of menstruation. Blood loss can be even more than 150 ml. In menstrual blood, the presence of a large number of clots may be found, in addition to exfoliated fragments of the endometrium. The consumption during menstruation of more than six pads per day can already be considered excessive menstrual bleeding.
