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How to Lighten Your Monthly Period

Approximately 10 million women experience heavy bleeding during their periods, according to AboutHeavyPeriods.com. Women with heavy periods often have periods that last for more than seven days, pass clots while bleeding and have to change their pads or tampons every hour or two. They may experience negative side effects, such as fatigue, cramping, depression and discomfort during sex. If heavy periods are reducing your confidence and causing you to miss out on activities you enjoy, you may benefit from these treatments intended to lighten your periods.

Things You'll Need

  • Foods high in fiber, vitamin K and iron
  • Shepherd's purse
  • Red raspberry leaf
  • Nettle
  • Birth control pills
  • Oral progestin pills or an intrauterine device
  • Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs
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Instructions

  1. Healthy Eating Habits

    • 1

      Increase the amount of fiber you eat by consuming more whole grains, fruits and vegetables.

    • 2

      Boost your consumption of vitamin K by adding foods like cheese, asparagus and leafy vegetables to your diet.

    • 3

      Eat more iron-rich foods, such as beef, pork, fish, clams, iron-fortified cereals and dried nuts and seeds; to reduce the risk of anemia.

    Herbs

    • 4

      Create a tincture of fresh -- not dried -- shepherd's purse, an herb that dries up extra fluids. Take 30 to 40 drops on an empty stomach, as often as every half an hour, until your heavy bleeding slows.

    • 5

      Drink red raspberry leaf tea -- made by combining 1 to 2 tsp. of the herb with 1 cup of water -- as frequently as desired.

    • 6

      Ingest 40 to 150 drops of nettle, an herb high in iron that can dry up bleeding, three to four times each day on an empty stomach.

    Drugs

    • 7

      Start birth control pills, which stabilize the hormones estrogen and progestin and can reduce bleeding by as much as 45 percent according to AboutHeavyPeriods.com.

    • 8

      Use progestin in a pill or through an intrauterine device, which can lighten periods by limiting blood flow to the uterus.

    • 9

      Take a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, such as ibuprofen, which may decrease bleeding by 25 to 35 percent.

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