Period guide for people tracking their cycle
Period guide for people tracking their cycle. Practical steps for people tracking their cycle and those supporting them.
For: People tracking their cycle and those supporting them
General guidance across countries. Sources checked 2026-09-26.
What is usual, and what is worth asking about
Cycles vary between people and across a life. They are often irregular in the first year or two after they begin and again as they come to an end, and that is ordinary rather than a sign of something wrong. Cramping in the first days is common.
What is worth asking about is bleeding heavy enough to soak through a pad or cloth every hour, pain that keeps you away from school or work, bleeding between periods or after sex, or periods that stop when you are not pregnant. None of those is something to put up with for years, and each has causes that can be found.
Bleeding, iron and tiredness
Heavy periods month after month are one of the commonest reversible causes of anaemia in women of childbearing age, and they are routinely missed because both the bleeding and the tiredness get treated as normal. A blood count is cheap and settles it.
If you are told you are anaemic, ask what is causing it rather than only taking iron. Treating the tiredness without finding the bleeding leaves the cause running.
Sources
- WHO statement on menstrual health and rights · World Health Organization · CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO