Dizziness during menstrual period?

Anyone else have this? It doesn't happen all of the time for me, but today I've been having really bad dizziness, and it's been a heavier period thus far as opposed to the last several months, which had been on the lighter side. I was doing my regular daily work-out today and I literally felt like I was going to pass out, like the room was spinning. And even once I stopped, sat down, and drank some water, ate some lunch, I still felt super lightheaded.

Does anyone else experience this? If so, is there anything I can do, or take that could help combat the dizzy spells? Like I said, they don't happen every cycle, but they seem to occur during the times in which I'm bleeding more, specifically on the second day when it's always heavier for me. (Sorry if TMI!)

I take a daily women's multi-vitamin, but I wondered if maybe my iron levels are too low during that time of the month due to blood loss and that's why I get so dizzy? Should I think about taking some extra iron during my menstrual periods?

Any ideas?

 

I think iron is exactly what the problem is. My periods are just finally starting to get more regular, for the first time in my life, and the last few times I've been getting dizzy a lot. I thought my multivitamin would be enough, but this last month I went on a spinach salad binge, and ate almost nothing but huge delicious green leafy things for a couple days. Lo and behold, the dizziness went right away! Drinking lots and lots of water couldn't hurt either. I hope you feel better, sweet mama!

 

sounds like a great excuse to eat kale!
i get dizzy when i bleed heavy too.
maybe your body just wants you to rest?
hope you feel better soon :]

 

I'm small, and have VERY heavy periods (all of the women in my family do) and I always get dizzy. I've gotten sick/puked from PMS before, to the point that I was throwing up anything that I ate. That was in my mid-teens and it even got so bad one year that my mother SWORE I was pregnant. They say that women crave chocolate/candy during that time because they need the extra sugar.

I'd say it's normal during heavy periods. Most women I know don't usually have problems like that, but heavy periods are also a bit more rare for most women. Even now, at 19 (I haven't gotten extremely sick from PMS/menstruation since I was about 16) I usually have to call my husband in to help me out of the bath, because I get hot and dizzy and nearly pass out. Heating pads help with cramps, but get too hot and make me sick.

The best thing, I've found (for the dizziness AND cramps, because I don't like taking Advil or anything) is to drink something warm with sugar in it (warm apple cider, hot chocolate, etc) and eat soups, etc. Cramps are usually worse during heavy periods, and soups, salads, light breads, etc. are easier on your stomach, too. They're also things that you can eat a few times a day (I call them "lunch foods", heh) and not feel completely full by dinnertime, so you're getting vitamins/energy all day and giving your body plenty of time to digest and process it all.

 

Thank you for your replies ladies! I'm feeling a bit better today thankfully, despite feeling really tired, but that's not unusual for me during this time of the month. Thankfully I don't feel dizzy, and my period is lighter today than yesterday, so that's good.

Anyway, thanks again, and I'm definitely going to try these suggestions out next time!

 

iron from ferrous sulfate is poorly absorbed by the body. I think something like only 60 % of it in pill form actually gets used. You may want to try a different iron supplement during your period to boost you up. I have heard ferrous gluconate is better absorbed and liquid iron supplements like Floradix are even better yet. I had a similar problem for many years.

 

You can definitely get dizzy from a lack of iron. I became anemic while pregnant, and it would cause lightheadedness and dizziness. You should keep yourself on a good multi...I like the Every Woman's Once Daily because I know it's a quality one, and you only have to take one a day (some require you to take like 4 pills to get what you need). You should probably also look into an iron supplement as well. If you click on the iron link, there is a good article with research about it. It also points our that iron deficient people become fatigued, so that could also be why you're so tired at that time of the month.