# is it normal?



## it's only me (Nov 1, 2011)

i have a 14yr old niece/goddaughter, that when she has her monthly cycle she stays on for 8 days, is that normal for a teen? as u all know i'm 47 & i can't remember way back then how long i stayed on(lol), but i do remember starting my cycle at the age of 13, but she started her's i think between 11-12.
i guess i'm thinking she's losing alot of important minerals like iron(etc), since she's so young.

i don't have any kids so i'm kinda puzzled, i mentioned it to my sister (her mom), & she just brushed it off like it wasn't important, am i worrying over nothing or is this normal for a teen?


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## olwen (Nov 1, 2011)

A menstral cycle can be anywhere from 22 to 35 days long. The bleeding part can be between 3-8 days with varying amounts of bleeding and pain. And some women have more bleeding on the first 2-3 days, some more bleeding during the day and some more bleeding at night. Also, she's still a teen, so her cycle will likely change as she gets older.


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## Gingembre (Nov 1, 2011)

I'd say it's fairly normal...when I first started (aged 11), i used to be on for 7 days. Now I'm 25 and I'm on for 5 days, although my cycle has never settled down and when my next period comes is anyone's guess...it's usually a case of 'work out when it should be due and expect it sometime in the following 2 weeks'. Not sure if that's normal, hehe, but I wouldn't be too concerned about your niece.


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## Miss Vickie (Nov 2, 2011)

It's the high end of normal (poor duckie!) and she should definitely be watched for anemia, depending on how heavy her periods are. All women, but teens in particular, have a wide variety in the length and duration of their period. But I'd definitely be concerned about anemia and her mom might want to get some blood work done and then if she is anemic, get her a good iron supplement. If she's like most teens, she's probably not getting nearly enough iron in her diet.


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## CastingPearls (Nov 2, 2011)

I was three months shy of my 13th birthday when I got mine. It lasted a full week for many years. As I got older I went through an unexplained cessation for an entire year and then on and off spotting for an entire year until finally settling on five days and so regular you can set a calendar to my cycle. So, it can and often does change as you get older. 

She should, though--be watched for anemia as Vickie suggested. I had it undetected for years and only started taking meds for it when it became severe and noticeable and now am fine.


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## ButlerGirl09 (Nov 2, 2011)

I started mine when I was 9 and would typically have a period for 7-8 days. This went on for about 5 years and I went to the doctor because the bleeding was heavy and I would be in chronic pain. They put me on birth control to help with this and also realized at the same time I had PCOS. After being put on birth control my period would usually be 3-4 days.


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## it's only me (Nov 3, 2011)

ButlerGirl09 said:


> I started mine when I was 9 and would typically have a period for 7-8 days. This went on for about 5 years and I went to the doctor because the bleeding was heavy and I would be in chronic pain. They put me on birth control to help with this and also realized at the same time I had PCOS. After being put on birth control my period would usually be 3-4 days.



wow 9!, at that age i probally would've freaked out, it would seem like u wasn't able to have a childhood.
but i do know that she does have severe pain, cause sometimes when i'd call she'd say, she's in bed because she was cramping real bad, but i've never asked how heavy her cycle was, but come to think of it, she has mentioned something about birth control pills when we'd talk about her painful cycles, i've been reading on here some of the girls posts, & they've mentioned PCOS, so that kinda came to mind about her. 
also something else that came to mind was, when i had surgery in april to remove 2 fibriods, i didn't mention that i was diagnosed with endometriosis a couple yrs ago, so when they removed the fibroids they also remove some scar tissue, but i read alot about emdometriosis, & one site says it can run in your family, it could've been passsed down from my mom or sisters, so i don't know if that's true or not.
so that's why i mentioned it to my sister, i thought it could've been passed down to her(my neice). but i'm not gonna give up i'll keep bugging my sister about it until i've found out she's taken her to the doctors.


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## Skye23 (Nov 16, 2011)

Ah normal... wouldn't know really. Sounds pretty normal to me. Then again I started at age 9 1/2, and by the time I was done with the pms, bleeding, and spotting at the end it was 3 full weeks out of my 28 day cycle with about 10-12 days bleeding and of those at least a full week being very, very, soak a maxi pad in 2 hours or so heavy. I still vividly remember being 10, in 5th grade and having a male substitute teacher who would not let me go to the bathroom and insisted I could wait. Good thing I was both a teacher's pet/straight A student who knew I couldn't get in trouble and pretty fierce because I ended up having to grab him by the tie and tell him point blank I was on the rag, and if he didn't believe me and let me go that when the bell sounded in 30 minutes I would leave the classroom and HE could clean up the blood. 

We never did see that substitute teacher ever again... not sure if I traumatized him or if he went to the principle to inquire. I had to keep spare clothes and pads with the school nurse just in case, so the school knew (shrug). 

Normal is subjective - its the average. Even if she's normal if its bothering her then she should seek medical treatment and inquire. Anemia is a real concern, and there could be fibroids etc. BC can lesson the periods if they become a serious problem, provided the parents are ok with using them for that reason. My mom's very conservative but I remember her telling me that if they'd had the ones they do now that can do that back when I was a teen she'd have taken me in and demanded them regardless of my age.


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## OCCS (Nov 16, 2011)

Its normal I think.


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## QuasimodoQT (Nov 21, 2011)

I think it's the upper end of normal. I started at age 8- first couple of years more like heavy spotting for just a few days, but by 10, full-on 10 day heavy cycle, and had to have some prescription pain meds for the cramping. I never had anemia issues, even though my cycle lengthened to 12-14 days. And I still had no anemia problems, even last year, when I had a 6-month spell of flat-out flooding day in, day out for that whole time and couldn't leave the house. But I actually had a high red cell count, which left my medical team scratching their heads, so I'd think it would be good to learn the signs for anemia, and get her tested occasionally.


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