Are you a Teenage Girl with Heavy Periods?

You don’t mention how long you’ve been having your period, but if it’s been less than three years, the pattern you describe is very common. For the first two to three years, many teens are not ovulating (releasing an egg from the ovary) each month so their periods will be irregular and either light (if they’re lucky) or heavy. Some girls do have regular periods, but for many girls, there is no pattern to their periods for the first two to three years. Very heavy long periods can cause you to become anemic (low on iron,) so girls should take a multivitamin with iron every day once they start having periods. 

Although going on the birth control pill would shorten your period, it would also shut down your ovaries just when they are getting started and is therefore not generally recommended for girls who have just begun to menstruate. If you can wait a bit longer, your periods should begin to shorten by themselves. 

If it has already been three years since your first period and you continue to have heavy and long periods, talk to your doctor about where to go next. If heavy periods run in your family, this might indicate a mild, inherited bleeding disorder that can be tested for and treated.