There are a few things you can do at home to ease your symptoms and get your cycle back on track.
Hydrate
If you bleed heavily for a few days, your blood volume could get too low. Drinking 4 to 6 extra cups of water each day can help to maintain your blood volume.
Drink an electrolyte solution like Gatorade or add more salt to your diet to balance out the extra fluid you’re drinking.
Eat Vitamin C-rich Foods
This vitamin helps your body absorb iron, which can help prevent anemia. You’ll find it in citrus fruits like oranges and grapefruits.
Vitamin C is also in:
- red and green peppers
- kiwis
- strawberries
- Brussels sprouts
- broccoli
- tomato juice
- Add more iron-rich foods to your diet
Add More Iron-rich Foods to Your Diet
When you bleed, you lose iron. Your body needs iron to produce hemoglobin, a molecule that helps red blood cells carry oxygen. Very heavy periods can deplete your body of iron and lead to iron deficiency anemia.
Signs of anemia include:
- fatigue
- weakness
- dizziness
- pale skin
To get more of this nutrient, eat foods high in iron like:
- lean beef
- oysters
- chicken and turkey
- beans
- tofu
- spinach
Cook in a cast-iron pot
Another way to increase your iron intake is by cooking in a cast-iron skillet. Foods with a lot of moisture — like spaghetti sauce — absorb the most iron.
Stirring the pot often will pull even more iron into your food.
Just be careful not to overdo it. Cooking everything in an iron pot could give you more iron than you need — and it could lead to dangerously high levels in children.
