Table: Deciphering Medical Terms for Menstrual Disorders* - Merck Manuals Consumer Version

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Deciphering Medical Terms for Menstrual Disorders*

Deciphering Medical Terms for Menstrual Disorders*

Term	Description
Amenorrhea Absence of Menstrual Periods Having no menstrual periods is called amenorrhea. Amenorrhea is normal in the following circumstances: Before puberty During pregnancy While breastfeeding read more	No periods
Dysmenorrhea	Menstrual cramps Menstrual Cramps Menstrual cramps are pains in the lowest part of the torso (pelvis), a few days before, during, or after a menstrual period. The pain tends to be most intense about 24 hours after periods begin... read more or painful periods
Hypomenorrhea	Unusually light periods
Menometrorrhagia	Heavy bleeding during menstrual periods and bleeding that occurs frequently and irregularly between periods
Menorrhagia (hypermenorrhea)	Unusually long and/or heavy periods
Metrorrhagia	Bleeding that occurs frequently and irregularly between periods
Oligomenorrhea	Unusually infrequent periods
Polymenorrhea	Unusually frequent periods
Postmenopausal bleeding	Bleeding that occurs after menopause
Premenstrual dysphoric disorder Premenstrual dysphoric disorder A short discussion of prolonged grief disorder. Depression is a feeling of sadness and/or a decreased interest or pleasure in activities that becomes a disorder when it is intense enough to... read more	Severe psychologic symptoms that occur before the start of a period, end when or shortly after the period starts, and interfere with daily activities and/or relationships
Premenstrual syndrome Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS) Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) is a group of physical and psychologic symptoms that start several days before and usually end a few hours after a menstrual period begins. Premenstrual dysphoric... read more (PMS)	Physical and psychologic symptoms that occur before the start of a period
Primary amenorrhea	No periods ever starting (at puberty)
Secondary amenorrhea	Periods that started and have stopped
* Breaking the words into their components helps decipher them: a = no; dys = painful (or abnormal); hypo = deficient (or below normal); men = month; metro = uterus; oligo = few or scanty; poly = many or much; post = after; pre = before; rhagia = to burst forth; rhea = flow.