You will make several calls to all your contacts when you realise your usual 4-days-long period is on day 8 and it is still heavy, no end signs at all.

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To be realistic, having a period even for a single day every month is hectic by itself, how about when the duration doubles up? Your comfort will be negatively altered.

A normal period can last up to even seven days or more, but when it is more than ten days, and you are experiencing heavy flows with painful cramps, Tom Toth, M.D, a reproductive endocrinologist at Boston IVF advises that you should see your doctor.

However, there are situations which can as well prolong your periods, and you need not worry about them. These are:

1. When on hormonal birth control

Toth says that anything that can manipulate one's hormones has the same capacity of affecting the monthly period, either by making it last longer or shorter. 

So if you had used any type of birth control pills including emergency pills, the period could be affected. 

There is a need for your doctor to tell you which birth control is suitable for you.

2. You would be ovulating

Doctor Sherry Ross says that sometimes one can ovulate at the same time she is on her period when her hormonal signals get crossed, thus prolonging the period. It is like having the period twice without a break.

3. A sign of pregnancy

Many women believe that getting the monthly period is an assurance of no pregnancy, which is wrong. 

Toth says, "A common cause for abnormal menses, including longer bleeding, is pregnancy. Any time a woman has unusual bleeding, it's always best not to eliminate the possibility of pregnancy with a blood test for pregnancy for reassurance".

4. You had an earlier miscarriage

Women do have miscarriages even before realising they were pregnant, that is, before you start having signs of pregnancy that can make you go for tests, you end up with an early miscarriage, which will leave you with a prolonged period.

5. Signs of menopause

Menopause is when women are no longer in a position to give birth, they don't have the monthly periods throughout the year. 

It starts in the late 40s and mostly in 50s. However, women can start showing signs of menopause as early as the late 30s, where the periods last longer or shorter.  

Christiane Northrup, M.D says that if a woman notices a period change when she is above 35 years old, it is basically a sign of ageing towards menopause.

Other causes of prolonged periods can be found here. 

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