Your health questions answered

Our daughter has heavy periods. Is there a cure?

MENSTRUAL MISERY

Q. My daughter, who is 12, had her first menstrual cycle just before she turned 11. On the second day of bleeding, she bled really heavily and was clotting. Two days later, when she was still bleeding, she had a blood test which showed that she was anaemic. She had to have a blood transfusion, and was put on the Pill in an attempt to control the bleeding. She took the Pill continuously for nine months, and she did not have any periods at all. When she stopped the Pill, she had three normal periods and everything seemed to be fine. But she has now started bleeding heavily again. What can we do?

A. Heavy menstrual bleeding in young girls is not common, but it does happen. Sometimes the bleeding problem solves itself fairly quickly. But quite a few young women have an abnormality in the body's blood-clotting mechanism. Your daughter's bleeding could be very heavy because there is something wrong with her ability to produce blood clots. A condition called Von Willebrand's disease is an inherited condition that is carried by about 1 in 100 women. Women with Von Willebrand's disease may have very heavy periods. There are tests that can pick up conditions that may cause heavy bleeding. Ask to be referred to a haematologist.

IS COD-LIVER OIL SAFE?

Q. A recent study showed that taking cod-liver oil supplements may have no benefits and indeed may be harmful. My husband and I, both in our seventies, have been taking cod-liver oil tablets for the past five years. We take regular exercise and have a good diet. Should we continue taking cod-liver oil?

Cod-liver oil contains omega-3 fatty acids and quite a lot of the fat-soluble vitamins A and D. There has recently been some publicity saying that omega-3 fatty acids may not be beneficial to health. In response, the British Heart Foundation says: "People should not stop consuming omega-3 fats or eating oily fish as a result of this study. Until now, medical research has demonstrated a benefit from omega-3 fats in protecting people from heart and circulatory disease. This systematic review of numerous studies concludes that there is no clear evidence either way. The current Food Standards Agency advice for most people is to consume no more than four portions of oily fish a week." I agree with this, and I can't think of any reason why you should stop taking cod-liver oil.

Please send your questions and suggestions to A Question of Health, 'The Independent', Independent House, 191 Marsh Wall, London E14 9RS; fax 020-7005 2182 or e-mail to health@independent.co.uk. Dr Kavalier regrets that he is unable to respond personally to questions.

READERS WRITE

SP from Penzance gets eye pain on aircraft:

I had a similar experience last year while landing at Boston. There was a sudden intense pain radiating from my forehead above my left eye, across the bridge of my nose and down into my right cheek. It commenced with a "crack" (like static electricity) and felt as if an electrically charged wire had been inserted under the skin. It was enormously painful, enough to bring tears, and I thought I was beginning to have some kind of seizure. I assumed it had something to do with depressurisation.