FAQ
Quick answers, with sources.
120 common questions on everyday health, cycles, pregnancy, menopause and more.
120 common questions on everyday health, cycles, pregnancy, menopause and more.
Short answers to the questions women ask most, each linked to a full article with sources. General information only, not medical advice.
Usually 1 to 3 days, starting just before or as bleeding begins.
Read: Period Cramps: What’s Normal, What Helps and When It Could Be Endometriosis →
For most people, an anti-inflammatory painkiller such as ibuprofen taken at the first sign of pain, plus heat on the lower belly.
Read: Period Cramps: What’s Normal, What Helps and When It Could Be Endometriosis →
They can be. Pain that painkillers don’t control, that worsens over time or comes with pain during sex or bowel movements should be checked.
Read: Period Cramps: What’s Normal, What Helps and When It Could Be Endometriosis →
For sudden severe pain, pain with fever or fainting, or pain with a positive pregnancy test.
Read: Period Cramps: What’s Normal, What Helps and When It Could Be Endometriosis →
There is no fixed number, but soaking through a pad or tampon every 1 to 2 hours for several hours is a common sign of heavy bleeding.
Read: Heavy Periods: How to Tell If Yours Are Too Heavy, and When to Get Checked →
Small clots are common on heavier days. Clots larger than about 2.5 cm or frequent clots should be discussed with a doctor.
Read: Heavy Periods: How to Tell If Yours Are Too Heavy, and When to Get Checked →
Yes. Heavy bleeding is a leading cause of iron deficiency, which can cause tiredness, breathlessness and hair shedding.
Read: Heavy Periods: How to Tell If Yours Are Too Heavy, and When to Get Checked →
It depends on the cause and your plans for pregnancy. A hormonal IUD and tranexamic acid are among the most effective options.
Read: Heavy Periods: How to Tell If Yours Are Too Heavy, and When to Get Checked →
Both happen before a period and ease after it starts. PMDD has severe mood symptoms that disrupt daily life, while PMS is milder.
Read: PMS vs PMDD: Symptoms, How to Track Them and Treatments That Help →
By daily symptom ratings over at least two cycles showing severe symptoms before periods that clear after bleeding starts.
Read: PMS vs PMDD: Symptoms, How to Track Them and Treatments That Help →
Some combined pills, especially drospirenone pills taken continuously, can help. SSRIs are also a first-line treatment.
Read: PMS vs PMDD: Symptoms, How to Track Them and Treatments That Help →
It continues while you have cycles but usually ends after menopause, and treatment can control symptoms in the meantime.
Read: PMS vs PMDD: Symptoms, How to Track Them and Treatments That Help →
Commonly a full blood count, ferritin (iron stores), thyroid TSH, vitamin B12 and blood sugar. Your doctor will tailor them to you.
Read: Always Tired? Iron, B12, Thyroid and Other Common Causes in Women →
Yes. Low ferritin can cause fatigue, hair shedding and breathlessness before haemoglobin falls into the anaemic range.
Read: Always Tired? Iron, B12, Thyroid and Other Common Causes in Women →
Hormone shifts can disturb sleep and mood in the days before a period. Heavy periods can also lower iron over time.
Read: Always Tired? Iron, B12, Thyroid and Other Common Causes in Women →
Only after a blood test shows low iron. Too much iron can be harmful.
Read: Always Tired? Iron, B12, Thyroid and Other Common Causes in Women →
A UTI mainly causes burning and urgency when peeing. A yeast infection mainly causes itching and thick white discharge.
Read: UTI, BV or Yeast Infection? How to Tell the Difference →
Sometimes, but it often needs antibiotics, and it should be treated if you are pregnant or have symptoms.
Read: UTI, BV or Yeast Infection? How to Tell the Difference →
Yes. BC pharmacists can assess and prescribe treatment for uncomplicated UTIs in women.
Read: UTI, BV or Yeast Infection? How to Tell the Difference →
No, but sex and new partners can increase the risk.
Read: UTI, BV or Yeast Infection? How to Tell the Difference →
Clear to white, and it may dry slightly yellow on underwear.
Read: Vaginal Discharge: What’s Normal Through Your Cycle, and What Isn’t →
Discharge increases around ovulation, in pregnancy and with some contraception. This is normal if it has no strong smell and no itching.
Read: Vaginal Discharge: What’s Normal Through Your Cycle, and What Isn’t →
Clear, stretchy discharge usually appears in the days around ovulation, your most fertile time.
Read: Vaginal Discharge: What’s Normal Through Your Cycle, and What Isn’t →
When it is green, yellow or grey, smells fishy or foul, or comes with itching, burning, pain or bleeding.
Read: Vaginal Discharge: What’s Normal Through Your Cycle, and What Isn’t →
Hormone changes slow digestion and cause water retention in the days before a period. It usually eases once bleeding starts.
Read: Bloating in Women: Cycle, Gut and When It’s More Than Gas →
Walk, avoid fizzy drinks and gum, eat slowly, and ease constipation with water and fibre. Simethicone may help gas.
Read: Bloating in Women: Cycle, Gut and When It’s More Than Gas →
When it happens most days for three weeks or more, or comes with weight loss, bleeding, early fullness or bowel changes.
Read: Bloating in Women: Cycle, Gut and When It’s More Than Gas →
Persistent bloating is one of its early signs, though it is far more often caused by something common. Get it checked if it doesn’t go away.
Read: Bloating in Women: Cycle, Gut and When It’s More Than Gas →
Regular sleep and wake times, morning daylight, exercise, slow breathing, less late caffeine and alcohol, and time with people you trust.
Read: Stress, Cortisol and Sleep: What Actually Helps (and What Is Hype) →
Long-term stress can affect appetite and weight, but you cannot diagnose a cortisol problem from belly shape. Real cortisol disorders are rare and need tests.
Read: Stress, Cortisol and Sleep: What Actually Helps (and What Is Hype) →
Cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) is the recommended first treatment.
Read: Stress, Cortisol and Sleep: What Actually Helps (and What Is Hype) →
There is little good evidence for them, and some can interact with medicines.
Read: Stress, Cortisol and Sleep: What Actually Helps (and What Is Hype) →
Deep, tender spots on the chin, jaw and neck that often flare before a period.
Read: Hormonal Acne and Hair Shedding in Women: Causes and Treatments That Work →
Topical retinoids or benzoyl peroxide first; combined pills or spironolactone are effective prescription options for many women.
Read: Hormonal Acne and Hair Shedding in Women: Causes and Treatments That Work →
Sudden shedding is often telogen effluvium after stress, illness, childbirth or rapid weight loss. Low iron and thyroid problems are other common causes.
Read: Hormonal Acne and Hair Shedding in Women: Causes and Treatments That Work →
Rarely, unless you are deficient, and it can affect some blood test results.
Read: Hormonal Acne and Hair Shedding in Women: Causes and Treatments That Work →
IUDs and the implant, with fewer than 1 pregnancy per 100 users a year.
Read: Birth Control Options Compared, and What to Expect Coming Off the Pill →
Often within the first cycle. Fertility returns quickly for most people.
Read: Birth Control Options Compared, and What to Expect Coming Off the Pill →
The pill often makes periods lighter and less painful. Stopping it reveals your natural cycle, and conditions like PMOS or endometriosis may reappear.
Read: Birth Control Options Compared, and What to Expect Coming Off the Pill →
Since April 2023, BC covers many prescription contraceptives at no cost to residents.
Read: Birth Control Options Compared, and What to Expect Coming Off the Pill →
It is common, especially after childbirth and around menopause, but it is treatable and not something you have to accept.
Read: Leaking When You Sneeze? Pelvic Floor Basics for Every Age →
Most women notice improvement after about 3 to 6 months of daily exercises.
Read: Leaking When You Sneeze? Pelvic Floor Basics for Every Age →
You should feel a squeeze and lift inside without tightening your buttocks or holding your breath. A pelvic health physiotherapist can check.
Read: Leaking When You Sneeze? Pelvic Floor Basics for Every Age →
Yes. Pelvic floor exercises improve or cure stress incontinence for most women.
Read: Leaking When You Sneeze? Pelvic Floor Basics for Every Age →
There is no strict schedule. Get to know what is normal for you and check about once a month, a week after your period starts.
Read: Breast Self-Awareness: What to Check and When to See a Doctor →
No. Most lumps are cysts or fibroadenomas, but any new lump should be checked by a doctor.
Read: Breast Self-Awareness: What to Check and When to See a Doctor →
Women aged 40 to 74 at average risk can book a screening mammogram themselves through BC Cancer.
Read: Breast Self-Awareness: What to Check and When to See a Doctor →
Breast pain is rarely a sign of cancer and is often linked to the cycle, but pain in one spot that does not go away should be checked.
Read: Breast Self-Awareness: What to Check and When to See a Doctor →
Both are equally effective. Choose hormonal if you want lighter periods, copper if you want no hormones.
Often, especially in the first 3 to 6 months. It can also increase cramps.
Yes. A copper IUD inserted soon after unprotected sex is the most effective emergency contraception.
Yes. BC covers many prescription contraceptives, including IUDs, for residents.
Cups hold more, can be worn longer (up to 12 hours) and are reusable for years, but take some practice to insert and remove.
Read: Period Underwear vs Menstrual Cup vs Pads vs Tampons: Which Should You Use? →
Heavy-flow styles can, but many people pair them with a cup or tampon on their heaviest days.
Read: Period Underwear vs Menstrual Cup vs Pads vs Tampons: Which Should You Use? →
No more than 8 hours. Use the lowest absorbency you need to lower the risk of toxic shock syndrome.
Read: Period Underwear vs Menstrual Cup vs Pads vs Tampons: Which Should You Use? →
Reusable options such as menstrual cups and period underwear create much less waste over time.
Read: Period Underwear vs Menstrual Cup vs Pads vs Tampons: Which Should You Use? →
Yes. PMOS is the new name for PCOS. The condition, diagnosis and treatment are the same.
The new name was announced in May 2026, with a transition period in which both names are used.
Polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome.
No. An existing PCOS diagnosis remains valid.
If you still have periods, even irregular ones, you are in perimenopause. Menopause is confirmed after 12 months without a period.
About 4 years on average, though it can be shorter or last up to 10 years.
Yes. Use contraception until 12 months after your last period if over 50, or 24 months if under 50.
Many symptoms peak in late perimenopause and the first year or two after the final period.
Hormone therapy (HRT/MHT) is the most effective, reducing hot flushes by about 75% or more for most women.
Read: HRT vs Non-Hormonal Treatments for Hot Flushes: Options Compared →
Non-hormonal options include fezolinetant, some antidepressants (SSRIs/SNRIs), gabapentin, oxybutynin and CBT.
Read: HRT vs Non-Hormonal Treatments for Hot Flushes: Options Compared →
For healthy women under 60 or within 10 years of menopause, the benefits usually outweigh the risks. Your doctor will check your personal risks.
Read: HRT vs Non-Hormonal Treatments for Hot Flushes: Options Compared →
Good-quality studies have not shown a clear benefit, and supplement quality varies.
Read: HRT vs Non-Hormonal Treatments for Hot Flushes: Options Compared →
In the SURMOUNT-5 trial, tirzepatide (Mounjaro/Zepbound) led to more weight loss on average than semaglutide (Ozempic/Wegovy): about 20% versus 14%.
Read: Ozempic vs Mounjaro: Semaglutide vs Tirzepatide Compared →
Yes. Both are semaglutide. Ozempic is approved for type 2 diabetes and Wegovy for weight management, at different doses.
Read: Ozempic vs Mounjaro: Semaglutide vs Tirzepatide Compared →
Both have similar digestive side effects, mainly nausea, constipation and diarrhoea, which are usually worst when starting or increasing the dose.
Read: Ozempic vs Mounjaro: Semaglutide vs Tirzepatide Compared →
Yes, with your prescriber’s guidance. The doses are not equivalent, so the new medicine starts at a dose they choose.
Read: Ozempic vs Mounjaro: Semaglutide vs Tirzepatide Compared →
They are the same medicine. Wegovy goes to a higher weekly dose (2.4 mg) than Ozempic (2 mg) and is approved for weight management.
Doctors sometimes prescribe it off-label, but Wegovy is the semaglutide product approved for weight management.
Yes, mainly nausea, constipation, diarrhoea and fullness.
Many plans cover medicines for diabetes but not for weight management. Coverage varies by plan and province.
Type 1 is autoimmune and the body makes no insulin. In type 2, the body doesn’t use insulin well and makes less over time.
Read: Type 1 vs Type 2 vs Gestational Diabetes: The Differences Explained →
It usually goes away after birth, but it greatly increases the risk of type 2 later, so regular testing is recommended.
Read: Type 1 vs Type 2 vs Gestational Diabetes: The Differences Explained →
Some people reach normal blood sugar without medicines through weight loss and lifestyle changes, called remission, but the risk remains.
Read: Type 1 vs Type 2 vs Gestational Diabetes: The Differences Explained →
Type 2, which accounts for about 90% of cases.
Read: Type 1 vs Type 2 vs Gestational Diabetes: The Differences Explained →
Most due dates add 280 days (40 weeks) to the first day of your last menstrual period, adjusted if your cycles are longer or shorter than 28 days. From a known conception date, 266 days are added.
It gives an estimate. Only about 1 in 20 babies arrive on their due date, and most arrive within two weeks either side. A first-trimester dating ultrasound is the most accurate way to confirm it.
Yes. Choose IVF and enter your transfer date and embryo age (3-day or 5-day). The calculator counts from the equivalent egg retrieval date.
Pregnancy is counted from the first day of your last period, so at conception you are already about two weeks pregnant. The calculator shows your current week and trimester.
Ovulation usually happens about 14 days before your next period starts, not 14 days after your last one. With a 28-day cycle that is around day 14; with a 32-day cycle, around day 18.
It is the 5 days before ovulation plus the day of ovulation, because sperm can survive up to 5 days and an egg about a day.
No. Calendar predictions are estimates and cycles vary. Speak with a healthcare provider about reliable contraception.
Cycles change with stress, illness, travel, breastfeeding, PCOS/PMOS and perimenopause. Tracking several cycles, ovulation tests or basal body temperature can give a clearer picture.
For most adults, a reading below 120/80 mmHg is considered normal. Hypertension Canada’s 2025 guideline defines high blood pressure as 130/80 mmHg or higher.
The top number (systolic) is the pressure when your heart beats. The bottom number (diastolic) is the pressure between beats. Either one being high counts.
Use a validated upper-arm monitor. Sit quietly for 5 minutes with your back supported, feet flat and arm resting at heart level. Take two readings a minute apart, morning and evening, for several days and use the average.
A reading of 180/120 mmHg or higher with chest pain, shortness of breath, weakness, vision changes or trouble speaking needs emergency care. Call 911.
No. Blood pressure changes through the day. A diagnosis is based on repeated readings, ideally including home or 24-hour readings, reviewed by your healthcare provider.
BMI is your weight in kilograms divided by your height in metres squared. A BMI of 18.5 to 24.9 is classed as a healthy range for most adults.
A ratio below 0.5, meaning your waist is less than half your height, is linked with lower health risk from central (belly) fat.
BMI does not tell muscle from fat or show where fat is stored. Pairing it with waist-to-height ratio gives a more useful picture, especially in midlife and after menopause.
Measure around your bare middle, halfway between your lowest rib and the top of your hip bone, after breathing out normally.
The general adult minimum is 0.8 g per kg of body weight. Many experts suggest around 1.0 to 1.2 g/kg or more with age, during weight loss and in pregnancy.
Eating enough protein helps protect muscle while appetite is low. Many dietitians suggest about 1.2 to 1.6 g/kg of a reference body weight, spread across meals. Follow the target your care team gives you.
Muscle loss speeds up after menopause, so a higher intake, often around 1.0 to 1.2 g/kg, plus strength training is commonly recommended.
Aiming for roughly 25 to 30 g at each main meal helps most adults meet their daily target and supports muscle.
It depends on your pre-pregnancy BMI. For a BMI of 18.5 to 24.9 the guideline range is 11.5 to 16 kg (25 to 35 lb). Ranges are lower for higher BMIs and higher for lower BMIs.
Gain is usually small in the first trimester (about 0.5 to 2 kg in total), then steadier, often around 0.4 kg a week for a healthy BMI in the second and third trimesters.
Recommended ranges are higher for twins. Talk with your healthcare provider about the right range for you.
It estimates your chance of having prediabetes or type 2 diabetes based on age, family history, blood pressure, activity, weight and pregnancy history. It is not a diagnosis.
On the American Diabetes Association test, a score of 5 or more suggests a higher risk. Ask your doctor about an A1C or fasting blood glucose test.
Many people have no symptoms. Some notice thirst, passing urine often, tiredness, blurred vision, slow-healing cuts or frequent infections.
Yes. Having had gestational diabetes increases the lifetime risk of type 2 diabetes, so regular testing is recommended.
Common early signs include changes to your periods, hot flushes or night sweats, poor sleep, mood changes, brain fog and joint aches, often starting in your 40s.
No. It helps you track and describe symptoms. Perimenopause is usually recognised from your age and symptoms, and your healthcare provider can confirm it and discuss options.
Often not. Hormone levels go up and down during perimenopause, so a single test can be misleading. Guidelines recommend diagnosing mainly on symptoms for women over 45.
Print the summary or save it as a PDF and bring it to your appointment. It shows your most bothersome symptoms and questions worth asking.
Health Canada recommends 1,000 mg a day for women aged 19 to 50 and 1,200 mg a day from age 51.
The recommended amount is 600 IU a day up to age 70 and 800 IU a day after 70. Osteoporosis Canada suggests 400 to 1,000 IU daily for most adults, and more for some people.
Falling estrogen speeds up bone loss, which raises the risk of osteoporosis and fractures. Enough calcium, vitamin D and strength training help protect bone.
Food first is usually best for calcium. Many Canadians need a vitamin D supplement in winter. Ask your doctor or pharmacist what is right for you.
Health Canada advises up to 400 mg a day for most adults, about three 8 oz cups of brewed coffee.
Up to 300 mg a day if you are pregnant, planning a pregnancy or breastfeeding.
Needs vary with body size, activity, heat and pregnancy. A general guide is about 9 cups (2.2 L) of fluids a day for women, more in pregnancy and breastfeeding.
An 8 oz cup of brewed coffee has around 135 mg, black tea about 45 mg, green tea about 30 mg and a cola about 35 mg per can.