The Toll of Heavy Bleeding

Heavy bleeding can disrupt nearly every aspect of daily life.

People describe missing school and work, carrying extra clothes and menstrual products everyone they go, and avoiding activities out of worry about flooding through clothing in public. Others experience fatigue and inability to concentrate from anemia.

“If I could change one thing about how we approach women and girls with bleeding disorders, I would completely remove the stigma associated with heavy menstrual bleeding,” said Kristin Maher, M.D., Ph.D. Hematologist

“Quality of life can get pretty debilitating, says Homa Ahmadzia, M.D., an OB/GYN and Maternal-Fetal Medicine Specialist at Invoa Fairfax Hospital in Virginia.

For many women, systemic shame compounds the problem of delayed diagnosis. Talking about menstrual flow difficulties is often taboo.

“It’s not a topic of discussion that they feel comfortable with – which is driven by stigma in society – that sometimes they go years with heavy bleeding, and nobody really knows,” Maher says.

“If I could change one thing about how we approach women and girls with bleeding disorders, I would completely remove the stigma associated with heavy menstrual bleeding,” she adds. “I think people would be recognized sooner.”

Source: National Bleeding Disorders Foundation, HemAware, September 2026