At forty-two, my menstrual cycle changed. Not gradually. Not quietly. It became something I had to manage, anticipate, and plan my life around. My periods became heavy. The bleeding was intense, and blood clots became a regular part of my experience. I never knew exactly what to expect, so I learned to prepare for the worst. I carried extra menstrual products everywhere. I thought about where the nearest bathroom was. I worried about sitting too long. I worried about standing up. I worried about bleeding through my clothes. I worried about being caught somewhere without enough protection. And slowly, something else changed. My wardrobe.
I had always loved wearing colorful, vibrant clothes. But those colors began disappearing from my closet. I started choosing dark, dreary clothing not because I suddenly stopped loving color, but because I was afraid of what might happen if I bled through my clothes. Black became practical. Dark colors became protection. My clothing choices were no longer about what I wanted to wear. They were about what I could safely wear. That’s when I realized how much my period had begun to control my life.
What I was experiencing was disruptive, exhausting, and frustrating. But for a while, it was easy to tell myself that maybe this was just part of getting older. Maybe this was normal. Maybe I just had a heavy period. But this wasn’t “just a heavy cycle.” My body was trying to tell me something. And I needed to listen. Every woman’s menstrual cycle is different. Some women naturally have heavier periods than others. But there is a difference between having a heavier flow and experiencing heavy menstrual bleeding that interferes with your health, your emotional well-being, your work, your relationships, and your quality of life.
There are warning signs we shouldn’t ignore:
- Bleeding for more than seven days.
- Soaking through a pad or tampon very quickly or repeatedly
- Needing to change menstrual protection during the night
- Passing large or frequent blood clots
- Bleeding through your clothing or bedding
- Feeling exhausted, weak, dizzy, or short of breath during or after your period
- Missing work, school, social activities, or exercise because of your bleeding
- Feeling like your period controls your daily life
I experienced many of these symptoms. The blood clots and heavy bleeding weren’t occasional inconveniences. They became a recurring part of my life. My period would come for five days, disappear for a week, and then return for another two weeks. Read that again. Five days of bleeding. One week without it. Then two more weeks of bleeding. At a minimum, I was bleeding twenty-one days out of the month. Every month. Eventually, the constant blood loss took a toll on my body. I became anemic. That’s another topic for another day.
But I share this because sometimes we normalize what we are experiencing simply because we have been experiencing it for so long. We adjust. We adapt. We carry extra supplies. We wear darker clothes. We cancel plans. We map out bathrooms. We quietly endure. And because we become so good at managing the symptoms, we may forget to ask the most important question: Why is this happening?
Small blood clots can occur during menstruation, especially on heavier-flow days. Menstrual blood can clot when it leaves the body faster than it can be broken down. But frequent or unusually large blood clots particularly when they occur alongside very heavy bleeding are worth discussing with a healthcare professional. Heavy menstrual bleeding and blood clots can sometimes be associated with conditions such as uterine fibroids, adenomyosis (an overgrowth of tissue into the muscular wall of the uterus), hormonal problems, endometriosis (an overgrowth of tissue outside of the uterus), or other gynecological conditions.
That doesn’t mean every woman who passes a blood clot has a serious medical condition. It means we shouldn’t automatically dismiss persistent, excessive bleeding as something we simply have to live with. Your period should not control your life. You shouldn’t have to plan your entire day around the possibility of bleeding through your clothes. You shouldn’t have to give up the clothes you love because you’re afraid of an accident. You shouldn’t have to miss work, skip exercise, cancel plans, or stay home because your bleeding is too unpredictable or too heavy. And you shouldn’t have to suffer in silence because someone tells you, “That’s just what happens as you get older.”
Sometimes, it isn’t. Sometimes, heavy bleeding is your body asking you to pay attention. Listen to it. Ask questions. Seek an evaluation. Advocate for yourself. Because living with something doesn’t necessarily mean it’s normal and learning to cope with a symptom doesn’t mean you have to accept it as your reality forever.
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