Q When I'm under a lot of stress, I get bleeding even when it's not my period. Why does this happen?
A Stress disrupts the hormonal axis (hypothalamus-pituitary-ovary), causing ovulatory dysfunction. As a result, the uterine lining sheds irregularly and bleeding occurs. This is one of the common causes of functional abnormal bleeding.
Detailed Answer
Severe stress, rapid weight change, and excessive exercise suppress the secretion of GnRH in the hypothalamus, making ovulation irregular. When progesterone becomes insufficient, the thickened uterine lining breaks down at an unpredictable point, causing irregular bleeding. In this way, abnormal bleeding can readily occur from hormonal imbalance alone, without any structural abnormality.
Korean Medicine Clinic Perspective
In Korean medicine, stress blocks the circulation of qi and creates deficiency-heat (heoyeol), causing the blood to surge upward, which is considered a basis for abnormal bleeding. For blood-heat (hyeoryeol) type abnormal bleeding, prescriptions that replenish fluids and clear deficiency-heat are used to restore the heat balance within the uterus, helping the hormonal rhythm find stability.
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