'I Woke up Covered in Blood'

I'm the kind of person who, when something happens, will think, "Oh, it can't be the worst-case scenario." So when I woke up in my dorm room in Toronto, Canada in September 2019, covered in blood, I thought I was just on my period.

It was a lot of blood—probably a cup's worth—and it was all over my thighs, so my legs felt sticky. I was wearing big sweatpants but the blood went through those, onto the actual bed, and even through to the mattress. It looked like a murder scene.

I assumed I was on my period. I was coming off birth control at the time, meaning my period was very irregular, so I thought I just had a super heavy flow. I did, however, think it was strange that I had no other symptoms, as I usually get cramps or feel bloated a couple days before I get my period, whereas I didn't notice anything strange in the days before.

I took a shower immediately, as I felt gross, then changed my sheets and put on a sanitary towel. I was annoyed that I had made a mess but that was my only feeling, to begin with.

Throughout the day, however, the bleeding got worse. I didn't have class, so I was hanging out with my friend in her dorm room. When I stood up, I saw that I had leaked through my pad and onto her chair. I was surprised as I hadn't thought I needed to change my pad already, but I changed it anyway. An hour later, I leaked through the pad again. I felt super gross and took another shower.

After the shower, hour after hour, my pad was soaking wet and blood leaked through my pants. I had to layer up my sanitary towels—one at the front, one at the back, and an extra layer in the middle—so it was almost like a diaper.

When I went to the washroom to change my pad, I noticed I had blood clots. It was normal for me to have blood clots on my period, but these were abnormally huge—the size of a quarter. I could feel them coming out of my vagina. I took four showers that day because I felt disgusting.

As the day progressed, I felt more anxious. I went through half a pack of sanitary towels and I thought: This is not normal. I wasn't in pain, but I was really fatigued—just doing my laundry or walking up the stairs left me feeling exhausted. I decided to go to the walk-in clinic the following day.

An escalating situation

The doctor at the walk-in clinic thought the bleeding was just my period. He mentioned that the blood thinners I was taking could be adding to the issue. I can't remember what pills he prescribed me, but he said to take one a day for five days and that this would lighten the bleeding.

I left the clinic feeling confident that the issue would be resolved. I trusted the doctor and I thought my situation was not that serious, that my period was just irregular and that the pills would help. I took the pills, thinking everything was going to be OK after that.

But for the next two days, I still woke up with blood leaking through my pants and bedsheets. I was still taking frequent showers, and still changing my sanitary pads every hour. I was wearing three layers of pants, and I considered getting a diaper just to hold all the leakage.

At this point, I felt scared because I had so many blood clots, and they were bigger than a quarter now—more like a dollar. The pill I had been prescribed was clearly not working.

I was in my friend's dorm room, talking about it, and one of my friends said, "That doesn't sound normal." I started crying because I was scared. I started to consider, for the first time, that it might not be my period, and I was distraught. My friends said it was time to take me to the hospital.

Seeking emergency treatment

The hospital was really busy. I waited a couple of hours before the nurse took me for an ultrasound, and another six hours for the results. In that time, I cried, thinking about everything that could go wrong.

I felt very tired and light-headed. When I saw myself in the mirror, I looked really pale. I thought I was going to die. Either that, or that I was pregnant. I was super worried because I was 19 and in school. What would my mom say if I was pregnant?

By the time the doctor called me in, it was 8 p.m. He told me that a cyst in my ovaries had ruptured—it was like a little bubble that had burst. I asked how this happened and he mentioned blood thinners but said it could be a whole bunch of different things—sometimes a cyst just bursts because it is full of blood.

The doctor said, "Thank goodness you came in now because you lost a lot of blood." He said I had lost more than 70 percent of blood from my body. I was so shocked, and I didn't understand how I was still alive. He said I needed to stay overnight, to get a blood transfusion. I was relieved to finally know what was going on and to be able to fix it.

I felt woozy even thinking about someone else's blood in my body, but I felt better when I woke up the next morning. I felt full of life. I did have to take some medication, which made me feel nauseous, but then I went home.

My mom came up from Niagara Falls, where she lives, and took care of me for the next week. She made me a lot of greens, and I took iron pills because I was low on iron. A couple of days later, I was back to normal. I wasn't bleeding anymore, and my period was regular the following month. Thankfully, I've been fine ever since.

But this experience taught me that you should always listen to your body. I wasn't really worried until the third day in, and I could have sought help sooner. I've learned that, if you think you notice something abnormal, it doesn't hurt to take extra precautions.

Taijah Watson is the founder of the food company, YoursCharcuterie. She is on TikTok at @taytayreannax.

As told to Newsweek's My Turn deputy editor, Katie Russell.

All views expressed in this article are the author's own.