From Tracee Cornforth,
Your Guide to Menstrual Disorders.
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A. Severe acute bleeding occurs when uterine bleeding is heavy enough to require changing tampons or pads more than once per hour. Severe acute bleeding can cause a sudden drop in blood pressure, as well as a dangerous drop in blood volume. Severe acute bleeding occurs most often in adolescents who have a disorder, such as von Willebrand disease, that prevents blood from clotting; adult women who have submucous fibroids; and in adults using anticoagulant medications.

_Source:

John W Ely, MD; “ Abnormal Uterine Bleeding: A Management Algorithm;” Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine; November – December 2006, Vol. 19 No. 6.