# Hemophilia & Menstration **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 8, 2001, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hemophilia-menstration/92231 "2001-11-08T18:07:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2001, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hemophilia-menstration/92231/1 "2001-11-08T18:07:53Z")
How do female hemophiliacs deal with menstration? Are there any special clotting pills, or something? Perhaps it is not really bleeding since tissue is being shed, but still…the blood IS coming from somewhere…can they stop? - Jinx ---
**Author:** ![Payne\_N.Diaz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b77776/32.png) [@Payne\_N.Diaz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Payne_N.Diaz)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2001, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hemophilia-menstration/92231/2 "2001-11-08T18:13:21Z")
AFAIK, hemophiliacs are exclusively male, since the problem is carried on the X chromosome, and females have a backup copy. Males don’t, so if they’ve got the bad gene, they’re stuck with it. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2001, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hemophilia-menstration/92231/3 "2001-11-08T18:19:32Z")
Yes, generally speaking, if you’re female and have a blood clotting disorder, you need to keep an eye on your monthlies. [http://www.womens-health.org/resstat/nhf.htm](http://www.womens-health.org/resstat/nhf.htm) [http://www.hemophilia.ca/english/women/](http://www.hemophilia.ca/english/women/) A lot depends on what type of hemophilia you have (I think there are 14 variations). ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2001, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hemophilia-menstration/92231/4 "2001-11-08T18:22:02Z")
Ah, I didn’t see Payne’s post. From the [Canadian Hemophilia Society](http://www.hemophilia.ca/english/women/) link. > [@](#): > > Aren’t bleeding disorders mainly a problem for men? > > No, they aren’t. This is a common myth. > > Most people associate bleeding problems with hemophilia. They think that hemophilia affects only men. Therefore, women are not affected by bleeding disorders. > > In fact, many inherited bleeding disorders affect men and women in equal numbers. What’s more, women can suffer more bleeding because of … > > –bleeding at the time of menstruation > –bleeding at the time of ovulation > –the potential for bleeding during delivery and after childbirth. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2001, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hemophilia-menstration/92231/5 "2001-11-08T18:30:24Z")
According to the book _Queen Victoria’s Gene: Hemophilia and the Royal Family_ by the Potts brothers, there have only been about three recorded cases of females having hemophilia-both died at the age of menstruation. But they were the product of cousins marrying. The only way for a female to have hemophilia would be if her father was a hemophiliac and her mother a hemophiliac carrier. ---
**Author:** ![USCDiver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uscdiver/32/354_2.png) [@USCDiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/USCDiver)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2001, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hemophilia-menstration/92231/6 "2001-11-08T20:34:57Z")
from _Stedman’s Concise Medical Dictionary_ > [@](#): > > _Hemophilia A_(Classic Hemophilia) - hemophilia due to deficiency of factor VIII; an **X-linked recessive** condition, occurring almost exclusively in human males and also affecting several breeds of dogs, characterized by prolonged clotting time, decreased formation of thromboplastin, and diminished conversion of prothrombin. > > _Hemophilia B_(Christmas Disease) - clotting disorder resembling hemophilia A, caused by hereditary deficiency of factor IX; also seen as an X-linked recessive condition in cairn terrier breed of dogs > > _Hemophilia C_ - hemophilia due to deficiency of factor XI; clinically resembles hemophilia A and B but is transmitted as an **autosomal dominant** inheritance. ---
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2001, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hemophilia-menstration/92231/7 "2001-11-08T21:35:45Z")
I have to wonder if there could be any remote link between hemophilia and endomitriosis… - Jinx ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2001, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hemophilia-menstration/92231/8 "2001-11-09T01:32:34Z")
with the new treatments for hemophilia it is possible for a female hemophiliac to get past menstruation age now. also with more male hemophiliacs living( through better medicine) it is a bit easier for them to get married and possibly meet up with a woman who could be a carrier. aids has gone through the hemophiliac population like wild fire. a coworker has 3 nephews that have hemophilia, all are hiv positive as well. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2001, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hemophilia-menstration/92231/9 "2001-11-09T01:59:29Z")
> [@](#): > > According to the book _Queen Victoria’s Gene: Hemophilia and the Royal Family_ by the Potts brothers, there have only been about three recorded cases of females having hemophilia-both died at the age of menstruation. This sounds suspicious to me… If I’m remembering my high school biology correctly, the hemophilia rate in women should be about equal to the square of the rate in men. In other words, if one man in a thousand has hemophilia, then about one woman in a million will have it. Two or three cases in women, ever, would imply a rate in women of one in a few billion, which would mean only one in about fifty thousand, in men, and I’m pretty sure that the rate’s higher than that. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2001, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hemophilia-menstration/92231/10 "2001-11-09T02:09:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Chronos \* > \*\*This sounds suspicious to me… If I’m remembering my high school biology correctly, the hemophilia rate in women should be about equal to the square of the rate in men. In other words, if one man in a thousand has hemophilia, then about one woman in a million will have it. Two or three cases in women, ever, would imply a rate in women of one in a few billion, which would mean only one in about fifty thousand, in men, and I’m pretty sure that the rate’s higher than that. \*\* Could you explain how you came up with those numbers? I didn’t learn anything in high school or college bio that would allow me to make such calculations, but I did learn that up until very recently hemophiliacs almost never survived childhood. As a female hemophiliac would need both a carrier mother and a hemophiliac problem, they would be very rare indeed if so few hemophiliac males died before reaching reproductive age. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2001, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hemophilia-menstration/92231/11 "2001-11-09T03:13:31Z")
The most common congenital cause of hypermenorrhea is a bleeding disorder similar to hemophilia called von Willebrand’s disease. Vaginal bleeding may occur between menses, and menstrual abnormaliies may be intermittent, moderate, severe or persistent. Some women who have hysterectomy for hypermenorrhea probably have mild undiagnosed vWD. These women are obviously at increased risk for post partum hemorrhage. The cause of endometriosis is not known. One attractive theory states at the time of menstruation, viable endometrial cells are shed and pass retrograde through the uterine tubes, implanting in the pelvic cavity. This theory is easy to understand, and some degree of retrograde menstruation normally occurs in women with patent tubes. It explains the most common locations of endometriosis, however does not explain rare cases in the lung or brain, or endometriosis in women with Turner’s who do not menstruate. Furthermore, it does not explain why all women do not get endometriosis. However, if this is true you would expect a higher rate of endometriosis in hemophiliacs. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2001, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hemophilia-menstration/92231/12 "2001-11-09T03:35:16Z")
Sort of a tangent question… I know that the few females with hemophilia have died ta the onset of menstruation, but does that make sense? Should menstruation be affected by hemophelia? When you get your period, you’re not really bleeding from a cut, but rather it’s the uterus lining taking the form of blood each month. Or does hemophilia just affect all kind of bleeding? ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2001, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hemophilia-menstration/92231/13 "2001-11-09T03:45:12Z")
Hemophilia affects all types of bleeding. Even spontaneous bleeding into joints for no good reason is sometimes seen. Dr\_Pap, MD.