Your monthly cycle is near, and you feel tired and low in mood. Each woman knows the pattern of her periods. It will change throughout your life from your first cycle to after your pregnancy and delivery due to use of contraceptives, tubal ligation etc., but you know how your periods are during all these phases.
Periods differ in flow, length, consistency in each woman. No two women can have same type of flow. Knowing about the normal periods and abnormal periods, what is the color, consistency, flow in normal periods and abnormal periods, helps you for sure, so that you can visit your doctor early on and get treated if something is not the way it usually is for you.
What Is Brown Blood Menstruation?
Most women do not know what kind of discharges they are having and why, throughout their lives. I still remember the first time I got my period, it was a thick brown kind of spotty discharge and I thought it was a stool! Brown discharge during periods is quite normal.
You get somewhat worried as to what is this color and next you see that it has disappeared during your next cycle and you completely forget about it until you see it again. Brown blood in your discharge is completely normal. As blood ages, it oxidizes and turns brown, just as when you cut an apple and keep it for some time and it turns brown as it oxidizes. So, it is nothing but the old blood present in your uterine wall.
Read more on Blood Clots During Period
When Is Brown Discharge Normal?
- Brown spotting or discharge is seen in girls who start their periods for the first time, which indicates that the menstrual cycle has begun.
- It occurs in older women nearing menopause (stopping of periods after middle age), an early sign of menopause when accompanied by other symptoms like hot flashes and mood swings.
- It may occur in women using birth control pills. This happens because body is adapting to the changes that is caused by the pills you are consuming.
- Cervical irritation may also cause brown spotting.
- It may be seen after intercourse.
- After you get a pelvic exam and Pap smear you can see brown discharge caused by irritation of cervix.
- If your periods come late, you may find brown discharge as your body expels the uterine lining left from your previous period.
- Implantation bleeding, where the fertilized egg implants itself to the uterus, may cause brown discharge – this is an early sign of pregnancy.
- You may see brown discharge after the delivery of your baby called as “lochia.”
Normal healthy periods will have bright red flow (most often during the middle days of period). Brown blood also is seen normally, usually during the beginning of your periods and at the end of your periods when old blood flows out and becomes brown in color due to oxidization.
When Is Brown Discharge Abnormal?
Sometimes brown discharge might indicate you may be having some underlying disease. So, what are these conditions when brown discharge indicates you might need to visit your gynecologist for an examination?