Understanding Vaginal Bleeding and Preparing For It

It is very important for a woman to understand what is happening inside her body. Vaginal bleeding may happen to a woman at any stage of her life. Vaginal bleeding, as the term itself suggests, involves blood coming out of the vagina. There are two types of vaginal bleeding, the normal and abnormal.


Normal vaginal bleeding

woman’s menstrual cycle or the periodic blood that is released from the uterus. The female hormones that control the menstrual cycle are found in the ovaries. Each month, an egg is freed from an ovary and unless the woman gets pregnant, the lining inside the uterus breaks down or "bleeds" to become what is called menstruation.


When a girl experiences menstruation for the first time, this occasion is called menarche. When the woman’s ovaries cease to function and the menstruation cycle stops, this stage is referred to as menopause.


Abnormal vaginal bleeding
blood flowing from the vagina is considered abnormal when such discharge happens at the improper time such as in between menstrual cycles. The amount or quantity discharged, if excessive or disturbingly less in amount may also be a matter for abnormality.


1. Menstruation - regular vaginal bleeding takes place once a month or roughly at an interval of 4 weeks. There’s abnormal bleeding in cases of menstruation when a woman is experiencing. Below are some of the terminologies related to vaginal bleeding:

  • a. Hypermenorrhea - duration of the menstrual period is taking too long
  • b. Hypomenorrhea - bleeding period is too short a time and the amount of blood released is normally too little.
  • c. Polymenorrhea - menstrual cycle is occurs too often
  • d. Obligomenorrhea - menstrual cycle is occurs rarely
  • e. Metrorrhagia - duration of the bleeding extremely differs from one cycle to the next
  • f. Menorrhagia - when the volume of blood flowing out is too much
2. Female reproductive organs diseases - vagina bleeding may also occur for these following reasong:

a. Sores - like lacerations or lumps, though harmless and not cancerous

b. Cancer - whether of the cervix, vagina, ovaries or the uterus. The risk of having cancer proportionally increases with age.

Causes and symptoms of vaginal bleeding
3. Pregnancy - irregular bleeding may be as sign that a woman is to expect a child. This happens at the early stages of pregnancy, when the woman is oblivious of her condition and thus cannot explain the vaginal bleeding.

4. Drug medications - if you are prescribed to take anticoagulant drugs, the chances of vaginal bleeding is high.

5. Trauma - painful incidents or shock might bring about vaginal bleeding.


Treatments
Whenever you find blood on your underwear or on the tissue after wiping your external genitalia or if it drenches even on your clothing, and you cannot find a reasonable explanation for such abnormal bleeding, it is recommended that you go and see a doctor.


Woman should visit her gynecologist right away if the bleeding is not accompanied by any symptoms that would explain its occurrence. The gynecologist, who is the expert in the field of the female reproductive organ, is in the best position to analyze your condition. For irregularities brought about by hormonal imbalance or deficiency, hormonal replacement therapy may be resorted to.


If your abnormal vaginal bleeding is attended with fever, excruciating pain in the abdomen or nausea, seek medical attention as soon as possible. There may be a need for you to be hospitalized in order for your condition to be treated.