QuestionI've had my period for 6 years, and it's been constant for 4 years. I normally bleed heavily for the first 3-4 days, and normally feel very bad right when I start (due to endometriosis), so I always know I started. Normally my cycle is 30-32 days. This month something different is happening. Around day 17 of my cycle I started noticing some blood in my discharge. I would only notice it when I would wipe after going to the bathroom, and it was on and off for about about 4 days. It stopped for 3 days, and started again. It did that for 3 more days. On day 27 of my cycle I started to bleed all day, and I thought this was probably my period, but I wasn't sure since it was so light. I've been bleeding all day for 10 days now. It's really light bleeding, and I've had no hurting at all. Normally I have a lot of pain, and I have some pain medication that I take to make things bearable. This time I haven't had to take anything at all, and the only pain I had was a little bit of cramping, but it only lasted 5 minutes. I had my last gynecologist appointment in April, and everything was fine then. I do not know what is going on with this though. I'm going on vacation in less than a week, and I would really like for this to be fixed before then. Not because it's painful, but because it makes me a little worried. I'm not on any medications, not on birth control, not sexually active, haven't changed eating or exercising habits, and basically nothing in my life has changed. I do not know how long I should allow myself to bleed before I do something. I thought today I would stop because I wasn't bleeding last night when I went to bed, and wasn't bleeding when I woke up, but it started about an hour after I woke up and has been going all day. Is this period maybe longer because it's been so light? What could cause this, and is it going to hurt anything?
AnswerThere are a couple possibilities.... one, you could be pregnant, so check a first morning urine specimen with a pregnancy test.
You may have skipped an ovulation and didn't shed the uterus lining properly and then you get over production and slow sloughing. This fixes itself a lot.
Since you are under the gun with a vacation, call your doc, get on birth control pills right away, even if only temporarily and that can capture and reset your period. Also, esp. with endometriosis, birth control pills alleviate symptoms a lot.
Your other choice is to wait... if not pregnant, you will probably go back to normal in the next couple of months.
