Perimenopausal women: Why am I getting brown blood every cycle day 15?

[Anonymous]

I actually think Jeff should add a perimenopause/menopause forum because there are so many queries around this and people on the health forum get annoyed (esp if they aren't women of a certain age). Peri and meno is confusing! Blood at odd times! Weird discharge! (See the early pantyliner post). Mood swings!
FWIW, I did a deep dive on brown discharge at ovulation and 5 percent of women have it. If it happens every month at the same time, it is clearly hormonal. This is different than random bleeding in between periods, which warrants checking, but can also be relatively harmless (cyst, fibroid, polyp, endometriosis).

[Anonymous]

I find threads like this very helpful—as someone who’s going through this currently.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I actually think Jeff should add a perimenopause/menopause forum because there are so many queries around this and people on the health forum get annoyed (esp if they aren't women of a certain age). Peri and meno is confusing! Blood at odd times! Weird discharge! (See the early pantyliner post). Mood swings!
FWIW, I did a deep dive on brown discharge at ovulation and 5 percent of women have it. If it happens every month at the same time, it is clearly hormonal. This is different than random bleeding in between periods, which warrants checking, but can also be relatively harmless (cyst, fibroid, polyp, endometriosis).

CD15 is not an "odd time."

[Anonymous]

Get a D&C done

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Get a D&C done

Uh. What?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I find threads like this very helpful—as someone who’s going through this currently.

Well, apparently, someone or someone(s) find them aggravating and feels the urge to comment for no reason.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP. It can be completely normal. It can also be a sign of something serious. I had never had any sort of midcycle spotting in my life until I was 40 and experienced it after each covid shot and after actually having covid. Because it was abnormal for me, my OBGYN ordered a trans-vaginal ultrasound and bloodwork, both of which came back normal. I've not had it again, so we chalked it up to covid/vaccinations.
For my mother, mid-cycle bleeding was her first indication of endometrial cancer. She was in her late 40s. By the time someone actually took it seriously and didn't just write it off as a symptom of perimenopause, her cancer had progressed to stage 3. Thankfully, she survived.

I doubt it was only midcycle.

Some of you need to learn what a follicle is.

PP. I know exactly what a follicle is...I went through years of infertility treatment and became very familiar with my reproductive system. I'm also fortunate to have an OBGYN who is proactive when presented with something outside of the norm for one of her patients.
My mother's started off as mid-cycle spotting and escalated to heavier flow at various points in time over the course of a year. She was written off for the first 6 months and told that it was "normal". And, while it is absolutely normal for many women, that doesn't mean that it is for ALL women.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP. It can be completely normal. It can also be a sign of something serious. I had never had any sort of midcycle spotting in my life until I was 40 and experienced it after each covid shot and after actually having covid. Because it was abnormal for me, my OBGYN ordered a trans-vaginal ultrasound and bloodwork, both of which came back normal. I've not had it again, so we chalked it up to covid/vaccinations.
For my mother, mid-cycle bleeding was her first indication of endometrial cancer. She was in her late 40s. By the time someone actually took it seriously and didn't just write it off as a symptom of perimenopause, her cancer had progressed to stage 3. Thankfully, she survived.

I doubt it was only midcycle.

Some of you need to learn what a follicle is.

PP. I know exactly what a follicle is...I went through years of infertility treatment and became very familiar with my reproductive system. I'm also fortunate to have an OBGYN who is proactive when presented with something outside of the norm for one of her patients.
My mother's started off as mid-cycle spotting and escalated to heavier flow at various points in time over the course of a year. She was written off for the first 6 months and told that it was "normal". And, while it is absolutely normal for many women, that doesn't mean that it is for ALL women.

So it was not only mid-cycle. Thanks for confirming!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP. It can be completely normal. It can also be a sign of something serious. I had never had any sort of midcycle spotting in my life until I was 40 and experienced it after each covid shot and after actually having covid. Because it was abnormal for me, my OBGYN ordered a trans-vaginal ultrasound and bloodwork, both of which came back normal. I've not had it again, so we chalked it up to covid/vaccinations.
For my mother, mid-cycle bleeding was her first indication of endometrial cancer. She was in her late 40s. By the time someone actually took it seriously and didn't just write it off as a symptom of perimenopause, her cancer had progressed to stage 3. Thankfully, she survived.

I doubt it was only midcycle.

Some of you need to learn what a follicle is.

PP. I know exactly what a follicle is...I went through years of infertility treatment and became very familiar with my reproductive system. I'm also fortunate to have an OBGYN who is proactive when presented with something outside of the norm for one of her patients.
My mother's started off as mid-cycle spotting and escalated to heavier flow at various points in time over the course of a year. She was written off for the first 6 months and told that it was "normal". And, while it is absolutely normal for many women, that doesn't mean that it is for ALL women.

So it was not only mid-cycle. Thanks for confirming!

This exactly. Mid-cycle spotting is common. Its due to ovulation. Random intermittent bleeding should be evaluated for fibroids, polyps, etc. The endometrial stripe should be measured for thickness.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP. It can be completely normal. It can also be a sign of something serious. I had never had any sort of midcycle spotting in my life until I was 40 and experienced it after each covid shot and after actually having covid. Because it was abnormal for me, my OBGYN ordered a trans-vaginal ultrasound and bloodwork, both of which came back normal. I've not had it again, so we chalked it up to covid/vaccinations.
For my mother, mid-cycle bleeding was her first indication of endometrial cancer. She was in her late 40s. By the time someone actually took it seriously and didn't just write it off as a symptom of perimenopause, her cancer had progressed to stage 3. Thankfully, she survived.

I doubt it was only midcycle.

Some of you need to learn what a follicle is.

PP. I know exactly what a follicle is...I went through years of infertility treatment and became very familiar with my reproductive system. I'm also fortunate to have an OBGYN who is proactive when presented with something outside of the norm for one of her patients.
My mother's started off as mid-cycle spotting and escalated to heavier flow at various points in time over the course of a year. She was written off for the first 6 months and told that it was "normal". And, while it is absolutely normal for many women, that doesn't mean that it is for ALL women.

So it was not only mid-cycle. Thanks for confirming!

Look at you cherry-picking to fit your narrative and ignoring the fact that I said it absolutely did start off as mid-cycle spotting.
I'm not saying that all mid-cycle spotting is something far more serious than just corresponding to ovulation...but you're acting like it is never a thing that needs to be checked out, and all women experience this...and neither of those are true. What's your angle here? I don't get it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP. It can be completely normal. It can also be a sign of something serious. I had never had any sort of midcycle spotting in my life until I was 40 and experienced it after each covid shot and after actually having covid. Because it was abnormal for me, my OBGYN ordered a trans-vaginal ultrasound and bloodwork, both of which came back normal. I've not had it again, so we chalked it up to covid/vaccinations.
For my mother, mid-cycle bleeding was her first indication of endometrial cancer. She was in her late 40s. By the time someone actually took it seriously and didn't just write it off as a symptom of perimenopause, her cancer had progressed to stage 3. Thankfully, she survived.

I doubt it was only midcycle.

Some of you need to learn what a follicle is.

PP. I know exactly what a follicle is...I went through years of infertility treatment and became very familiar with my reproductive system. I'm also fortunate to have an OBGYN who is proactive when presented with something outside of the norm for one of her patients.
My mother's started off as mid-cycle spotting and escalated to heavier flow at various points in time over the course of a year. She was written off for the first 6 months and told that it was "normal". And, while it is absolutely normal for many women, that doesn't mean that it is for ALL women.

So it was not only mid-cycle. Thanks for confirming!

Look at you cherry-picking to fit your narrative and ignoring the fact that I said it absolutely did start off as mid-cycle spotting.
I'm not saying that all mid-cycle spotting is something far more serious than just corresponding to ovulation...but you're acting like it is never a thing that needs to be checked out, and all women experience this...and neither of those are true. What's your angle here? I don't get it.

DP: I actually wonder if the midcycle spotting was related to the heavier flow. Was she post-menopausal at the time of diagnosis? If she was post-meno, then midcycle spotting would've been more concerning than if she were in peri.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP. It can be completely normal. It can also be a sign of something serious. I had never had any sort of midcycle spotting in my life until I was 40 and experienced it after each covid shot and after actually having covid. Because it was abnormal for me, my OBGYN ordered a trans-vaginal ultrasound and bloodwork, both of which came back normal. I've not had it again, so we chalked it up to covid/vaccinations.
For my mother, mid-cycle bleeding was her first indication of endometrial cancer. She was in her late 40s. By the time someone actually took it seriously and didn't just write it off as a symptom of perimenopause, her cancer had progressed to stage 3. Thankfully, she survived.

I doubt it was only midcycle.

Some of you need to learn what a follicle is.

PP. I know exactly what a follicle is...I went through years of infertility treatment and became very familiar with my reproductive system. I'm also fortunate to have an OBGYN who is proactive when presented with something outside of the norm for one of her patients.
My mother's started off as mid-cycle spotting and escalated to heavier flow at various points in time over the course of a year. She was written off for the first 6 months and told that it was "normal". And, while it is absolutely normal for many women, that doesn't mean that it is for ALL women.

So it was not only mid-cycle. Thanks for confirming!

Look at you cherry-picking to fit your narrative and ignoring the fact that I said it absolutely did start off as mid-cycle spotting.
I'm not saying that all mid-cycle spotting is something far more serious than just corresponding to ovulation...but you're acting like it is never a thing that needs to be checked out, and all women experience this...and neither of those are true. What's your angle here? I don't get it.

DP: I actually wonder if the midcycle spotting was related to the heavier flow. Was she post-menopausal at the time of diagnosis? If she was post-meno, then midcycle spotting would've been more concerning than if she were in peri.

No. She was in her 40s and in peri when it started...which is why it was written off for so long until the symptoms became more severe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP. It can be completely normal. It can also be a sign of something serious. I had never had any sort of midcycle spotting in my life until I was 40 and experienced it after each covid shot and after actually having covid. Because it was abnormal for me, my OBGYN ordered a trans-vaginal ultrasound and bloodwork, both of which came back normal. I've not had it again, so we chalked it up to covid/vaccinations.
For my mother, mid-cycle bleeding was her first indication of endometrial cancer. She was in her late 40s. By the time someone actually took it seriously and didn't just write it off as a symptom of perimenopause, her cancer had progressed to stage 3. Thankfully, she survived.

I doubt it was only midcycle.

Some of you need to learn what a follicle is.

PP. I know exactly what a follicle is...I went through years of infertility treatment and became very familiar with my reproductive system. I'm also fortunate to have an OBGYN who is proactive when presented with something outside of the norm for one of her patients.
My mother's started off as mid-cycle spotting and escalated to heavier flow at various points in time over the course of a year. She was written off for the first 6 months and told that it was "normal". And, while it is absolutely normal for many women, that doesn't mean that it is for ALL women.

So it was not only mid-cycle. Thanks for confirming!

Look at you cherry-picking to fit your narrative and ignoring the fact that I said it absolutely did start off as mid-cycle spotting.
I'm not saying that all mid-cycle spotting is something far more serious than just corresponding to ovulation...but you're acting like it is never a thing that needs to be checked out, and all women experience this...and neither of those are true. What's your angle here? I don't get it.

DP: I actually wonder if the midcycle spotting was related to the heavier flow. Was she post-menopausal at the time of diagnosis? If she was post-meno, then midcycle spotting would've been more concerning than if she were in peri.

No. She was in her 40s and in peri when it started...which is why it was written off for so long until the symptoms became more severe.

Got it. When it began happening to me, I insisted on a transvaginal ultrasound plus a Pap, which seemed a bit like overkill but at least I could then focus on hormonal stuff without wondering "what if." I am glad your mom ended up OK! Sometimes you have to be your own advocate. If something feels off, even if it's not unusual in general, speak up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I actually think Jeff should add a perimenopause/menopause forum because there are so many queries around this and people on the health forum get annoyed (esp if they aren't women of a certain age). Peri and meno is confusing! Blood at odd times! Weird discharge! (See the early pantyliner post). Mood swings!
FWIW, I did a deep dive on brown discharge at ovulation and 5 percent of women have it. If it happens every month at the same time, it is clearly hormonal. This is different than random bleeding in between periods, which warrants checking, but can also be relatively harmless (cyst, fibroid, polyp, endometriosis).

Yes, I have suggested this before. You would think that a large percentage of the people using this entire website are perimenopausal or menopausal women. And there's obviously a lot of worry associated with this time of life , some of which is a direct result of having had no or little education about it. I guarantee a menopause subgroup would get a lot of use and be efficient for users of this site. Someone should suggest it to Jeff.

[Anonymous]

I had a few years of wild periods, and for a good year, they came every 2-3 weeks vs. 4.