Every girl knows that menstruation is a sign that conception has not occurred. But it’s worth remembering that every girl’s body reacts differently to pregnancy, so you can expect many surprises. Many people are alarmed by the fact that symptoms of pregnancy exist, but at the same time, periods do not stop and proceed as usual. Could this be possible? Is it possible to be pregnant if you are menstruating? The answer to such questions can be found in this article.
Why do you get periods during pregnancy?
To understand why menstruation began during pregnancy, you need to know the structure of a woman’s body. The uterus contains a wall that consists of three layers. The first layer is the inner one. The second layer is the endometrium, which makes up the uterine cavity. The third layer is the mucous membrane, which consists of blood vessels. The menstrual cycle lasts one month, and in the middle of it the endometrium begins to grow, which prepares the uterus for bearing a fetus.
The woman's ovaries then release a follicle containing a mature egg. When the follicle begins to grow, it produces estrogen. Under his work, the inner cover of the uterus increases. When favorable days arrive for successful conception, that is, ovulation, a temporary gland and corpus luteum appear at the site of the follicle, which produces progesterone.
Progesterone prepares the endometrium for early conception, and also has the ability to maintain pregnancy and prevent rejection of the fertilized egg. When conception does not occur, after a few weeks the corpus luteum becomes smaller and the amount of progesterone decreases. The iron takes on the appearance of scar tissue and disappears after some time.
Then, due to the fact that the amount of the hormone progesterone has decreased, the mucous layer of the uterus begins to peel off, in which the embryo was supposed to grow and develop. When sloughing occurs in the uterus, it opens up blood vessels that are partially destroyed. As a result, a woman can observe the onset of her critical days.
When conception occurs and a girl becomes pregnant, the corpus luteum expands and increases the amount of progesterone. In this way, a girl can completely protect her pregnancy and bear a healthy child. When your period starts during pregnancy, it means that the ovaries are not working well. The amount of production of the necessary hormones is not enough to fully develop the fetus. As a result, you can observe the usual onset of menstrual periods, and therefore a miscarriage occurs.
Due to hormonal imbalances, girls often menstruate during pregnancy. Many doctors believe that this phenomenon will not affect the development of pregnancy and the birth of a child, but this may be the first sign of pathologies in mother and child. When a woman observes bloody discharge during pregnancy, she should quickly consult a doctor or call an ambulance, as this is a sign of a miscarriage.
The main symptoms indicating pregnancy
To independently determine the presence of such a phenomenon as pregnancy, pay attention to the signals that the body gives us. These symptoms are based on changes in hormones and the individual characteristics of the body as a whole.
It happens that suspicions of successful fertilization may arise early or not be detected at all.
The whole point lies in the level of such a pregnancy hormone as hCG. As it increases, changes begin to occur, mood may change, strange taste preferences appear, and even pregnancy may lead to menstruation, which is normal implantation bleeding.
As for such a method of determination as a home pregnancy test, it is worth noting that the later you do it, the more reliable the result will be. This is due to the fact that the hCG hormone helps determine pregnancy, and after fertilization it increases every day.
Is it possible to have periods during pregnancy?
To decide on the question of how to find out whether pregnancy is possible during menstruation, it is worth remembering what the entire reproductive path in a woman’s body consists of.
At a certain period of time per month, one or more eggs mature in a woman’s body and await fertilization. But, if the meeting with the sperm does not happen, menstruation begins, during which the unused endometrium and the remains of the dead egg are released.
But, with successful fertilization, the reproductive organs begin to actively produce the pregnancy hormone progesterone. It controls the development of the embryo and promotes its active growth. Consequently, with a normal cycle, which lasts from 28 to 35 days, the possibility of menstruation is almost excluded.
If your period comes during pregnancy, what could it be?
In the event that menstruation began while carrying a child, then this phenomenon cannot be called full menstruation. If this is not associated with a biological process, then this may be a variant of the pathology of the reproductive organ. Often, bleeding during pregnancy can occur due to sudden rejection of the fertilized egg, which threatens an unforeseen spontaneous miscarriage.
Therefore, if you suddenly notice that while carrying a child you suddenly had periods, then you should urgently consult a doctor for advice in order to exclude the possibility of the occurrence of one or another pathology or the loss of the long-awaited child.
During pregnancy, bleeding is often observed due to the fact that the blood of the expectant mother contains little of the hormone progesterone. Consequently, this threatens miscarriage and this condition must be corrected with the help of drugs that contain this hormone.
If no measures are taken, the uterus will begin to reject the embryo and everything will end in severe bleeding and rejection of the fetus. But, if you seek help in a timely manner, such a threat is suspended, and the mother continues to lead a normal lifestyle. Sometimes, in the most severe conditions, a woman is recommended to spend the entire period until the birth of the baby in a hospital.
Cases are often recorded when, being pregnant for a short time, a woman notices heavy bleeding, which is accompanied by nagging pain. This may indicate that an ectopic pregnancy is developing in the body, which can be dangerous both for the reproductive and general health of the woman, and for her life. If you managed to get pregnant ectopically, you should consult a doctor so that he can quickly terminate the pregnancy. Only a highly qualified specialist knows how to identify and eliminate this phenomenon without consequences.
In the case of multiple pregnancy, there is a possibility that a woman may have her period in an interesting position. Thus, if blood can come, then there is a possibility that one of the fertilized eggs is being rejected from the uterine wall.
How to determine that pregnancy has occurred if you are menstruating?
Whether menstruation can occur during pregnancy depends both on the characteristics of the female body and on whether the woman has any pathology of the reproductive system.
The following symptoms may indicate that a woman is pregnant:
- presence of toxicosis. Nausea may indicate that conception has occurred;
- if discharge may occur during a long-awaited pregnancy, then you can measure the basal temperature in the rectal area;
- How to find out if you are pregnant can be determined by the abundance of discharge. In most cases, such blood smears are scanty;
- The woman's breasts increase significantly and become very sensitive.
All these signs can help a woman independently determine the presence of pregnancy during menstruation. This can happen often, so you should initially listen to the body’s signals.
In the event that deviations from the norm are recorded, it is worth seeking help from a specialist who will help solve all the problems that have arisen.
The absence of another menstruation is almost always a sure sign of pregnancy. It is the absence of menstruation on time that usually forces a woman to buy a test or do a blood test to find out whether she is carrying a baby under her heart. But sometimes even after conception, a woman may notice bloody menstrual-like discharge from the genitals. We will tell you in this article whether menstruation can continue in the early stages of pregnancy.
Mechanism of menstruation
To understand it, you need to clearly understand how exactly menstruation occurs in the female body. In medicine, they are often called regula, since menstruation is a regular occurrence. Bleeding is accompanied by rejection of the mucous membranes of the uterus. The main reproductive female organ gets rid of the functional layer of the endometrium only if there is no need for it - there is no pregnancy.
Typically, a woman's menstrual cycle after puberty lasts 28 days. However, both longer and shorter cycles (20-21 days or 34-35 days) are also considered completely normal, provided that they are regular. The first day of menstruation is the beginning of a new menstrual cycle. At the end of physiological bleeding, the follicular phase begins.
An egg matures in the ovaries and is released from the follicle approximately in the middle of the cycle. When the follicle becomes large, under the influence of special hormones it ruptures, and the egg is released into the ampullary part of the fallopian tube. This process is called ovulation. If on the day of ovulation or a day later the egg meets the male reproductive cell - the sperm, then conception and pregnancy are likely.
If conception does not occur, the egg dies 24-36 hours after leaving the follicle. The villi inside the fallopian tube push it into the uterine cavity. The mucous membranes of the reproductive organ thicken under the influence of progesterone from the moment of ovulation. The functional layer is necessary so that a fertilized egg can attach to it. If a dead egg drops into the uterus, progesterone levels decrease after about a week. The luteal phase of the menstrual cycle (its second half) ends.
The unclaimed physiological layer of the endometrium of the uterus begins to be rejected - menstruation begins, and at the same time the next menstrual cycle begins.
If conception has taken place, the level of progesterone remains high. Approximately 8-9 days after ovulation, the fertilized egg, passing through the fallopian tube, enters the uterus and implants into the loose endometrium “prepared” for implantation. The hormone hCG begins to be produced, for which the chorionic villi are responsible after the successful consolidation of the fertilized egg. Human chorionic gonadotropin stimulates additional progesterone production. “Adjusted” by hCG, progesterone does not decrease. Rejection of the endometrial layer does not occur. My period doesn't come.
Menstrual blood is called blood very arbitrarily, because it does not have the ability to clot. In fact, during menstruation, a woman’s genitals secrete menstrual fluid, which only partially consists of blood and the lining of the uterus. In addition to them, the fluid contains mucus secreted by the cervix, liquid secretion from the vaginal glands, and a number of enzymes that prevent the bloody fluid from clotting.
The average amount of menstrual fluid per cycle is about 50-100 milliliters. There are less and more heavy periods. However, the volume of fluid lost is less than 50 ml or more than 250 ml is considered a sign of pathology - such a woman must be examined and find out the causes of the disorder.
Do they happen after conception?
Nature itself provides everything so that after conception, if it takes place, there will be no menstruation. From a physiological point of view, the onset of menstrual bleeding becomes completely impossible, but in practice anything can happen, because we are not talking about a machine or mechanism, but about a living human body.
It is no coincidence that some women, when visiting a gynecologist, claim that they came for the first time only because other symptoms of pregnancy appeared - their breasts became enlarged, their weight began to increase, and some even experienced the first movements of the fetus. In fact, during the first trimester, these women continued to have monthly bleeding, which they mistook for menstruation. People used to say about such “menstruation” during pregnancy that “the fetus is washed.”
What's really going on? From a medical point of view, there is a small chance that in the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle a woman will mature not one, but two or three eggs. Their release of their follicles will not necessarily be simultaneous. Imagine that one egg came out, “waited” for a day and died without ever meeting the sperm. She descends into the uterus. The body begins processes that precede normal menstruation.
But the second egg may well be fertilized. While it moves into the uterine cavity through the tube (this is about 8 days), menstruation may well begin, which arose due to the death of the first egg. However, such periods will be noticeably different from normal ones. A woman may notice that the discharge, although it arrived on time, was more scanty and did not last 6 days, as usual, but only 3-4 days or less.
It must be said that this is the only more or less explainable and logical reason for the onset of menstrual-like discharge during pregnancy in the very early stages. In a month, under such circumstances, menstruation will no longer occur, since the pregnancy will already be in full swing.
Women who claim that they continued to have periods every month until the end of 3-4 months are mistaken. Even if they had menstrual bleeding in the first month due to the second egg, then in subsequent months it was not about menstruation, but about pregnancy pathologies - the threat of miscarriage, hormonal imbalance or other reasons.
Sometimes gynecologists do admit that a woman may continue to have bloody “spotting” on the days on which her period began before pregnancy. The reason for this phenomenon has not been fully studied and experts are inclined to believe that the body’s hormonal memory is “to blame” for everything. To be fair, it is worth noting that this phenomenon occurs very rarely in practice - approximately 0.5-1% of cases.
Discharge of unknown etiology is spoken of if a complete and detailed examination of the pregnant woman does not reveal the slightest disturbance in her condition - the woman is healthy, there is no threat of miscarriage, placenta previa, the balance of hormones is normal, the fetus is healthy and develops according to the gestational age.
Typically, such unexplained discharge goes away by the end of the first trimester and does not return until childbirth. Considering the rarity of this phenomenon, you should not particularly count on the fact that spotting that appears in the early stages is just such a harmless and mysterious menstrual-like bleeding. Most often, the reasons are completely different, more dangerous and threatening.
To answer the main question of this article - can menstruation occur in the early stages, you need to clearly understand that in 99% of cases this cannot happen. And only in rare cases can there be menstrual-like bleeding (not menstruation!) due to the second egg. In all other cases, the appearance of bloody discharge is an alarming symptom that has nothing to do with variants of the physiological norm.
Reasons for the appearance of blood in the early stages
So, full and harmless periods during pregnancy are impossible. So what are the reasons for spotting, which women mistake for menstruation?
Implantation
Implantation bleeding is not a universal phenomenon and does not happen to everyone. But if it happens, then there is nothing dangerous about it. Discharge of a bloody or spotting nature may appear about a week after ovulation, when the fertilized egg reaches the uterine cavity. Usually a woman who has no idea that conception could have occurred is surprised and thinks that for some reason her period simply came about a week earlier than expected.
In fact, the blastocyst implants into the functional layer of the endometrium of the uterus. During this process, the integrity of the layer is compromised and slight bleeding is possible. Such discharge is usually scanty and is not accompanied by pain. The color of the discharge can range from creamy pink to pronounced bloody. The number of discharges is small. Typically, implantation bleeding lasts from several hours to a couple of days, no more.
Tests will show pregnancy in about ten days, and a blood test for hCG will determine it within three to four days after a strange and untimely “smear.”
Implantation bleeding does not affect the development of pregnancy in any way; it does not harm the fetus or the health of the expectant mother. For many women, it does not occur at all, or scanty discharge goes unnoticed.
Hormonal imbalance
The cause of bleeding, including on days when a woman previously had menstruation, may be a lack of the hormone progesterone, which is important for bearing a child. A sufficient level of this hormone is necessary to prevent another menstruation while a woman is carrying a baby. In addition, progesterone suppresses the mother’s immunity, provides nutritional reserves for the baby, and maintains the smooth muscles of the uterus in a calm state, preventing tone and hypertonicity of the uterine muscles.
The cause of progestron deficiency is most often pathologies of the corpus luteum of the ovaries, chorion, chronic diseases of the kidneys and liver, thyroid gland, pituitary disorders, as well as gynecological inflammatory diseases of the ovaries, fallopian tubes, and endometrium. Previous abortions are another reason why, during a desired pregnancy, there may be a pathological lack of one’s own progesterone.
The reason for the appearance of bloody discharge may also lie in a lack of the hCG hormone. If there is little of it, then stimulation of progesterone production will be insufficient. Hormonal bleeding very often leads to spontaneous abortion if left unattended. However, if a woman consults a doctor in a timely manner, she is prescribed treatment with hormonal drugs - progesterone preparations, thus the deficiency of this important substance can be eliminated. If such a problem occurs, hormonal treatment is usually prescribed over a long course, up to 16-18 weeks of pregnancy, when the threat of miscarriage is considered less likely.
Hormonal secretions can vary in intensity, color and duration. What they are depends on the individual characteristics of the organism. Most often, women complain of the appearance of bloody red or brownish discharge, mixed with mucus, but the pathology is characterized by pink and bright orange discharge.
The more abundant the discharge, the more likely an unfavorable outcome. When blood clots appear in them, we are often talking about an incipient miscarriage.
Additional symptoms are a tightening in the lower abdomen, aching in the lower back, weakness and deterioration in well-being. Such signs are not always observed; sometimes the only sign of hormonal deficiency is abnormal discharge from the genitals.
Injury
A woman's reproductive tract during pregnancy, from the very first months, becomes more vulnerable, because progesterone has a softening effect on the mucous membranes. Therefore, injuring the vagina or cervix becomes as easy as shelling pears, without even performing any dangerous actions. During pregnancy, the mucous membranes are better supplied with blood, the amount of which, by the way, also increases. That is why even microtrauma of the vagina can lead to the appearance of bloody discharge, which a woman may mistake for menstruation.
Typically, a woman receives such injuries during sex, especially if the partners, with the onset of an “interesting situation,” have not reduced the intensity of frictional movements, continue to use sex toys, and generally make love frequently. After sexual intercourse, in this case, a woman may notice scarlet-colored bloody discharge - the blood does not have time to change color, because it immediately flows out.
The discharge is not abundant, is not accompanied by pain, and does not harm the child.
If the cervix is injured, the discharge is stronger, mixed with mucus. A woman can be injured during masturbation, when inserting a tampon (which is prohibited during pregnancy!), as well as during a vaginal examination by a gynecologist.
Post-traumatic discharge is not long-lasting; it usually stops completely after a few hours. If you do not introduce an infection to the wound site, then inflammation will not occur and nothing will threaten the pregnancy of the baby. In some cases, with excessive and pure vaginal bleeding, the doctor may prescribe the woman a more gentle regimen for intimate life, as well as iron supplements and hemostatic agents that improve blood clotting.
Ectopic pregnancy
If a fertilized egg is not implanted in the uterine cavity, but in the fallopian tube, cervix, or even enters the abdominal cavity, then for some time the woman may not even know about it. The tests will be “striped” and even signs of toxicosis are quite possible. However, a pregnant woman may be bothered by spotting brownish discharge, which is initially associated with an insufficient level of hCG, because less of it will be produced during ectopic attachment of the fertilized egg.
As the embryo grows, the walls and membranes of the organ to which the fertilized egg is attached will stretch. Quite localized pain in the abdomen appears, and the discharge intensifies. A rupture of the tube or the occurrence of cervical bleeding may be indicated by severe cutting pain, the occurrence of painful shock, loss of consciousness, profuse bleeding with large clots. Rupture threatens by the end of 8-12 weeks, if the fact of an ectopic pregnancy was not established by ultrasound earlier than this period.
An ectopic pregnancy can be fatal for a woman. There is always only one prognosis for the fetus - it will not be able to survive anywhere except the uterine cavity. An ectopic pregnancy requires surgery, and the sooner this is done, the better the woman's chances of becoming pregnant in the future.
If pathology is detected early, doctors can preserve the fallopian tubes, and the fertilized egg will be removed laparoscopically. If you apply late, unfortunately, most often the pipe cannot be saved. In case of cervical pregnancy, it is often necessary to remove the entire uterus, but cases of implantation of the fertilized egg in the cervix are relatively rare.
Miscarriage
The threat of early miscarriage can arise for a variety of reasons, and these reasons will not always be obvious. The fetus may be rejected by the mother’s own immunity; it may not be viable due to gross genetic pathologies or developmental abnormalities. The threat of miscarriage often occurs in women who have chronic diseases and reproductive health problems of infectious and non-infectious origin.
Pregnancy in the early stages is very fragile. Its normal course can be disrupted by the expectant mother’s poor nutrition, her psychological experiences, stress and shock, hard physical work and sports activities, bad habits (smoking and alcohol), and night shift work. Miscarriages can be habitual and repeated. In this case, there is a high probability that the next one will occur exactly at the same time as the previous one.
The threat of miscarriage is often accompanied by bloody discharge. Their intensity, color, consistency depend on the true cause of the threatening condition. When discharge similar to menstruation appears, a woman must be examined by a gynecologist and have an ultrasound.
With a threatened miscarriage, the fertilized egg is usually not deformed, but the uterus is in increased tone. When a miscarriage begins, the discharge is more abundant, the woman complains of increased anxiety, that her stomach hurts, and her lower back is strained. The pain may be cramping. Ultrasound reveals a deformed fertilized egg of irregular shape. When a miscarriage has occurred, the bleeding is severe, the pain is cramping, the discharge contains large blood clots and fragments of the endometrium and fertilized egg. An ultrasound may not detect the fertilized egg, or its remains may be detected. The fetal heartbeat is not recorded.
Chorionic presentation, detachment
If the fertilized egg is not fixed in the fundus of the uterus, but at its very bottom, then bleeding may occur due to small detachments of the chorion. The presentation can be complete, when the entire cervical area of the cervix is covered, or it can be partial. This pathology can be diagnosed only by ultrasound.
The reasons why pathology occurs most often have a maternal factor, that is, they are directly related to a burdened history - the presence of curettage and abortions in the past, the presence of a tumor in the uterus, polyps, which prevented the blastocyst from gaining a foothold where fetal development would be safer.
The uterus increases in size, new blood vessels appear in the chorion, which should turn into the placenta by the beginning of the second trimester of pregnancy. Detachments occur during presentation due to injuries to blood vessels.
Frozen pregnancy
A child in the womb can stop developing and die at any time. There can be many reasons - from chromosomal abnormalities that made the further existence of the baby impossible, to external adverse effects of toxins, radiation, medications, and infectious diseases.
Until a certain time, a woman may not realize what happened until she goes for an ultrasound or she begins to have discharge that resembles menstruation. A dead fetus is usually rejected by the uterus 2-3 weeks after death. During this time, a woman can notice that her signs of toxicosis have disappeared and her chest has stopped hurting. If there was no toxicosis, the sensations will not change.
Discharge at the rejection stage usually begins like menstruation - with a spot that gradually “diverges” and becomes more abundant. The color changes from brownish to bright scarlet, cramping pain appears, and blood clots appear in the discharge. Further progress follows the scenario of miscarriage.
How to distinguish from bleeding?
Menstrual blood is darker, resembling venous blood, whereas in most pregnancy pathologies the discharge is either brownish in color or scarlet, the color of arterial blood. The pregnant woman should be alerted to the accompanying symptoms and changes in her own condition. Any discharge, even if it is not bloody, accompanied by pain, a feeling of heaviness in the abdomen, nagging lumbar pain, a false desire to empty the intestines, is dangerous.
If the fact of pregnancy has already been proven by tests and examinations, spotting should be treated exclusively as pathological. If even a slight “smear” appears, you need to consult a doctor, and if there is heavy sudden bleeding, call an ambulance and, while waiting for the team, take a horizontal position.
Statistics show that in 85% of cases, if a woman seeks medical help in a timely manner, the pregnancy can be saved. The only exceptions are cases of frozen, ectopic pregnancy, miscarriage and hydatidiform mole.
If the fact of pregnancy is not yet obvious and bleeding began before the missed period or a few days after the missed period, the best way to establish the truth is a pregnancy test. You can do it from the first day of your missed period. Before this, a blood test for hCG will come to the woman’s aid. If the diagnosis shows the presence of pregnancy, you should also consult a doctor with complaints of spotting.
It should be remembered that bloody menstrual-like discharge during pregnancy is not like regular periods - they are less abundant. You can also find several dozen differences in a woman’s own feelings.
Pregnancy is a very important phase in the life of every woman. This cycle, no matter what, must proceed under the supervision of a specialist. During this entire period of time, you definitely need to undergo various examinations, take tests, make sure you eat well (without overeating, without eating a lot of unhealthy foods) and much more.
In the early stages of pregnancy, you can quickly determine if there are any abnormalities or problems and resolve them without delay.
Why do I get my period early?
The entire fair half is faced with the subject of discussion: can menstruation occur during pregnancy? Theoretically, this should not happen, and any doctor will tell you this. During pregnancy, menstruation should not and cannot be present, due to the fact that during the full menstrual period the inner lining of the uterus increases. It is also called the endometrium.
If insemination does not occur, the egg leaves the body with the blood. As a conclusion, you cannot be pregnant and have regular periods at the same time. But the question is, why does it so often happen that women do not know about their pregnancy, not even in the first month?
Let's try to consider in detail why there can be menstruation during pregnancy. Scientists have proven the fact that getting pregnant while you are menstruating is unrealistic. But, at the same time, the first month of pregnancy is quite capable of being accompanied by menstruation.
Insemination of the egg occurred during the previous cycle, but the fertilized egg did not reach the implantation site. This period may not manifest itself in any way, and absolutely no sensations or features may be observed. This seems to be the reason why doctors do not calculate the gestational age from the very date of conception. As a rule, the countdown is carried out from when the last day of menstruation was, which was the most final.
Fertilization stage
Even when there is already a fertilized egg, menstruation may still be present. This is directly related to the fact that from the stage of fertilization to the complete engraftment of the egg directly to the wall of the uterus, it can take from one to two weeks.
- It happens that the egg does not have time to strengthen before the next period.
- This especially happens at the end of the cycle. Often, this happens if the cycle lasts only 21 days. Thus, we can conclude that there is a reality of both the presence of a fertilized egg and menstruation.
- In addition, it also happens that another option occurs when menstruation is present during pregnancy.
- In both one and the other ovary, a single egg is formed. If one egg is fertilized and the other is not, menstruation may also occur.
Risk of miscarriage
For several years now, there has often been a tendency for menstruation to occur during the first month of pregnancy. This has become very common. Therefore, a woman may well not realize that she is pregnant. This is due to the fact that during menstruation, the weaker half of humanity does not feel very well, not suspecting that pregnancy causes poor health.
Thus, it turns out that pregnancy occurs without stopping menstruation. If menstruation is present in the early stages of pregnancy, this should certainly cause anxiety and concern. This is very unsound for both the expectant mother and the baby.
There is a huge opportunity to terminate pregnancy within a period of up to 12 weeks, while menstruation can occur without delay.
Most often, the cause of this may be hormonal imbalance or taking birth control pills. If you are planning a pregnancy, then all doctors strongly recommend stopping the use of contraceptives at least 6 months before conception.
Causes of abnormal periods during pregnancy
Also, the presence of menstruation in the early stages of pregnancy is the first sign that placenta has been rejected. Since the placenta is responsible for ensuring that the baby receives oxygen and all the necessary nutritional materials, its rejection may well cause termination of pregnancy.
- You need to know that if there is heavy bleeding, this may be the first sign of miscarriage. If the diagnosis is confirmed, hospitalization and cleaning are required. In order to become pregnant again, some period must pass for the body to recover.
- If there are small bloody marks on your underwear, especially in the first month of pregnancy, it is extremely important to consult a doctor immediately. This may be due to the fact that the fertilized egg begins to develop without an embryo. Unfortunately, doctors cannot figure out the reason why this happens. In this case, the body itself causes a miscarriage. This happens at the maximum in the 8th week.
In addition, menstruation can also occur during an ectopic pregnancy. Although this phenomenon does not always happen, and not necessarily. This happens when pregnancy develops not in the uterus itself, but in the fallopian tube, cervix, or ovary. Unfortunately, this happens often - 1 pregnancy out of 100. An ectopic pregnancy cannot be distinguished from a normal one in the early stages. Then menstruation may appear. It develops up to a certain stage, but when the embryo reaches a certain size, the tube ruptures and a miscarriage occurs. You can find out about an ectopic pregnancy by ultrasound, and the sooner the better.
Take care of yourself and your health, follow what your body is telling you. The main thing is to remember that you need to contact specialists in time if something is bothering you, or just to be sure of your health.
As a rule, the absence of menstruation is a clear sign that pregnancy has occurred. Of course, if there are no pathologies and the woman is healthy. However, such cases are no exception when, while pregnant, especially in the first months, menstruation still took place. By the way, it is for this reason that it is very difficult for some women to detect the fact of pregnancy. In today’s publication, we decided to figure out whether menstruation can really happen during pregnancy and what the consequences are for women’s health.
Periods during pregnancy: dangerous or not?
Let's start with the fact that menstruation during pregnancy is not at all common, as many claim. And even if your closest friend assures you that she had periods during pregnancy, and the baby was born healthy, you should not ignore the discharge. After all, in fact, there should not be periods during pregnancy, and the cause of this phenomenon can be severe pathologies and diseases. Which? Let's take a look.
First of all, let's remember the school anatomy course. The physiology of the female body is such that once a month an egg matures in her body, ready for conception. Moreover, if conception does not occur, then it is destroyed and comes out with menstruation. If the egg has already been fertilized, then the body prepares a special place for the embryo and directs all its forces to prevent the uterus from rejecting the embryo. This is facilitated by the increased production of the hormone -, which stimulates the growth of the inner lining of the uterine walls so that the embryo can properly attach to them. Progesterone prevents the walls of the uterus from contracting, which protects against rejection. That is why we cannot say that menstruation during pregnancy is the norm.
However, in fairness, we note that some spotting does occur during pregnancy. However, it is very difficult to call them periods. The cause of this discharge can be various pathologies, hormonal imbalance in the body, as well as detachment of the fertilized egg, which threatens.
Women who experience spotting in the early stages of pregnancy usually suffer from a disruption in the production of the hormone progesterone. If this hormone is produced in insufficient quantities in the body of the expectant mother, then at the appropriate time for normal menstruation, spotting with endometrial fragments may be observed. However, this is a very dangerous process, since fetal rejection may occur along with cleansing. Naturally, this process cannot be ignored, so be sure to visit a doctor who will prescribe drugs that replace progesterone. Artificial progesterone in most cases helps to avoid miscarriage and carry a healthy baby to term.
Another cause of spotting during pregnancy can be genetic changes and pathologies of fetal development or ectopic pregnancy. Women who have been diagnosed with endometriosis or uterine fibroids are also at risk. The fact is that with these pathologies, the fetus may not implant very well, resulting in oxygen starvation and a miscarriage may occur.
A hormonal disorder that leads to the appearance of spotting during pregnancy, called hyperandrogenism, is an excess of male hormones in a woman’s body. Not treating this disease means threatening the normal development of the fetus.
A rather rare phenomenon, due to which some women have periods during pregnancy - initially 2 embryos are formed. One of them develops normally, and the second, for some reason, is rejected by the body, which leads to bleeding.
From all of the above, the conclusion follows: menstruation during pregnancy is far from normal and not at all harmless. Therefore, you should not listen to “fairy tales” that you should not be afraid of them. If you notice the slightest, be sure to consult a doctor, and if back pain is added to them, then call an ambulance.
Take care of yourself and your unborn child!
Especially for Ira Romaniy
During menstruation, pregnancy is possible, because ovulation and fertilization of the egg sometimes occur at the very end of the cycle. But it should be remembered that cases of pregnancy during menstruation are the exception, not the rule, so it is always better to check with the doctor whether the resulting bleeding threatens the fetus?
Periods during pregnancy: why do they come?
It is advisable to call uterine bleeding menstruation only in the first month of pregnancy. In the first month of pregnancy, menstruation is indeed possible, but in subsequent months it should no longer occur.
Menstruation during pregnancy: reasons
- Implantation bleeding
At the moment when the fertilized egg immerses into the endometrium, slight damage to the blood vessels occurs and, accordingly, scanty bleeding, which can be mistaken for menstruation. Although such bleeding cannot be called menstrual, it is not dangerous and does not threaten the fetus.
- The fertilized egg did not have time to attach
If conception occurs in the middle or end of the cycle, the fertilized egg may not have time to gain a foothold in the endometrium of the uterus - in this case, menstruation will occur. The journey of the fertilized egg to the endometrium of the uterus can take one to two weeks. Therefore, even though conception has occurred, the hormonal levels do not have time to adjust and menstruation occurs during pregnancy.
- Hormone levels dropped sharply
As a result of an endocrine disorder, an inflammatory process, a viral infection or stress during pregnancy, the estrogen level may decrease. In this case, spotting comes exactly at the time when menstruation should have occurred. Sometimes such an anomaly can continue for three to four months, increasing the risk of miscarriage!
- The release of two eggs from the ovaries at once
In rare cases, as a result of a malfunction in the body, eggs mature in both ovaries and are released alternately into the abdominal cavity. One of them meets the sperm, forming a fertilized egg, the other is rejected, causing menstruation.
Periods during pregnancy in the second to ninth months - are they possible?
During this period, there should be no more menstruation; any bleeding is a sign of hormonal disorders, leading to inflammatory diseases and the threat of miscarriage. Even if spotting begins in the fourth, eighth, 12th week of pregnancy, as if on the date of the expected menstruation, this is no longer ordinary menstruation, but endometrial detachment, requiring strict bed rest and medical supervision.
Do not look for signs of menstruation during pregnancy, because normally they should not be present and any bleeding should alert you. You should not attribute spotting to menstruation; you should consult a doctor so that he can determine the causes of bleeding during pregnancy and help stop it and preserve the fetus.
Bleeding during pregnancy: causes
- Sex hormone imbalance
Progesterone deficiency or excess androgens causes rejection of the fertilized egg and scanty spotting, which is not accompanied by pain and occurs mainly during the daytime and during movement. Prescription of medications is necessary to maintain pregnancy.
- Miscarriage
When a woman has a miscarriage, she experiences severe pulling or cramping pain in the lower abdomen, and she begins to bleed. Some may mistake an incipient miscarriage for painful periods during pregnancy and stay home. But it is worth remembering that heavy periods during pregnancy, especially those accompanied by pain, are impossible, and whether the pregnancy can be maintained depends on how quickly help is provided.
- Frozen pregnancy
If pregnancy has stopped developing due to genetic or hormonal disorders, viruses or stress, spotting or bloody discharge appears. This usually occurs in the third-fourth, eighth-eleventh or 16-18th weeks.
- Ectopic pregnancy
With an ectopic pregnancy, there is scanty bleeding every month, accompanied by unilateral abdominal pain. It will not be possible to save an ectopic pregnancy, but it is important to consult a doctor in time to avoid complications and inflammation.
- Abnormal structure of the uterus
A saddle-shaped uterus, as well as fibroids or endometriosis, can cause bleeding during pregnancy. Pregnancy with an abnormal structure of the uterus should be under special medical supervision.
- Placental abruption, cervical infection
They can cause inflammation and bleeding, which the doctor can help stop by choosing a course of treatment.
No matter how comforting the legend about the possibility of menstruation during pregnancy may sound, remember that spotting with a positive pregnancy test is a reason to consult a doctor as soon as possible in order to preserve the health of the mother and fetus.
