Hi,I'm 18 years old.Yesterday I had a brown discharge that didn't have a pleasent smell, it wasnt a fishy smell or anything it just wasn't normal. Then in the middle of the night I got my period. Usaully I get my period heavy for the first 2-3 days but it's very very light? Do I have an infection? What's going on ?



PLEASE HELP!

It is not unusual to have a change in discharge before your period and the "brownish' discharge you say you had, may have been a mixture of your (cervical lining), menses blood and normal vaginal discharge.

The color of our menses can vary throughout our lifetime. Are you on a form of birth control? Starting or changing your method of BC will alter your hormonal level and have an affect on your menstruation pattern and color. Child bearing and pregnancy can also alter the heaviness of your flow.

You say you have no odor and no pain so I am inclined to think this may be the case.
However, if you are sexually active, I really encourage you to have a gynecological check up i.e. pap smear and screening for stds. Not only would I be comforted knowing you did this, but you would too, especially if this discharge is something that really worries you.

It does have a scent and not a pleasent one but its not fishy smelling. I barely have cramps and no I'm not on birth control everyone I've tried has had a bad side effect.

Thats ok. All menses will have some scent to it as soon as it hits the air, and it will vary from woman to woman. That is perfectly normal. Try refraining from wearing tampons if that odor concerns you and see if that makes a difference. If you don’t wear a tampon the odor on the sanitary napkin is not necessarily YOUR scent. Rather it is your menses mixed in with whatever sanitary product you are using. Your scent has been altered. Try using a cloth pad (or improvise with a clean face cloth). Give it a few days for your flow to have run free and see if you notice a change in your odor.

Remember that menstruation is your body’s process of releasing an unfertilized egg and when it does , the cervical lining goes with it. The cervical lining is very blood congested tissue that is approx 1 month old. When you cut yourself, have you noticed that the blood can either be bright red, or, it can be very dark? All the difference in shade means, is how recently oxygen has passed through that blood. The longer it has been since oxygen has passed through it the darker it will be.

Our cervical lining is considered old tissue and our body is a smart machine. It will not waste a lot of time passing oxygen to something it intends to discard as waste. So this brown discharge is very likely your actual menstruation, and indicates heavier flow is coming. If your flow doesn’t get heavier its not something to worry about either, because our hormones change from month to month. They are not a stagnant fixed part of our biological makeup and outside influences, like stress and diet, can have an effect on us, and thus have an effect on our menstration flow, like when it happens, how long it lasts, cramping etc.

You did not mention if you are sexually active and no, you don’t have to. If you are though, it is still important that you see a gyno. That is just part of being a woman and an important aspect of your feminine sexual health.

Yes I'm sexually active with my fience. I plan on making a gyno appointment tomorrow morning for as soon as possible. !! My periods always been heavy for 2-3 days like I said and it's been really light then a little heavier BUT STILL very very lighter then usaul and its never ever been like that soo it bother me PLUS I have HPV and I have canceress cells on my cervix that have not turned into cancer thank gosh! It all just worries me but everything you said has helped me relax a lot! thank you so much!!