It’s a code red — but what does it mean?
Knowing what’s normal when it comes to your period can be tricky. After all, women aren’t exactly chatting about the color, consistency and smell at the water cooler.
But if you’re informed about what to look for, your period could be a useful tool in letting you know how your reproductive plumbing is functioning.
Dr. Hailey Puckett, a doctor of nursing practice, women’s health nurse practitioner and Kotex partner, tells The Post exactly how to read your cycle like a book.
Clots bigger than the size of a quarter
Clots are OK as long as they’re small. Bigger than the size of a quarter might indicate there could be a polyp, fibroid, endometriosis or adenomyosis.
Period consistency naturally changes over the course of each cycle, so how do you differentiate slimy blood and a clot? Puckett says it’s “anything that is not of a loose consistency that would just absorb straight onto a pad or tampon.”
She recommends using pads over tampons to keep an eye on the size. When a tampon gets changed out, it’s hard to tell how big any clot might be.
Dark, slimy blood for the duration of the period
Color, consistency, and smell naturally change over the course of a period.
First, expect dark brown or black, slimy blood with a milder smell. Then, it’ll transition into a bright red with a more metallic smell, and stay a consistent color for two to three days, Puckett says, before it tapers off.
It’s also normal for people to get a light pink to the brown again or brown to the light pink.
But that dark blood is oxidized, old blood, she explains, so it only should appear at the beginning or end. “We don’t really want it through the entire time,” she said, which would indicate the woman isn’t having a regular cycle each month.
“They might not be ovulating, they might be holding on to too much period. And you’re only letting out a little bit.”
This could be a sign of polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome (PMOS), previously known as PCOS.
Bleeding through a pad or tampon in an hour
If you’re bleeding so heavily an entire pad or tampon is saturated within the hour, it could lead to complications.
Bleeding should ebb and flow over the course of a period. It “should not be of heavy consistency the entire time” or “something that you dread,” she said.
Bleeding so much can cause anemia, a lack of red blood cells to carry oxygen around your body, fatigue, and weakness. It can also be really painful.
It’s common — about one in three women deal with heavy menstrual bleeding, or menorrhagia — but that doesn’t mean you have to simply deal with it. Talk to a doctor if it’s interfering with your life.
As long as it takes longer than an hour to fill a pad or tampon, it’s OK, Puckett said.
Puckett recommends Kotex’s Gravity Core pads that pull the blood to the bottom of the pad, so it’s not overflowing off the side before the pad is full.
Make sure you don’t wait until it’s full, either. Change every four to six hours to combat bacteria growth.
Over 38 days between periods
Your period should last six days or less. And there should be 21-38 days between the first day of your period.
“If they’re going every over 38 days, that’s a big indicator to me that they’re not having regular monthly ovulation,” Puckett said.
This could be caused by high estrogen or androgen. With PMOS, higher testosterone could cause irregular ovulation.
If you’re on an estrogen pill, patch, or ring, your cycle should be regulated. In the case of the pill, three days without the hormone (three placebo pills) will cause the period to start.
For progestin pills, IUD, and injection, the period may not come at all, or you could have irregular bleeding every third month, Puckett said.
“Not a concern as long as it’s not extremely bothersome,” she added.
