Abnormal Vaginal Bleeding

Abnormal vaginal bleeding is bleeding from the vagina that occurs outside the usual time of menstruation (i.e. at the wrong time of the month) or in unusual amounts (either too heavy or too light). To determine whether the bleeding is abnormal, and the causes of the bleeding, the doctor will ask a number of questions and carry out further tests if necessary.

What causes abnormal vaginal bleeding?

Abnormal vaginal bleeding can be an early sign of pregnancy. Often, women will experience bleeding in the very early stages of their pregnancy before even knowing they are pregnant, which the bleeding can be the first sign of.

Abnormal bleeding can also be a sign that a woman is not ovulating regularly. This could lead to prolonged bleeding after a time of no menstrual periods. The doctor will usually take a sample of the lining of the uterus to determine whether this is the cause of the abnormal bleeding.

Apart from checking these two factors, doctors will want to know about the duration and amount of bleeding as well as a woman’s menstrual history to determine the cause of the abnormal vaginal bleeding.

Conditions that cause abnormal bleeding

In many cases the woman may be ovulating regularly and not pregnant, so there could be a number of other factors causing the abnormal vaginal bleeding. It could be menorrhagia (excessive menstrual bleeding that occurs in about 10% of women); menstrual periods that are too frequent (polymenorrhea) often caused by sexually transmitted infections; irregular menstrual intervals (metrorrhagia) caused by growths; spotting caused by stress or birth control pills, or a number of other factors that the doctor will help to diagnose and treat, if necessary.