Why Am I Bleeding When Am NoT Suppose To Be On My Period?

From the time you get your period, you’re tracking it; I know patients who plan sex, their vacations, even their outfits around their cycles. And then sometimes…it changes. Of course that would spark questions! Here’s what to know before you freak out.

If Your Period Is Suddenly Heavier
Bleeding so much you need double your usual pads or tampons? If one period is crazy heavy, wait it out, but if a few in a row are, you may have developed a polyp or fibroids in your uterus. Sounds scary, but these benign growths are more of a nuisance than a danger. Or you may be experiencing a hormonal imbalance in your thyroid or pituitary—also completely treatable. Your doctor can order blood tests or an ultrasound to figure out the cause.

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If It’s Erratic
An adult’s cycle can range anywhere from 21 to 35 days (and in teens, up to 45 days). Some women never have that regularity, which is fine, but if your periods are becoming more random—or if you’re suddenly skipping two months (or more)—tell your doctor. The most common cause is polycystic ovarian syndrome, or PCOS, which often hits women in their twenties. It’s a complex condition, so a doctor should confirm the diagnosis and best treatment for you. (If you’re using a hormonal form of birth control and occasionally skip a period, that’s normal. Sometimes the hormones do such a good job of thinning out your uterine lining that you don’t bleed at all!)

If You’re Spotting After Sex
Any amount of blood after sex can be scary. If it’s a relatively rare thing, though, you don’t need to worry. Happening often? Head in for a checkup. It could be an infection like bacterial vaginosis, a cervical polyp, or a sign of an STI.

If It Just Doesn’t Stop
Birth control is usually the culprit. Breakthrough bleeding is especially common with a new method, but it usually resolves on its own: after two to three months on the Pill, or three to six months with an IUD. If the bleeding doesn’t improve in that time frame, talk to your gyno about switching methods. And if you’ve been on your birth control for a long time and start spotting, your doctor should know that too—the bleeding could be caused by an infection or a benign growth.

If It’s…MIA
First, take a pregnancy test. But if you’re not pregnant or on a hormonal birth control, and you’ve gone three months or more without a period, it’s time to be evaluated. The most common cause in your twenties and thirties is PCOS, and early diagnosis is the best way to manage symptoms. (In your forties, it could be perimenopause.) If you have an IUD or the contraceptive implant, though, having your periods stop is common. I tell my patients: Enjoy not having to buy tampons!

Dr. White is an assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Boston University.

Recent Survey Shows Young Women Are the Most Bored at Work. Here Is How Young Women Can Overcome It

Whether you're twiddling your thumbs in front of your computer or falling asleep at your desk, you're not alone. A recent survey reveals that millennial women are more bored at work than any other group.

48 percent of women reported being bored at work, compared to 39 percent of men—and millennials are two times more bored at the office than Baby Boomers, according to an Udemy survey of 1,000 full-time office workers.

What gives? According to the survey results, young women don't feel challenged at work, nor do they think they have the opportunities to learn new skills. And 29 percent also say social media distractions cause them to be bored at the office.

But work isn't entirely to blame. As millennial career expert Jill Jacinto points out, "there will be some downtime at work. But young women need to stop waiting around for assignments to come their way and start thinking about how they can contribute more," and not just to make your boss happy—or to save your own sanity.

"Being bored at work affects productivity and creativity," warns Hallie Crawford, founder of career coaching agency Hallie Crawford. "When someone is bored at work, they lack the motivation to go the extra mile or to set and reach new goals. It impacts her sense of fulfillment at work, which can bleed into other areas of her life." So don't let boredom break you down. Here are six ways to beat it back.

1. Shut down your distractions. According to this survey, many people need not look much further than their smartphones to find the source of their work boredom. If you're often distracted by social media, "leave your phone in your bag and keep it as far from your reach as possible," Jacinto suggests. Then rid yourself of digital temptations by using an app like Anti-Social or Freedom, which will block social media sites—and even Hulu and Reddit—in increments of time you specify.

2. Get a new view. It's not about what you see from your cubicle. This kind of view comes from the inside—it's about changing how you see what you do. "Instead of thinking about yourself and how your project or your job is boring, ask yourself how the people who benefit from your job feel," says Crawford. "By changing your perspective, you can help you feel a little more inspired about even mundane tasks if you focus on the impact your work is having from a broader and larger perspective."

3. Find a mentor. A mentor is great to have at any point in your career. But he or she will be especially helpful when you're bored. That's because a mentor should act as a coach, pumping you up for the big game—i.e. advancing your career. "A mentor's energy and enthusiasm [for your] industry will help you fall back in love with it as well," Jacinto says. If you don't have a mentor, you can ask a coworker or an alumni to step in.

4. Team work makes the dream work. You've got a work wife, right? If she's bored too, don't complain about it at the coffee spot—it's time to band together to break your routine. "Just like gym buddy forces you to hit the gym rather than watch Bravo, this person will help you actually create a to-do list and then cross items off," says Jacinto. Consider her your accountability buddy.

5. Redecorate your desk. Freshening your workspace could give you the (literal) fresh outlook you need. Grab a bright bouquet, family photos, or even a stack of colorful Post-It notes, Crawford suggests. "If your office space is boring, it won't help how you feel overall at work," she says. "When you liven up your workspace and make it more fun and inspiring, it will help you feel more cheery at work."

6. Put yourself out there. Networking isn't just a necessary evil. When you meet someone new in your field, his or her passion might just break you out of your bored funk, Jacinto points out. Plus, "setting up coffee dates outside the office is a great motivator," she says, adding you never know where a simple chat could lead your career. "It might turn into a speaking event, writing gig, or partnership," she says.

The Best Ways To Avoid Night Time Stains When You're On your Period

Ever leaked period blood onto your sheets? Have you tried to wash it out, but to no avail? Well worry no longer, these steps will save your sheets and nightwear.

Steps





1.Use Adira Period Panties. They are leak-proof and ensure that your clothes and the sheets do not stain. Use the Boxer fit for complete protection.

2.Know your menstrual cycle. If your cycle isn't set yet, know what time of the month it generally comes (beginning, middle, and end). If you think it will come, use a pantyliner during the day, but a light/medium absorbency pad, depending on how heavy/light you flow starts at.


3.Use a menstrual cup. These are internal like tampons, but they are not associated with TSS, (Toxic Shock Syndrome), so they can be worn for up to 12 hours (even during the night), unlike tampons. These hold more flow than tampons or pads and have light suction so they prevent leaking.


4.Wear a tampon and a pad. Change your tampon when you go to bed and when you get up in the morning. You can use a panty liner or a heavy pad, according to your needs.


5.Try cloth pads like Lunapads or Party In My Pants.You can even make your own. These are not only healthier and more hygienic than commercial pads but they are also far more comfortable and stick in your underwear better, plus you can get extra liners to insert when needed. Being more comfortable with cloth pads means you're less likely to move about in your sleep, so pads stay in place rather than gathering up leading to leaking.



6.Grab two overnight pads with wings and overlap them, with one closer up front, and the other further behind. If necessary, use a third one in the middle.


7.You can also make a T-shape with two pads. Use one as usual, then place one perpendicular towards your rear.


8.Find a towel that no one uses or needs. Lay the towel on your mattress. When you go to bed, lie on the towel so that if you do leak it will go on the towel and not all over your sheets or bedding. Some people call these period blankets and may have dedicated soft blankets to use this way, they may also wrap around themselves in the morning to avoid mess when they get up before they can put in their normal protection.


9.Roll a few sheets of toilet paper up lengthwiseand place carefully in between your intergluteal clefts. Remove the toilet paper in the morning.


10.Get protective sheets, these are like those used by parents if their children wet the bed. Nothing embarrassing about using them, they will protect your mattress so if you do leak the blood doesn't get into the mattress causing smell or stains.


11.Invest in adult diapers if nothing else works. The pull-up kinds work the best, but any type will protect your bedsheets while you sleep.


12.Take a second pair of underwear and put them on over your first pair.


13.Put the pad or pantyliner closer to the front of your panties and sleep on your stomach.


14.Sleep comfortably and 'stainlessly'! Use Cycleliners Feminine Bed Protection. Instead of sleeping on towels, these bed liners are waterproof, comfortable, and go over sheets with tuck in flaps so they stay put. They also come in a discreet burgundy color.

SOME THINGS WOMEN INSERTS IN THEIR VAGINA THAT COULD CAUSE SERIOUS PROBLEMS. (SMH!)

You've all heard horror stories of that one friend's-cousin's-classmate who put some random object inside her vagina during a heated moment and ended up in the hospital with an embarrassing story—and maybe even some serious physical damage. So what's actually dangerous to put in there? We talked to a few health professionals to break it down. Here's what to steer clear of...

1. Douches

Some women like to use douches to clean the vagina, but in actuality, this is totally unnecessary. It can also be dangerous because, according to Dr. Alyssa Dweck, M.D., a gynecologist and Assistant Clinical Professor at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, it can cause "a horrible imbalance of the typical bacteria that is supposed to be in the vagina and actually cause an infection." Douching is a known culprit when it comes to pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) and bacterial vaginosis. If you're worried about keeping your vagina clean, the best thing you can do is wash your vulva with soap and water when you take a shower, being careful not to put any soap inside your vagina. See a doctor if you think something smells off. Ultimately, your vagina is self-cleaning, so it doesn't need your help to make it cleaner.

2. Steam
Yes, steaming your vagina at the spa is totally a trend these days, and yes, it's exactly what it sounds like. "They sit on a specific type of spa with no underwear, on special chairs that have herbal infused steam coming out of them, and they steam their bottom," shares Dweck. "And while any sort of warm treatment could feel good and enhance blood supply to the area, we've seen some burns come out of this and irritation from the types of herbs, so I would use significant caution of that. I'm not sure how effective this is to do anything anyway."

3. Tea tree oil
"If you're using household oil as a lubricant, you need high-grade quality oil, not what you use in your kitchen to fry food," says Dr. Raquel Dardik, M.D., a gynecologist and Associate Professor of Gynecology at NYU Langone Medical Center. "And you want to use oil that is pH neutral, so for example, almond oil, coconut oil, olive oil, probably okay." What you don't want to use is tea tree oil, which can cause scary chemical burns: "it's incredibly caustic and will cause a vaginal burn, so probably not okay."

4. Chocolate syrup
"All that stuff has sugar which will change the bacteria and yeast proportions which can cause infections. Those substances can also be irritating to the vaginal skin, so it might seem like a good idea at the time, but you may have either vaginal irritation or a vaginal infection afterwards," says Dardik.

5. Whipped cream
"I would not recommend putting it inside the vagina," says Dweck. "It's really tough to get this stuff out, especially if it's causing a reaction. Fair enough for sexual play if you want to put this stuff on the vulva or other portions of the body and get an erotic experience—that's fine. But I wouldn't advise putting it inside."

6. Vaseline
This is occasionally thought of as an easy form of lubricant, but according to Dweck, Vaseline or any other type of petroleum product can actually be source of infection in the vagina.

 

7. Yeast infection home remedies, like yogurt-soaked tampons
According to Dweck, "Sometimes when people have a yeast infection and they feel like [yogurt on a tampon] is a more natural way to treat it. Probably not a great idea. Bacteria and yeast love dark, moist places so I think that could be causing of infection." If you suspect you have a yeast infection, get checked out by a doctor and if she gives her okay, treat it with Monistat, an easy over-the-counter treatment, instead of yogurt.

8. Fruits and vegetables
For starters, the old wives' tale is a lie: vegetables cannot take root inside your vagina and grow. There are some major concerns with putting veggies in there, though, according to Dardik. "Vegetables have pesticides, so you're putting pesticides in your vagina which I don't really recommend, and you can have them break off and have little bits and pieces that stay there for rather unhealthy amounts of time which, again, I don't recommend. But nothing takes root, it'll just rot."


9. Anything you've just used for butt stuff and haven't yet cleaned
"We see 'vaginal pH havoc,' if you will, break out from [using a toy in the vagina that has just been used for anal play]," says Dweck. "If you want to use a toy in the anal area, first of all, remember that it has to have some sort of a retrieval device, a string or something along that line. My husband happens to be a colon and rectal surgeon, so I hear of toys getting stuck in the colon because there is nothing to remove it. If you want to switch back and forth between vaginal and anal play then I would definitely wash the toy in between, and you may want to use a condom on some of the toys as well."

10. Any sharp objects
"The blood supply to the inside of the vagina is so rich that even the smallest cut can cause incredible amounts of bleeding and although it's a forgiving area and typically will heal, that's not a chance that you really want to take," says Dweck.

11. A hair brush handle
"I can only imagine a handle getting stuck inside the vagina or some trauma being caused, so I can't really condone that," Dweck insists.

12. Alcohol-soaked tampons
"I've heard of the practice of putting alcohol on a tampon and putting it into the vagina for advanced absorption and getting a buzz off of that," says Dweck. "I would say that sounds like it would be horribly uncomfortable and can cause damage to the vaginal mucous so I definitely wouldn't advise that."

13. Your cell phone
Yes, the phone vibrates, but it doesn't belong inside you. "I mean there's a battery in there, that could certainly be a problem," says Dweck.

14. Pop Rocks
This can definitely traumatize your lady parts in a flash—just ask this woman who tried it and ended up on Sex Sent Me To The ER!

15. Aerosole Cans
Dweck experienced a horror story of her own when a patient came to her office after inserting a whipped cream aerosol container, complete with an attached cap, into her vagina ("because the shape of the top of it was a little bit phallic.") Terrifyingly enough, "a couple hours later we were in the operating room removing it because it had caused so much trauma."

16. Rhinestones
Lest we forget about vagazzling, the hottest trend of 2010 (and don't you worry, it's still kickin' in 2015), Dweck is here to remind us to be careful about the placement of those nifty rhinestones, because the glue used in the process can be an irritant. "Vagazzling is probably not an issue on theoutside [of the vagina] but don't put it on the inside. Some people have sensitive tissue and they get a reaction to the glue." Case in point: keep the rhinestones in the same place you might normally put a landing strip, and nowhere else.

17. An electric toothbrush
If that vibration of a toothbrush floats your boat, "use it clitorally rather than inside the vagina so that it's external stimulation," says Dweck, though as a general rule, she doesn't really recommend you put any household items in there. That's what vibrators are for!

18. Small animals (!!)
"This is rare, I've seen it once in my 24 years of practice," says Dweck, "but probably one of the worst experiences that I ever had was someone putting a small tiny animal in their vagina as part of their sexual play, so obviously I think that's totally out." Enough said.


The ultra-simple solution to avoid putting household no-nos in your hoo-ha? Get yourself some quality sex toys. "Women are very comfortable nowadays going and getting a vibrator," says Dr. Dardik. "They don't really feel like they need to sort of, you know, experiment with what's at hand...All the vibrators or dildos [that are of quality] are made from sterile material that doesn't hold bacteria, so they can be cleaned, they're safe, they don't change the vaginal pH, they don't attract bacteria, so they're the better option."

Be picky when choosing a toy, and opt for a high-end product from a trustworthy company, because some sex toys could leak chemicals called phthalates, which may be harmful to your health. If a brand new toy smells strongly of chemicals (that indescribable "new plastic" smell we all recognize) when you first open it, it's a strong indicator that it could be made with phthalates, which you should take into account when deciding whether and how you want to use it. If you plan to put the toy inside your vagina, first be sure that there are no instructions on the packaging that say "for external use only"—and if you do spot any, take them seriously. Try quality sellers likeBabeland, Good Vibrations, and The Pleasure Chest (they sell toys online as well as in brick-and-mortar stores in case you'd like to shop from the privacy of your couch) to find toys and sexual health information you can actually trust. If you're on a budget, affordable sex toys made by Trojan are available on Amazon and at local drugstores. (And check here for some SELF-approved toy suggestions based on your preferences!)

PROBLEM SOLVED.