Most women have experienced it: that brown discharge in the panties that appears even when the period is not expected.
Sometimes it comes more like a brown residue in the middle of normal mucus, sometimes it’s thick and dark, like coffee grounds.
It’s hard not to wonder: what does this brown discharge mean?
Those who want to get pregnant or even those who do not want to but are wary of the possibility may have this doubt when something similar happens.
After all, can a brown discharge be a sign of pregnancy? What to do when there is a possibility of pregnancy and this brown discharge appears for one, two or more days and in small quantities?
Should I consider that I am pregnant? To solve these dilemmas, let’s understand a little more about our body.
This will help you avoid unnecessary stress or expectations near the end of the cycle. First of all, it is essential to understand the difference between discharge and mucus.
Difference Between Secretion and Mucus
Usually the discharge is something bad, coming from some infection or intimate disease. Therefore, the correct thing is to say the secretion of mucus, this is normal in the healthy organism.
If the brown discharge is accompanied by burning or a bad smell, a doctor should be consulted immediately.
You have to understand that the body is a very complex little machine, and hormones rule absolutely everything when the subject is fertility.
They can oscillate a lot between cycles, and bring momentary changes due to this huge amount of constant changes.
For this reason, brown stools and discharge may occur and do not necessarily mean pregnancy. Ideally, women should be aware of this fact so as not to create false expectations.
Brown discharge can be a sign of pregnancy, but there are also other possibilities such as loss of hormones (progesterone), ovulation bleeding and also the start of menstruation, withdrawal bleeding or morning after pill induced bleeding.
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Can a brown discharge be a pregnancy? Not always…
If there is a hormonal low, brown bleeding occurs because there is not the necessary amount of progesterone. This means that the endometrium will develop differently, with more estrogen involved, and the low progesterone will give this blood a darker appearance.
The structure of the endometrium and the characteristics of the blood will differ from a cycle with two correct hormonal phases, estrogen in the ovulation phase and progesterone in the post-ovulation phase.
Light brown discharge can mean pregnancy from the moment that this bleeding is not intense, with discharge and clots even if they are brown. This brown mucus may be a sign of possible nesting.
Ovulation Bleeding
Ovulation bleeding can also be very confusing for women who want or don’t want to get pregnant. Normally, the tendency is for it to occur in the middle of the cycle.
But since there is a possibility of late ovulation, it can also happen at the end of the cycle, or when the woman is expecting her period. It may have a brownish appearance or be of a thin blood similar to an elastic viscous substance.
This bleeding may arouse suspicion, but it still does not mean that the woman is pregnant, even if she has a brown discharge.
The best way to be sure where you are in the cycle is to track it closely. In the past, women used to use the famous tabelinha. Nowadays, you can do it with the help of a simple mobile APP that monitors your cycle through your information.
For complete monitoring, you can use the ovulation tests, which will tell you if ovulation is close, if it is occurring or if it has already happened. For this, we recommend the Famivita ovulation test.
Start Of Menstruation
The beginning of menstruation can also be brown. Some women have this type of discharge for a few days before or after their heavy red period.
Considered perfectly normal by doctors, it can come on slowly and leave a tentative flea behind your ear.
Therefore, it is always better to wait a few days and see if the flow increases gradually or suddenly, and the period will come effectively.
Brown discharge can be a symptom of pregnancy when the red or even brown discharge is not intense. Then you should consider the pregnancy hypothesis.
The Day After Pill
The morning after pill (pds) is the queen of brown flow! You know why? Because it raises progesterone levels to prevent women from getting pregnant. So in a way it causes early menstruation.
This bleeding after taking the morning after pill is common and confuses many women who use PDS as an emergency method of unprotected intercourse, causing a brown discharge before their period actually arrives! I have taken the morning after pill and I have a brown discharge, am I pregnant? Not always.
In fact, the recommendation is to take a pregnancy test in case normal menstruation does not come after taking the pill.
Do not test on the following days, but on the next cycle. The effectiveness of this pill is not the best and pregnancy can occur. There is also the contraceptive situation.
As with the morning after pill, after stopping the pill, it is possible that these brown spots may occur when you stop using the pill.
Finally, we can say that yes, brown discharge can be a sign of an upcoming pregnancy. This is due to implantation (nidation) bleeding that can occur as soon as the baby lodges in the mother’s endometrium. However, this light brown discharge is the exception rather than the rule. The vast majority of pregnancies occur without apparent nidation, with bleeding.
The best solution in case of suspected pregnancy is to wait to see the intensity and duration of this bleeding, since not all bleeding is from implantation. First, you have to take into account the previous hypotheses and, of course, wait for the right moment to do a test.
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Reader Questions:
Can Brown Discharge Be A Sign Of Trouble?
In addition to the reasons we reported above, most of the time brown discharge is a sign of a lack of progesterone. If this happens only once in a while, it’s normal.
But if you have repeated brown discharge, it could be a sign of a hormonal imbalance that could even get in the way of pregnancy. In these cases, it is convenient to investigate the causes with blood tests and an ultrasound. Talk to your gynecologist.
How To Treat Brown Discharge?
If your brown discharge is not normal, such as at the end of menstruation or after sexual intercourse, it is necessary to find out the cause, since it may be the result of a vaginal infection such as candidiasis or trichomoniasis. If it is accompanied by a bad smell, lasts for more than 3 days, pain and itching, a gynecologist should be consulted to indicate the appropriate treatment for the infection in question.
When Is Brown Discharge A Sign Of Pregnancy?
When present in small amounts, odourless, non-itchy and accompanied by other symptoms of pregnancy, such as menstrual delay, breast tenderness and nausea.
Important tip: If you think you may be pregnant, we recommend a more sensitive test, the pregnancy test that can detect pregnancy up to 5 days before the expected date of menstruation. Meet the Famivita pregnancy test.
If you want to read more articles similar to Is Brown Discharge A Sign Of Pregnancy?, we recommend you visit our Pregnancy category.
Apart From Brown Discharge, Have You Ever Had Any Abnormal Vaginal Discharge? Have You Discussed This Event With Your Gynecologist? Comment Below!
