weird color very early period

HalberdBlue

I'm asking this for a friend, because she is incredibly busy this weekend but also worried enough about it to ask me to find out what is going on.

Her period comes at the very end or the first of every month like clockwork, and it always lasts for 7 days. Her last one was a little bit weird though. She started bleeding about 4 days early, but only a little bit, and then it stopped the same day. Then it came like normal, on March 31st, and bled for 7 days. So she stopped bleeding about a week and a half ago. This morning she woke up and she was bleeding again. Its brownish in color. She said she "didn't feel it coming the day before" (I don't know what she means by this because I'm not a woman) and is very confused. Is this anything to worry about? Did her period just come incredibly early? Should she see a doctor?

She has been under a lot of stress for the past month or so if that helps any. She's not the kind of person who ever succumbs to stress, though, so I don't know if that has anything to do with it.

EDIT: Oh yeah and she didn't have any kind of PMS before this. But PMS hardly affects her so thats not a very good measure.

ihmmy

stress can seriously affect periods. If she's under huge amounts of stress, sometimes a body will even skip the period all together due to stress. Off timing and starting/stopping when under a lot more stress than normal is, well, normal. If next months period is -quite- off too and the stress has gone down, it might be prudent to take a preg test (they're fairly cheap anyway), but otherwise I wouldn't worry. Other than to find some ways to lower or manage her stress

HalberdBlue

She is almost certainly not pregnant; she's a virgin.

The Cat

it happens sometimes. If it persists with the irregular bleeding and/or becomes painful, she needs to see a doctor about maybe getting some scans and her hormones tested. If irregular periods become frequent and debilitating she may have something like endometriosis - a lot of women have that mildly. Going on the pill can help control symptoms like this in some cases (but again, not necessary unless this becomes persistent).

Is she getting enough iron? Eating right, taking a multivitamin? These things are important when you're under stress.

Sarcastro

Its not a huge deal, differences in menstrual color happen. The concern becomes whether its actually menstrual blood and not internal bleeding of some kind. If it clears up in a bit, no biggie, but if its consistent, she needs to hit the doc.

Oh. A virgin. Pretty easy to pick up a minor tear here and there from time to time. Also, sometimes menstrual blood becomes trapped internally and eases out later- noticeably different in color.

Enki

I'm assuming that since she's a virgin, she isn't on any birth-control? I know that my girlfriend's period changes slightly in times when she's switched in the past, but I dunno if that's applicable in this situation.

Nitsuj82

From what I know about menstruation, which is little, spotting is pretty normal and can be brought on by stress or change in diet or whatever. Do what the Cat says.

Specularity

How old is she? It could very well still be adjusting -- periods change over a woman's lifetime in addition to varying among women. Otherwise, like the Cat said, it's most likely nothing to worry about unless it persists and/or is accompanied by other symptoms.

HalberdBlue

Thanks for the advice. Its turned to normal color now. She is 18.

Trowizilla

I get the brownish blood at the very beginning and end of my periods, by the way. I usually just chalk it up to not bleeding terribly heavily at those points, so the blood isn't being flushed out as quickly and has a chance to turn brown a little.