6 possible reasons why your vaginal discharge has blood

The colour and smell of your vaginal discharge can reveal a lot about your overall health! Do you know why? Vaginal discharge is an important marker of your fertility, hormone balance, and that of the health of your reproductive system. That’s why it is common to wonder whether the colour or consistency of vaginal discharge is normal or needs to be checked out. If it is laced with blood, it is recommended that you go see a doctor!

Let us understand what exactly is vaginal discharge

Vaginal discharge is the fluid that comes out of the vaginal canal. This fluid leaks from the vagina each day to remove old cells and debris, keeping the vagina and reproductive tract clean and healthy. Each woman experiences discharge that is unique in volume, consistency, colour, and smell. In fact, it can change from day to day, depending on where a person is in their menstrual cycle. 

Vaginal discharge is your body’s way of cleaning and protecting the vagina. Image courtesy: Shutterstock

Normal vaginal discharge is whitish, not smelly, thick and sticky or slippery and stretchy. It usually varies over the menstrual cycle. 

But bloody vaginal discharge outside your period can seem alarming. It can sometimes signal a major problem. Often, however, minor concerns are behind bloody vaginal discharge. So to help us understand the causes of bloody vaginal discharge, we have Dr Shallu Kakkar, additional director, obstetrics and gynaecology, Fortis Escorts Hospital, Jaipur. Let’s read her take on this! 

Dr Kakkar tells HealthShots the various causes of bloody vaginal discharge

At times bloody discharge is completely normal. But don’t take our word for it. Instead, read what Dr Kakkar has to say about it. 

Causes of bloody vaginal discharge

1. Trauma

Bloody vaginal discharge can be a cause of any physical trauma or undiagnosed injury. This can happen if you insert any object into the vagina that can obstruct the flow of vaginal fluid, resulting in abnormal vaginal discharge. You should visit a doctor in this case. 

2. Infection

Vaginal infections such as sexually transmitted infections (STI) can cause bloody vaginal discharge. A few of these include vaginitis, chlamydia, and Pelvic inflammatory disease (PID).

Sexually transmitted infections are the leading cause of the bloody vaginal discharge. Image courtesy: Shutterstock

3. Pregnancy complications

Bloody discharge that occurs during pregnancy, a time when you should not expect bleeding, can be a sign of severe pregnancy complications such as miscarriage or placental abruption, a condition where the placenta separates from the lining of the uterus.

4. Stretching

At times, you have also seen that rigorous exercising can lead to bloody discharge. So, it would be advised that you avoid it when your period is about to commence.

5. Hormonal imbalance

If you are getting bloody or brown discharge beyond a day or two of your period, then stress is one of the most prominent factors. It creates a hormonal imbalance in our body which leads to brown discharge. This hormonal imbalance can also happen due to frequent traveling and weather changes.

Hormonal imbalance can wreak havoc on your vagina health. Image courtesy: Shutterstock

6. Menstrual cycle

“Sometimes, periods can happen untimely, when it is not supposed to happen and this may also create confusion about the reason for bleeding,” says Dr Kakkar. 

These are the likely reasons for vaginal bloody discharge, if you’re not menstruating.