Discharge from the vagina is common in women throughout their menstrual cycle. Many women experience brown discharge after period and many have watery and stretchy discharge near to their ovulation period.
Brown discharge can happen if vagina is getting rid of any extra blood from its walls or can also be due to some serious causes like sexually transmitted disease or STDs like gonorrhoea. When the discharge is brown in colour, it means that it contains old blood cells.
Here are some of the probable causes for brown discharge after period:
Delayed Period
This is a common reason for experiencing brown discharge during and after the menstruation cycle. The reason behind this being the fact that the endometrial tissues are discharged from your body as they did not exit during your period. This is something that you need not worry about as it comes under the normal cleansing process of the uterus
Hormonal Fluctuations
This is yet another common cause for brown discharge after period. If you have just stopped taking birth control pills, then you can see some brown spotting caused due to hormonal fluctuations in your body. However, if you experience spotting even when on birth control pills, it can be a serious issue and make sure you see the doctor.
Implantation Bleeding
If you see brown spotting after 3 – 4 weeks of your menstruation cycle and if you recently had unprotected sex or have stopped taking pills for birth control, it can due to implantation bleeding. This can be a sign of pregnancy as well.
Yeast Infection
The fungus that is responsible for yeast infection is Candida albicans. Yeast is present in all the moist parts of your body and the ones present in your vagina are Yeast vaginitis and Yeast vulvitis. Any kind of yeast infection is characterized by inflammation of the vaginal walls and it is not a sexually transmitted infection. Symptoms include pain during sex, itching of the vaginal walls, burning sensation and white discharge that turns brown when expelled on your undergarment.
Bacterial Vaginosis (BV)
Your vagina is the home to many good bacteria and BV is caused when there is an imbalance in these bacteria. BV is characterized by brown vaginal discharge that has a typical fishy odour. Women having multiple sex partners, or using contraceptive intrauterine devices are more prone to BV. Women who are into smoking cigarettes can also acquire this. This is not a contagious disease but bacteria can be transmitted during sexual intercourse.
Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID)
PID is a condition that affects the ovaries, uterus and fallopian tubes. Infertility is a risk that is associated with PID in women. Heavy vaginal discharge is a symptom of this disease. Other symptoms are irregular menstrual cycle, pain during intercourse, back pain etc.
A little brown discharge after period is normal. However, if it is accompanied by other unusual symptoms, make sure to visit the doctor.
