Spotting a Week after Period Ends

A woman's menstrual cycle may go haywire due to various reasons. In fact, menstrual problems are becoming even more rampant these days; stress from a hectic lifestyle being a great contributor to this. As a result, women tend to experience problems such as irregularity, varying lengths, and abnormal bleeding patterns during their menstrual cycles.

A regular menstrual cycle of 28 to 32 days, with 3 to 5 days of bleeding, is considered to be healthy. Slight variations in the pattern are also considered perfectly normal. As long as your body sticks to a uniform length and pattern of a menstrual cycle, you have no reason to worry.

However, untimely spotting is definitely an alarming sign. This could occur due to malfunctioning of your own endocrine system, which results in the hormonal imbalance, or it may be a reaction to an external trigger. Whatever the problem is, you need to get to its root and treat it.

When we say spotting, we are only referring to light bleeding, which stays for a few hours to a couple of days at the most. After you have had your period, spotting may occur due to any of the following causes.

If you experience brown discharge after your period has ended, then it is often an indication that your body did not expel the menstrual blood properly. Some amount of tissue could still be present inside the uterus, which needs to be expelled. This usually happens a week or two after your period, in the form of spotting after the period ends.

Birth control pills can disrupt your hormonal balance. As these pills are essentially loaded with female hormones, they can easily disrupt the normal functioning of your body. Your body is not used to such high doses of hormones. As a result, it reacts by bleeding or spotting at an unexpected time. This could result in spotting several days after period.

Infections are usually not the root cause, but they may contribute to abnormal bleeding or discharge, which may be confused for spotting. Yeast infections (Candida albicans) and bacterial infections (Bacterial vaginosis) are some common infections that plague women. These infections often lead to colored discharge with a foul smell. And lead to spotting a few days after period.

Rough or vigorous sexual intercourse may also cause bleeding which may appear as spotting. Deeper penetration bruises the cervix, and may sometimes cause physical injury. This leads to very light spotting which is often accompanied by pain.

Untimely spotting or spotting after cycle ends is very common in teenage girls, as their bodies haven't yet adjusted to menstruation. It may take them several months, or even years to get accustomed to the menstrual pattern.

Polyps are benign cellular growths inside the uterus that often go unnoticed. Occasionally, some of them may rupture causing bleeding or spotting.

A rather serious cause may be that of an ectopic pregnancy, wherein implantation occurs outside the uterus, usually in the fallopian tube. If that seems to be the case, get yourself checked by a trusted physician as soon as possible. Ectopic pregnancy may prove to be a life-threatening problem.

Most people think that it is impossible to conceive soon after the period ends, however, there have been instances where this notion has been falsified. While pregnancy is not the only cause of spotting, ensure to undertake safe sexual practices to minimize the risks of unplanned pregnancy, especially ectopic pregnancy.

Keep a tab on your dates and the abnormal spotting along with accompanying symptoms such as painful cramps, if any. Spotting after a period can be considered normal only if it occurs once or twice. Recurrent incidences must be reported to a doctor for accurate diagnosis of the underlying problem.

Disclaimer: This story is for informative purposes only, and should not be used as a replacement for expert medical advice.