Brown or bloody Cervical Mucus.. reason to worry?

Why Is There Blood in My Cervical Mucus?

Cervical Mucus refers to a jelly-ish substance produced by a woman’s body during her monthly cycle. Cervical mucus resembles the white of an egg. Cervical mucus is an important part of conceiving. Cervical mucus protects sperm from the acidic content of the vagina. The acids in the vagina typically will stop sperm from moving an neutralize them. Cervical mucus provides a place for sperm to go where it can be protected from these acids. In addition, cervical mucus will help sperm to travel up the fallopian tubes into the uterus to find an egg. Finally, cervical mucus will often detect sperm that are abnormal and slow them down, keeping them from getting to the egg and causing conception.

It is not uncommon for a bit of old blood that is left over from your previous menstrual cycle to find its way into your cervical mucus. In other women, blood in the cervical mucus can be very common, and a sign that she bleeds just a little whenever she ovulates. Blood in the cervical mucus can also indicate a ruptured follicle. In more rare cases, blood in the cervical mucus can indicate trauma to the cervix, whether through an infection or even from sexual intercourse. Blood in your cervical mucus could also be implantation bleeding.

Implantation bleeding is a small amount of bleeding in the uterus that occurs when the egg implants into the uterus. A specific tissue, known as trophoblast, develops from the fertilized egg and it surrounds it. It is what attaches the egg to the inside of the uterus, and actually eats its way into the uterus. The trophoblast actually pulls the egg to the inside of the endometrium. Trophoblast even invades the mother’s blood vessels and diverts her blood to the fertilized egg. Sometimes, this blood will leak and this causes implantation bleeding. This implatation bleeding can show up in your cervical mucus.

In any case, blood in your cervical mucus is probably nothing to be worried about. If the bleeding is particularly heavy or doesn’t stop, you should contact your health care provider to make sure that the bleeding is not indicative of a larger problem.

What is cervical mucus?

There are many different types of vaginal discharges and cervical mucus is one of them. Cervical mucus plays an important role in conception or getting pregnant by allowing fertilization to occur at a time distant from intercourse. A woman’s cervical mucus changes throughout her menstrual cycle to reflect the hormonal fluctuations in her body.

More often than not, your cervical mucus is a clear indication of your reproductive health and provides vital clues to your fertility. You can check your cervical mucus using either your fingers or toilet paper. During most of your cycle, your cervical mucus forms a thick plug that prevents sperm from entering the uterus. Preceding the time of ovulation the mucus increases in volume, becomes thinner and more stretchy. The change in volume and texture of your cervical mucus is due to the increase in estrogen levels that accompanies ovulation.

Why does my cervical mucus have a brownish tinge to it?

If you notice a brownish tinge in your cervical mucus, relax; there is perhaps nothing to worry. Brownish tinge or discharge in cervical mucus is almost always old blood that did not leave the uterus during your last menstrual cycle. Sometimes a brown tinge can also be associated with ovulation. It might be related to a bleeding from a ruptured follicle. Occasionally when you see a brownish tinge in your cervical mucus, it can also be the result of trauma to the cervix. This could mean either an infection or something as simple as sexual intercourse.

Every once in a while, the brown discharge in cervical mucus can also be attributed to implantation, in which case you are pregnant. After ovulation a mature ovum, ready to be fertilized is released in the uterus. If this ovum encounters a good sperm and gets fertilized, it means the woman has conceived. When the fertilized ovum burrows into the uterine lining, some blood is often released and passed as brown discharge. Most women hardly notice it, but those who check mucus patterns are very aware of it.

So a brownish discharge in your cervical mucus could basically mean two things: either is because of ovulation or because of implantation. It is always a good idea to monitor your cervical mucus patterns. These are very useful when something like a brownish tinge appears in your discharges and you would like to track it down. Combined with basal body temperature monitoring, this can also be a great tool in predicting ovulation and planning pregnancies.

So Basically what all of this means to me is that I really AM on cycle day 10 now, and my mucus is normally like this ( Which is totally is btw, I monthly will have brown/bloody cm and til now I thought it was something to be really really worried about. this means that I have indeed started my period, and what I thought was a period before was really just ovulatory bleeding. YAY INFORMATION! I really wish they taught us more about our bodies in Health Class.