Having brown menstrual blood

Are you having brown menstrual blood? Like most women, the sign of brown blood might have you worried because a healthy menstrual cycle is a key to abundant fertility. To help you understand this, the information below will tell you about the menstrual blood and how the cycle works.

Menstruation or period occurs when the uterus sheds its endometrial lining. The body will shed blood as well once the lining of the uterus pulls from the inside.

This generally takes place monthly and the uterus expels blood and tissues. This menstrual blood, along with the endometrial lining, is discharged through the cervix into the vagina and ultimately to outside the body.

How the menstrual cycle works

A woman’s monthly period is just one part of the complex fertility cycle that the endocrine system orchestrates every month. The endocrine glands work in coordination to regulate hormones and control the reproductive cycle.

In the simplest of terms, the hypothalamus produces gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) which stimulates the pituitary to release the luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH); both of which sends a signal to the ovaries to release progesterone and estrogen.

The estrogen and progesterone, in turn, control the pituitary release of FSH and LH, completing a feedback loop.

A healthy cycle depends on each section of the feedback loop to function properly. If one part is off in the cycle, your entire cycle will be thrown off and this will cause imbalances which can have an effect on your fertility.

Now, when you are having brown menstrual blood it is usually nothing to be overly worried about even though the sight can be very alarming. This is easy to understand, however, since blood which includes menstrual blood, is meant to be red in color.

What you should know is that it’s quite possible for that blood to turn brown during your period.

When the blood flows quickly from the body during menstruation, the color is going to be red on the heavier days or pinkish on the lighter days. There are instances, however, when some women see thick or dark brown blood when menstruating.

The darker colored blood during menstruation usually means that it’s flowing from the body at a sluggish or slower rate, lacking uterine tone or the uterine circulation is low.

The thick dark blood with an old look or a brown color is really the old blood that is left over from the cycle before and is often not a sign of anything wrong.

On the whole, you should not be overly concerned or worried if you are having brown menstrual blood. The darker colored blood typically means that your flow has slowed down and this causes the blood to sit around longer.
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