When we talk about periods, the first thing we need to ask ourselves: is it a real period? Not every bleed is a period. For example, we are led to believe that while on the Pill, we get periods when in fact they are just withdrawal bleedings.
How would we know if it is a real bleed?
If we confirmed ovulation 12-16 days prior to this bleeding, we can then say it is a period.
The range of normal is big but there are some guidelines for that:
How is the flow: usually it varies throughout the days of the menses. It might start medium and increase to heavy and decrease, or any variation of that but what is important is that it doesn’t stay the same all the time.
The colour of the blood: brown, black, purple, barely any colour/pinkish. This is something we would like to check.
Consistency of the blood: not too thick and not too thin is ok.
How often does it come: our menstrual cycle can vary between 24 days to 32 days; some even say 21 to 35 days. Some fluctuation is normal but if you have a cycle length of 24 days and the next one is 32 days, then 28 days and then 21 days, you would probably like to have it checked.
The duration of the period: 4-8 days is on the normal scale as long as there aren’t other factors like coming off the Pill, breastfeeding, perimenopause, etc.
The volume of your period: up to 80ml for the whole period of your menses is on the normal scale.
Levels of pain: some discomfort might be ok, but if it is more than that, one might want to have it checked.
How is your flow?