I had the opposite this month. Period started early and the blood was dark and "old" appearing for the entire 6-7 days. Cramping was not like usual; much less and hardly noticible. I did have my usual headache the 1st of 2nd day. I'm wondering, too, what it means to lose bright red blood or "old" dark blood. What is the significance?
Andierut

Gosh, I felt like I was going to have to take out life insurance to get on this board today!

Is this the 4th Floor FBI Interrogation Site? LOL

Anyway.. now that I finally figured out HOW to log in and WHO I am on this board..

I would like to know the differences too. Anyone? Anyone?

This message has been around since time began. I guess no-one knows the significance of the colour and consistency of the blood.
I have had two periods in 18 days both quite heavy, but the second one started off very dark almost black and thick, and turned to a bright red,thinner,heavier blood. I look like I swallowed a basketball, my stomach is sooo bloated.I am not usually this bloated. Anything new on this subject. I mean "they can send a man to the moon" but the medical profession can't offer an explanation to the differences in colour.

I don't know what the color means, but I feel better knowing it happens to others. My doctor said to make an appointment when my cycle got irregular. One month I was late, the next I got it 2 weeks early and it was scary looking: dark, thick and old looking discharge, no smell and I was wicked bloated! I went to the doctor. Blood tests came back confirming I was in peri menopause. Another weird thing that happens that is not often mentioned: I get a itching and burning feeling like a yeast infection (but no discharge) the week before I bleed. It drives me crazy! Does this happen to anyone else?

I haven't gotten the itching and burning... but I DO the the yeast. :o( You know, another thing is... it's not really blood that you are discharging during your period, it's really (and I think this is gross) TISSUE. You are sloughing the inside of your uterus, which is heavy in blood. So if there's less blood, probably because the tissue isn't preparing as much to have a baby. this is my guess.

I think when the blood is bright red, it means it has just bled from the vessels in your uterus. The darker blood I think has been hanging around a little longer. Sometimes blood can collect in folds of our uterus. Then we stand up and it gushes out....but can be darker because it's been more exposed to air.
I know when I had some pretty bad bleeding when I first started perimenopause, it was from having "disordered uterine hyperplasia". My cells weren't working in sync with each other, and some were bleeding on one day, then others bled on another day, etc......and it led to alot of bleeding. This comes from the funky hormone levels that we can have during this time.
Also, my OB/GYN said that when she did the D&C, she could see that some of the uterus was bare, and didn't have any of the normal build-up of cells that you usually have between ovulation and your period. I had raw uterus, with bleeding vessels.....which I think can just keep pumping out blood (which will be bright red).
I don't think it's that important to differentiate between darker and brighter blood. What's important is the amount. I don't think people who have tons of bleeding ever say it's all dark. It's usually bright red, which means you're really pumping it out of vessels on your uterus.
When we had periods when we were younger, it was bright red, but it didn't last for weeks at a time. When it happens in our late 40's and 50's.......it usually means we need a D&C.

I know i know Im of the male species but thought i would add my input.
I was looking up the significance between bright red and dark red blood cells and this is what ive found out.
Bright red blood cells are fairly new in their life span of about 120 days. After passing through the lungs and picking up
oxygen and making their way through the body dropping off oxygen and picking up waste they turn darker. So the only conclusion that I have come up with is that the darker the cell the later in life it is and the more waste it has gathered to rid the body.
Does this help anyone?
Just so you know I was looking this up because of my frequent bloody nose, not because I was interested in your cycle. Im not a sick freak.

Later ladies

Hi,

I have had very normal periods until September 2008. In my very early forties I was told I had 5 fibroids. I am writing this because the blood is bright red these days. These are outgrowth of the uterus in different areas. The periods are very heavy and sometimes very painful. I had never heard of fibroids and I am an avid reader so I am hoping this information helps someone. The typical recommendation is hysterectomy. I was considered old. I don't consider myself old at all and since I am very healthy except for this one month I researched other venues. I don't look it, I am very fit and eat very healthy so the fact that someone was eager to open me up and "practice" medicine light up a bulb in my brain. I needed to find out more info as this women GYN was trying to scare me with all the complications of having fibroids while I was still under the influence of pain killers from the day before. I schedule a D&C which is a cleaning of the uterus for the next few days. But the next day I found out a lot of info. So I called the office and cancelled everything. I wanted to be better informed before doing anything to this one only body of mine that could be irreversible. First there is something called Focused Ultrasound (FU). It is minimally invasive in you are back to work in 1-2 days. It shrinks the tumors with sound. It is use for prostate cancer. So i figured if testes are ok then the Uterus should be too. Another thing I was not told is that this is not an emergency surgery. The pain can be treated and diet can improve it. I also found several things one can take to reduce the size and maybe eliminate them. Like fibrovan and Fibrovera. There is also a site of a woman who cured them naturally. There is also UFE or embollization of the fibroids simply they cut the blood supply with pellets that are laparoscopically inserted. This is done by radiologists so most GYN do not tell you. The issue with this one is that it is a procedure where, statistically, results are not know. i.e. It looks very good but noone knows what happens to the pellets. It is minimally invasive but you are down 3-4 weeks. Hysterectomy you are down up to 6 months and it might leave you incontinent. Some GYN suggest being incontinent is better than having to go to the bathroom more often if one of the fibroids is pressing against your bladder. I rather control my urine that not. Of the 600K hysterectomies a year only 10% are needed (because of cancer or life threatening issues). That is only 60k are needed. Compare this number to the number of the diagnosed breast cancer 200K/yr and smoking related deaths is 400K/yr. If having breast cancer compels people to run for a cure what about hysterectomies. This is a tragedy, a living massacre that is making a lot of money for GYN. But women are starting to reclaim the importance of their body and going to other GYNs that support alternative methods. Compare this with enlargement of the prostate it happens to men over 50 mostly. That is older than early 40's. They have alternative methods for this illness. The doctors do not immediately recommend to them to take out the testes because they will not use them again since they are old. (This is what GYN tell women) Another argument GYN use is well if it presses against your bladder you might be better off taking the uterus out. Yet the same happens to men the enlarged prostate makes them go to the bathroom more often. It is rare to tell them well take the prostate out to cure this. There is a lack of care and compassion for women that is mindblowing. I hope the following information gives all the superwomen out there more choices and a better outlook for their future. (One thing I forgot, if the hysterectomy is radical (ovaries are taken out) then the sex drive disappears, one has to take hormones and these hormones cause breast cancer - what a way to become a patient for the rest of your life. btw I think radical is the uterus alone it is much bigger than the ovaries!)

A Book - Healing Fibroids: A Doctor's Guide to A Natural Cure
by Allan Warshowsky, MD and Elena Oumano, PhD
Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Rockefeller Center
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, New York 10020 USA
Paperback, 2002, $14 US ($21.50 CAN) 281 pp.

http://www.curefibroidsnaturally.com/ - Woman who cured them naturally - I am doing this one
http://www.fibrovan.com/index.html - pills - I am doing this
http://www.fibromedica.com/uterine-fibroids - pills
http://focusus.net/ - FU
http://www.uterine-fibroids.org/index.html - info
http://www.nohysterectomy.com/index.php - alternative
http://www.fibroidsecondopinion.com/index.htm - info
http://www.myuterinefibroids.com/home.php - FU

My periods are usually very light and don't last but 2 to 3 days but his month my period is very heavy and and bright red..and i got a burning and itching feeling a few days before i start but no discharge like a normal yeast infection would? any suggestions

Last year (I'm in my forties, too) I started having weird periods. I totally freaked, since my periods had always been so regular. suddenly, I felt like I was hemoraging - too much bright red blood (I was always told that was a sign of infection...I guess not?), irregular periods, etc...So I got a transvaginal sonogram AND a uterine biopsy. Nothing is wrong (thank God)..just regular hormonal imbalance...but seriously, if this stuff is happening to you, get the tests! If something IS wrong, it's better to catch it right away...and if nothing is wrong (which is prob. the case) you won't have to worry so much about it, and and you kind of just accept the weird as "the new normal."