TMI question about menstrual blood color and consistency

[begintohope.livejournal.com]

Hey, vaginasaurs! I'm on hormonal BC and my withdrawal bleeds usually start out light and get heavy after a day or two. However, today my bleed started into heaviness almost immediately, and I noticed that it was very thick and very dark, almost black.

I'm not really worried and I know this is probably normal, but... can anyone suggest why this might be? Or is it just "one of those things"?

Comments

[asukasan.livejournal.com]

I had the same issue a few years ago, so I asked my doctor. He told me that dark red/blackish blood is quite normal; it just means that the blood/tissue has been exposed to the air and has oxidised more quickly.
Nowadays, my periods/withdrawal bleeds are very short; only about two days, and a lot of the time it's brownish/black. If it really does worry you, then I would absolutely talk to your doctor, but for the most part, it's normal. The blood has either oxidised quickly, or there's always the chance that it might be OLD blood that didn't make it out of the uterus during your last withdrawal.
Hope this helps and makes you feel relieved!

[dkwgdk.livejournal.com]

I got this when I took HBC as well, and it seemed to vary from month to month in terms of how quickly it showed up. As asukasan says, my doc said it was the result of the blood having hung out and been exposed to air.

In the realm of further TMI...whenever my discharge has looked "odd" to me, I generally take a cautious sniff. If it smells normal (ie--like blood and/or kind of like meat), everything is okay. If it smells "off," I head to the doctor. Also, if my discharge had suddenly changed as you describe and if I had other symptoms like unusual pain or a fever, I'd head to the doc.