Implantation bleeding: sign of a bun in the oven
WHETHER you are actively trying to get pregnant or just waiting to see if Aunt Flo will arrive after a little tryst, discovering a light brownish-pink spot in your underwear can be a make-or-break discovery, depending on which side of the fence you’re on.
Obstetrician-gynaecologist at ICON Medical, Dr Keisha Buchanan, said while most women are wired to identify this “underwear discovery” with the start of a period, it could also be a tell-tale sign that there is a bun in the oven.
“Six to 12 days after the fertilisation of the egg occurs, the new embryo requires more nutrients and the embryo implants in the wall of the womb. The implantation results in the passage of a pink or brown discharge from the vagina, which is a sign of scant bleeding,” Dr Buchanan explained.
She said that it is common for implantation bleeding to be mistaken for a period; however, the differences can be identified by its arrival time as well as its appearance.
“An implantation bleed happens earlier than a period and is usually lighter than the period. But you can check the time between when you had sex and the time of the bleed. If two to three weeks have elapsed, then it may not be an implantation bleed. Additionally, implantation bleeding usually lasts less than a day, and so women can also dispel the fear of a miscarriage which usually lasts longer, is accompanied by a much heavier flow than implantation, and often with severe cramps,” she said.
She noted that women should observe other accompanying signs of pregnancy, such as soreness of the breasts, fatigue, or even nausea.
She advised that women, regardless of the signs they may be seeing, should take a pregnancy test, especially if they are trying to conceive or were engaged in a sexual encounter that could have resulted in pregnancy, since a test is the only way to be sure.
Dr Buchanan notes that an implantation bleed often incites fear of other pregnancy complications, especially in women who have been having fertility challenges. The conditions include ectopic or molar pregnancy, which can be easily analysed by way of a pelvic ultrasound.
“It is easy for anxious mothers to confuse abnormal bleeding in early pregnancy to a more complicated condition such as ectopic pregnancy, which is a condition in which the pregnancy is lodged in the Fallopian tube. This condition may have no symptoms, but may present with more pelvic pain and bleeding and can be potentially life-threatening,” Dr Buchanan said.
In the case of a molar pregnancy, which Dr Buchanan described as a genetically abnormal pregnancy marked by abnormal placental tissue and a total or partial failure of development of the foetal tissues, the condition will present with abnormal vaginal bleeding and abdominal pain.
