Why is my period so weird?

May 17, 2009 12:17 PM

Question about menstruation after an abortion.

I had an abortion a few months ago and, when I restarted my period, my period was/is very different than it was before. I now have these big blobs of blood, which never happened before when I had my periods before the abortion. The first time I had my period, I freaked out and called the nurse practitioner all panicked and she said that my period would be different now because I had been pregnant. I don't understand why, though and I stupidly didn't ask. I've been googling endlessly and only come up with forums where someone asks a similar question and is berated for having had an abortion in the first place.

So, why is my period so different now than it used to be? Is it normal? Will it stop being blobs and return to what it used to be like?

posted by anonymous to health & fitness (7 comments total)

Blobs and things like that, at least, are very very normal. Your own body's hormones may still be fluctuating as a result of the pregnancy itself, which can cause changes in menstruation. Usually, having more blobs/tissue just represents having built up a thicker lining in the uterus, which could have been because your body had certain elevated levels of hormones because of being pregnant in the first place. It's very common after pregnancy to have menstrual changes though, in the favor of heavier flow, more cramping, etc.
posted by so_gracefully at 12:24 PM on May 17 [2 favorites]

I miscarried very late (at almost 7 months), and had the same thing. It's normal.
posted by ttyn at 12:34 PM on May 17

Even without an abortion your periods may change over time. I have never been pregnant and went for years without blobs and now have them. Other changes I have experienced over time - how flow intensity is spread over the days you have your period, changes in length of cycle and even a couple of extremely long cycles (like sixty days) - no sex at all at that time but it still happened. And throughout all of this I have always been pronounced perfectly healthy and normal. So calm down - 'normal' is all relative.
posted by koahiatamadl at 12:37 PM on May 17 [1 favorite]

Yes, the blobs are normal, pregnant, abortion or neither. My friend was all of the sudden getting these large amounts of them the size of a quarter. She talked to her doctor and they figured it was fine, but if it started being larger quantities he wanted her to come back in.
posted by hazyspring at 3:12 PM on May 17

Totally normal. I had to have a D&C at week 8 of a pregnancy and I experienced the very same thing you're experiencing now. Although every woman is different, things will likely go back to the way they were before.

I had two full-term pregnancies and my periods were different after them, too, but not the same as after the D&C. I think it took a couple years for my periods to go back to normal, but my body is pretty fucked up in general, and let's not get started on my uterus.
posted by cooker girl at 3:33 PM on May 17

I agree with the previous posters. Pregnancy can do weird things to your body. And what was normal for you before may not ever be the same.

I can't explain why--I am on the same birth control pill as I was for a while pre-pregnancy, but my periods are more clotty than before, and the cramp/pain factor is higher, too. (I also now get these killer headaches once in a while, bonus.)

I'm 12 months post-partum now and the level of clots has definitely decreased but they are still there.

I would just say that if you are still concerned about this, go ahead and call the NP to make sure that everything is OK. I wouldn't be concerned unless you are having pain that you've never had before, if you're feverish or if you have unexplained weight loss--basically, anything that would otherwise make you see a healthcare provider.
posted by FergieBelle at 5:04 PM on May 17

I would say that is totally normal. I had a miscarriage and a D&C at 15 weeks over a year ago, and my period is still different than it was before my pregnancy. I bleed A LOT more (a lot of blood in a little amount of time vs. a little bit of blood over a longer time) and throw more clots now and my OBGYN attributes that to the changes in size of my uterus and cervix.
posted by crankylex at 6:49 PM on May 17