I apologize, you are correct, you can have breakthrough bleeding too. I forgot about that, because it never happens to me.
LurkerinNJ, The other day I wished for rain and then it rained! Either my thoughts are magic, or correlation does not imply causation. Sometimes, even when we are SURE there is a connection between two events, we are just wrong. If you got your period early after having sex it was just chance. You remember when it happened, you forget when it didn’t. Neither sex itself nor orgasms can cause the uterine lining to begin shedding. Only the right balance of hormones does that.
It was always my understanding that the old wives tale about having sex to kickstart labor had some basis in science, that the oxytocin released during orgasm can help prompt uterine contractions. So is there any possibility that oxytocin could also trigger the uterine contractions associated with menstruating?
In my rigorously controlled scientific research, that is, my personal anecdotal experience, that’s exactly what it feels like – when my period is late, I feel the hormonal symptoms but the only part that’s missing is the strictly physical aspect – there’s a mess o’ stuff using my uterus as a lounge, and the sex is what seems to, um, get the posse on the move.
Not to mention that you may not be “due” when you think you are. Unless you know when you ovulated and how long your average luteal phase is, you can’t really say when you’re supposed to start bleeding. Just because your cycles are “always” X days long doesn’t mean you won’t sometimes have one that is X-3 days. And if you had sex around the right time, it’s easy to think it’s connected… but then shouldn’t a really good orgasm trigger your period every cycle?
Now, if you usually have 2 days of light spotting pre-period, I can see sex helping bump you straight to heavy flow, but it will not “trigger” your period.
Back up. You’re assuming that uterine contractions cause menstruation. They don’t. Menstruation causes uterine contractions.
Menstruation is triggered when the ratio of progesterone to estrogen in the body reaches a specific number. (Don’t make me look up what it is, because my books are in a box somewhere.) When that happens, the endometrium, the lining of the uterus, begins to melt and detach from the uterus. The detachment of the endometrium causes uterine contractions.
Labor is a whole different ballgame played in the same park. Labor begins…well, we really don’t know why labor begins yet. Honestly, we don’t. We have some guesses, and we know some of the things which can artificially cause labor to begin sometimes, but we really don’t know why spontaneous labor begins when it does and not a day earlier or a day later.
We do know that a soft “ripe” cervix is required before labor will start, though.We also observe that prostaglandins, a hormone that’s present in semen, will soften and ripen the cervix. That’s why sex when you’re very close to going into spontaneous labor can sometimes appear to speed things up. The semen softens the cervix, and then whatever complicated and not-entirely-understood hormonal storm that causes labor to begin can begin.
If we need to induce labor and your cervix isn’t soft and ripe, we have to artificially soften and ripen your cervix with gels or vaginal suppositories first, or all the pitocin (artificial oxytocin) in the world won’t cause productive labor - although it will cause uterine contractions.
So, like they don’t cause menstruation, uterine contractions do not appear to cause labor, but labor causes uterine contractions.
That right there is why I don’t understand why they use pitocin the way they sometimes do. My sis’ cervix was refusing to dilate, but because she’d had some swelling issues during the latter part of her pregnancy, they wanted her in the very moment she thought she might be starting labor, even if that labor lasted 4 days. So she went in, wouldn’t dilate, wouldn’t dilate, wouldn’t dilate…and they pitocined her. (yes, that’s a verb now ) Not sure what ELSE that does, but she went from being uncomfortable to being supremely pale, listless, and barely breathing after that. I was actually scared for her. The fact that they then decided to go with a caudal block and MISSED HER SPINE 3 TIMES made me glad she was so out of it; think I’d have kicked someone out the window halfway through. Can’t believe I didn’t do it myself. Also wonder why they didn’t just go with a c-section, since it seems they were determined to force the kid out. (He came out a little squooshy-headed, but fine)
Yeah, that all definitely matches up with the way I understand the process (great details, btw!). I think what I’m trying to describe, not very well apparently, is that even after the hormones have done their thing, the cervix is open, and the endometrium has started to detach … sometimes it’s like holding a ketchup bottle upside down – gravity just isn’t enough to get something that viscous moving in the direction it needs to go. It feels almost like it needs a physical nudge to get going.
Oh, man, do I know that feeling! Sometimes you (that is, I) just wish I could get one huge cramp and squeeze all that stuff out like a tube of toothpaste and be done with it!
Alas, this seems to be one of those cases where “feels like” doesn’t match what’s actually going on with the physiology.
) Not sure what ELSE that does, but she went from being uncomfortable to being supremely pale, listless, and barely breathing after that. I was actually scared for her. The fact that they then decided to go with a caudal block and MISSED HER SPINE 3 TIMES made me glad she was so out of it; think I’d have kicked someone out the window halfway through. Can’t believe I didn’t do it myself. Also wonder why they didn’t just go with a c-section, since it seems they were determined to force the kid out. (He came out a little squooshy-headed, but fine)