Tonight, things got worse. She went to the doctor this morning, and the doctor said to keep an eye on it (the bleeding had apparently stopped this morning), after giving her a pregnancy test (yeah, her period is too long, so maybe she’s pregnant, but what do I know about biology). THe blood in her vagina had appeared brownish and old, so we assumed she just needed to douche really well and clean it out.
She felt blood in her panties again this evening, and took them off just in time for me to see several large drops of bright red blood gush out from the area of her clitoris and urethra. it bled for a few minutes, then stopped.
Since it stopped for the time being, she is going to the doctor first thing in the morning.
Does anyone have a clue what this might be? She said she’s had no pain, and there’s been no blood in her urine.
I have no idea what her problem is but it might help if her doctor explained human reproductive physiology to her and then she needs to explain it to you.
Old brown blood in the vagina is usually blood from the uterus. It almost never needs to be “cleaned out.” Douching is almost always a bad idea.
Bright red blood coming from the clitoris or urethra is very unusual. The clitoris has no place to beed from unless it is injured. Blood can come from the urethra but when there is bleeding in the urinary tract, usually there will be blood mixed with urine so people are aware of the bleeding (even very slight bleeding) because their urine will be pink).
She needs to find out where the bright red blood is coming from. Normally when you bleed its pretty easy to see where its coming from.
So I’m only a medical student, but here is some stuff, mostly out of Harrison’s Textbook of Internal Medicine* (the best source I have right now) :
Heavy vaginal bleeding (menorrhagia, metorrhagia, or menometorrhagia) is caused by :
-estrogen withdrawal bleeding : estrogen given to a postmenopausal/castrated woman and then withdrawn.
-estrogen breakthrough bleeding : with continuous estrogen stimulation of the endometrium (lining of the uterus). Caused by polycystic ovarian disease (PCOD) and (rare) estrogen secreting tumors of the ovary.
-Progesterone breakthrough bleeding : women who use low-dose oral contraceptives continuously.
It can also be urethral/vaginal/rectal/cervical/vesicular (from the bladder) bleeding. While I am not a doctor (go see one soon!), uterine bleeding is usually treated by high-dose oral contraceptives. If this fails (or if the person is high-risk for endometrial cancer), a uterine workup consisting of culposcopy/hysteroscopy, biopsy, and dilation and curettage may be necessary.
Please don’t take my word on this. See a doctor soon for a complete workup (although it sounds like you are on this). Most causes are not serious (endometriosis, contraceptives) and are treated easily.