What should you know about sporadic bleeding between periods?

Spotting may happen around ovulation, after starting or changing hormonal contraception, or after irritation of the vagina or cervix. Pregnancy-related bleeding, infections such as chlamydia, cervical dysplasia, polyps, and uterine fibroids are other possibilities. Bleeding can also reflect changes in the womb lining; rarely, it is a presentation of cervical or womb cancer.

The pattern matters: note when bleeding occurs, how long it lasts, whether it follows sex, and whether pain, discharge, fever, dizziness, or pregnancy is present. A bleeding episode cannot identify its cause on its own.

Arrange a clinician review if the bleeding is unexplained, keeps returning, happens after sex, or occurs after menopause. Write down cycle dates, medicines, contraception, pregnancy possibility, and associated symptoms. A clinician may offer a pregnancy test, pelvic examination, infection testing, cervical screening review, blood tests, or imaging based on your situation.

Do not self-treat repeated bleeding with leftover hormones. If a cervical or womb condition is found, treatment depends on the cause and may involve monitoring, medicine, or a procedure. A radical hysterectomy is a specialised operation for selected cancers, not a routine response to occasional spotting.

Seek urgent care for heavy bleeding that makes you weak or dizzy, fainting, severe pelvic or one-sided abdominal pain, fever with pelvic pain, or bleeding during a possible pregnancy. Call emergency services for collapse or difficulty breathing. These signs need prompt assessment regardless of whether the bleeding has happened before.

What causes should be considered from my bleeding pattern and medicines? Do I need a pregnancy test, infection test, examination, scan, or cervical screening follow-up? Which symptoms should make me seek urgent care?