Question:
I'm 23 years old and have been sexually active for about 3 years. My husband and I have been trying to conceive for about 8 months now with no success yet. Here is my question about last week during sex I began to bleed pretty heavily but when we stopped having sex I stopped bleeding, and then yesterday we had sex again and the same thing happened. I could be pregnant now, but I can't test until Friday. I'm wondering if this could be a sign of pregnancy or an STD please any advice would help. Thank you
Answer:
Have you had problems with bleeding in the past? There could be many different reasons that you are bleeding during intercourse. Maybe your cervix is quite vascular and your husband is inadvertantly causing some small veins to rupture. You also could have an infection such as cervicitis or bacterial vaginosis or a plain old yeast infection with few symptoms. Even though you aren't experiencing bleeding now, I think that you should see a Gynecologist for an exam to rule out these concerns. Other than when you are menstruating, vaginal bleeding is not normal and is a warning sign. Keep yourself in good health by getting checked out okay?

Answer:
The remedy for pressimism is optimism - keep your mind obsessed with the bright side of life. "Be not disturbed by trifles: trifles make up life."

Hey Guest, how are you doing?

Briefly, I would like to explain two fundamental concepts to be kept in mind concerning female fertility (1) the multiplicity of etologic factors and (2) the equal responsibility of male and female partners, in hopes that if in the event your pregancy test results are negative, you and your husband would continue to try, just be more at ease of the event and do what's in you ability to control infectious i.e. the use of antibiotics, sufficient sleep, diet and excercise, etc. First, it is generally held that a marriage should not be considered infertile until a year of unprotected coitus has been allowed to pass. (Taymor 251-2)

To delineate these possible factors working either singly or in concert, one need only review the pathways of conception in male and female and the disorders of these pathways that may ensue. Deficiency of sperm production in quantity and quality accounts for the majority of the male's contribution to the problem of infertility. (Taymor 251)

Impotency, an important factor in many cases, commonly has a psychologic basis, although local infection or general systematic disorders may play a contributory role. Sperm production may be adversely effected by congenital influences such as germinal aplasia or cryptorchidism, by hormonal deficiencies of the pituitary or thyroid glands, by infection such as mumps orchitis, and by environmental factors such as nutritional deficiencies, noxious chemicals and drugs, radiation, excess local heat, and altitude. (Taymor 251)

Defects in the female are related to production of ova and interference with their union with spermatoza. The vaginal causes are organic or functional.

Very often these causes are a combination of organic and psychologic factors. (Taymor 251) Other factors in which the mind, the psyche, in some totally unknown way impedes conception include over-anxiety, intense desire for children, fear of children, fear of pregnancy, and many others. (Rualo-Pasigan 420; Taymor 251)

However, each couple's problems should be judged individually, and diagnosis and treatment instituted at an eariler or later date. However, the fact should be stressed that more often than not, the state of fertility with its accompanying diagnostic and therapeutic maneuvers is more likely to produce serious emotional reactions than are primary emotional factors likely to produce infertility. (Taymor 251)

The female specfic attention should be directed to the cervical factor by unfavorable coital habits which produce obstruction to the passage of sperm e.g. infection or estrogen deficiency which may decrease the quality of mucus that is beneficial to sperm survival and migration that the endocervical glands secrete during the few days prior to ovulation. In a clinical setting this is corrected by retroversion of the uterus by a pessary, improvement in quality and quantity of preovulatory mucus by the daily administration of small dosages of estrogen (0.1 mg
* daily for three of four cycles) by the use of a plastic cervical cap, and by the correction cervicitis by systematic and local antibiotics or by cervical cauterization. (Taymor 251) (The Center of Disease Control Diethylstilbestrol)

To the male partner, a modest improvment in the sperm count or motility combined with attention to the factors in the female partner may raise the fertility of the couple above a critical level. Avoidance of excess alcohol and tabacco, sufficient sleep and exercise, an optimum diet, adjustment of local excess of heat, administration of thyroid preparations in minor degrees of hypofunction - all these singly or together may prove of definate benefit. (Taymor 251)

Miscarriages are not alway tragic. Actually, the incidence is really much higher, since most miscarrages occur within the first month and are usually symptomless. (Rualo-Pasigan 420)

Miscarriage is characterized by bleeding, the passage of bits of tissue (clots), and cramps in the lower abdomen ranging from annoying to painful. If spontaneous abortion (miscarrage) in not automatically completed, usually signified by the continuance of bleeding and cramps the physician will perform a D & C (dilatation and curettage), a surgical procedure in which the cervix is scraded off the uterus. (Rualo-Pasigan 421)

Nevertheless, vaginal bleeding is common in early pregnancy. Any vaginal bleeding other than spotting during early pregnancy is considered a threatened
. (A miscarriage may also be referred to as a spontaneous abortion.) (Sepilian Miscarriage Overview)

About 1 of every 4 pregnant women has some bleeding during the first few months. About half of these women stop bleeding and have a normal pregnancy. (Sepilian Miscarriage Overview)

Inadequate ovarian hormone production is one of the most common causes of a miscarriage. (Sepilian Miscarriage Causes) A pregnant woman who experiences these symptoms but does not have a health care provider should go to her closest hospital's emergency department to be examined. (Sepilian When to Seek Medical Care)

* see The Center of Disease Control
.


Best wishes,