Short period - Am I pregnant?

If your period is shorter than usual, you may, like some women do, ask yourself if you are pregnant. Menstruation usually lasts for five to seven days each month (or, to be more precise, each menstrual cycle) and the duration of bleeding during these periods can be different from one woman to the next, as well as from one month to another in the same woman.

Some women tend to have light bleeding, while others may experience extremely heavy periods accompanied by pain in the pelvis. When a woman who typically has heavy menstrual bleeding that lasts long experiences a light period that may last no longer than to days all of a sudden, she may wonder if she is pregnant. That certainly is one of the possible reasons of this change. However, there can be other reasons for light periods.

Reasons for short menstrual periods

If you are using contraceptive pills, you may have light periods due to their action in your body. Most of those women who use pills have light periods that last shorter than before taking pills, because birth control pills only lead to bleeding that simulates menstruation, and this bleeding is artificially controlled by the hormone-free stage in the pill cycle.

Also, one reason for short periods can be extreme stress. If a woman feels tense, anxious or stressed out, her period may be delayed and shorter than usual. Some health conditions may cause changes in your period also. If you are using certain drugs for longer period of time, you can expect that your menstrual blood flow will be lighter than normally. Finally, those women who are entering their menopausal period can have changes regarding their menstrual cycle. They usually have light periods that are not regular.

Pregnancy and short periods

If you had intercourse without using protection 7 to 14 days before your period, there is a realistic chance that you may be pregnant. But, we all know that a menstrual period does not occur if a woman is pregnant. Well, there is a possibility that a woman has an implantation bleeding that happens when the egg cell bonds to the womb. This kind of bleeding is very light and it is more spotting than bleeding. The color of this discharge is different than usual and it lasts for about two to three days. In this case, the woman may mistakenly believe that she has had a short period.

There are some other signs that can indicate pregnancy besides this light bleeding. One very common sign of an early pregnancy is extreme fatigue and women can feel worn out without any obvious reason. Also, if you have frequent urge to go to the bathroom, it may be because of a pregnancy. Another common symptom of pregnancy in its early stages is soreness of the breasts. If you feel sick in the morning, throw up frequently and feel dizzy, that can also be a sign that you are pregnant. There is a chance that you could be pregnant even if you don’t have these symptoms. The best thing to do is to use a home pregnancy test if you experienced a short period. 

However, if the test ends up being negative, and you notice marked changes in your periods again, going to the doctor is still advised to check what may be going on in your body.