Nipples

[CuteKitten]

Hi Scarleteen I know you’re not medical professionals but want your advice.

For for the last 2 weeks I had a stinking cold which I am finally getting over yay!!

Anyway I haven’t exercised in 2 weeks because of the cold and just felt drained of energy but have gone on a few nice walks the last few days!

Anyway I woke up today and noticed my nipples looked weired. In my earlier teen years I had inverted nipples but when I turned 17 I worked out more did stuff like bench press and my nipples became outward which really like as it felt like I was growing up!

However when I woke up today and ate a bit worried my nipples were inverted again the areolas seem a bit more pronounced and a slightly different colour to the rest of the nipple. There are also a few white dots on my nipple which I have only noticed today though again I don’t really check my nipples. I showed my Mum and Dad and they said it’s fine and that nipples are weried anyway. I guess I am a bit worried as a female relative has breast cancer they caught it early but still scary:-(

Any advice appreciated can the appearance change because of like hormones or having a cold?

I also have a question about periods but I will save it for later.

Thanks again!

[Sofi]

Slight color changes or slight changes in sensitivity and such can happen because of hormonal changes and being sick. More major changes like the shape changing might be better to get checked. I'm not sure about inverted nipples, and we've left a note to our team so if someone else knows, they'll chime in. While it doesn't sound concerning to me, you could still see a medical professional if you're worried.

Feel free to ask the question about periods as well!

[CuteKitten]

Hi Sofi thanks for your response. Luckily nothing new has really developed on my nipples and I showed my aunt a picture who is a physiotherapist and she said it’s nothing to worry about! I am still getting an appointment just to be sure but feel much better now

So I was reading the article under the rag as I really wanted to know a bit more about periods as even though I won’t get a period around half the world’s population do! My question is about vaginal secretion,

So let’s say someone has irregular periods can they tell if there are going to blood or other fluid out of there vagina. Can people like hold it until they get to a bathroom like holding a pee? Also 6-12 teaspoons seems like a lot of blood I have heard that women can feel lightheaded or have low iron in there period is that true.

To me it seems like periods are just painful like getting cramps, headaches, hot flushes and then there is stuff like PMS and endometriosis which seem super horrible. But then I have also heard it’s like very important to get your period otherwise long term it can lead to stuff like osteoporosis???

Are there any good things women get from periods?

[char]

Hi CuteKitten! Your questions are a bit beyond my expertise, so I'll hand them over to the other volunteers. They'll help you once they are online. Thanks for the wait!

[Heather]

Hey there, CuteKitten.

It's a combination of muscle contractions and gravity that create menstrual flow -- which blood is only one part of, as you read in [url="https://www.scarleteen.com/read/bodies/ ... nstruation]On the Rag[/url], so talking about it as blood isn't actually accurate -- so no, it's not like urinating, including that a person can't voluntarily hold or release it. It just happens. And again, we're not talking about 6-12 teaspoons of blood, but 6-12 teaspoons of menstrual flow, and that's over the span of a whole period, so it's not actually a lot over that period of time. That's only about 1/8th to 1/4 cup over 4-8 days, depending on the length of a given person's period. Yes, some people do get low iron during periods or because of them, but that's usually pretty easy to manage.

Periods themselves are important because without them, the endometrial lining would just keep building up and building up and not only would that not make it possible for people who want to become pregnant to do so, it would make people with a uterus really sick. It's not periods themselves we need to do things like to help prevent osteoporosis, it's the whole hormonal cycle that happens from the start of a period until the next one. That isn't to say people can't be healthy without cycling, mind, they can, and that's the case for loads of people who do things like use hormonal methods that keep them from having the cycles they would otherwise (including periods), but often in that case things like calcium supplements are recommended.

People don't usually get hot flushes/flashes because of periods, btw: that's something that instead happens with perimenopause and menopause, and that's about hormonal cycling being more chaotic than usual during that life transition, one that will happen at some point or another for anyone with a uterus. Too, loads of people with periods don't have major issues, and some don't even get cramps, or cramps that are disruptive. Ultimately, the things that can or do happen with periods happen less because of having periods -- including health issues like endometriosis -- and more because of having a uterus and ovaries and the hormones and hormone profile those organs create.