Aunt Vadge: did my boyfriend’s tongue cause brown spotting?

Hi there Aunt Vadge, 

My boyfriend put his tongue in my vagina a few days back, and now I have brownish spotting. Is this normal?

Yours,
Spotting
Age: 15
Country/Area: India
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Hi Spotting,

Unless your boyfriend damaged your vagina in some way, then the brownish spotting is completely unrelated to your boyfriend’s tongue. It may be ovulation spotting (if you are mid-cycle, between periods) or it could be the beginnings of your period.

Here’s a couple of tips to figure out if it’s ovulation bleeding: 

• Get a period tracker app or use a calendar to write down the day you get your period every month. It will usually be a different number of days every cycle, as no cycle is alike. It will vary between 21 and 35 days.
• Know that the day you ovulate every month will be different, but you can tell by understanding the different sensations of your vulva (your vaginal lips).
• Learn how to detect the changes you can feel around your labia regarding the moisture. In the middle, between periods, approximately halfway through your cycle (your cycle is the number of days between Day 1 of your period, and Day 1 of your next period), you will feel a wet sensation on your labia and possibly more discharge in your underwear. This discharge will be quite slimy and like egg-white, and when you wipe after urinating, it will feel like there is slippery stuff on your vulva that seems to take a little more wiping than just normal pee. This is when you know you are ovulating.
• The feeling you get when you are ovulating is one of wetness in your underwear. It’s quite distinct from other times of your cycle, and once you know what to look for, it will become immediately obvious. This fluid is squirted out in one big go from your cervix (the part at the top of your vagina, a little doughnut-shaped tube that connects to your uterus) when you ovulate, and is like a waterslide/red carpet for sperm. It is known as fertile cervical fluid, and it only happens when you ovulate, since you can’t get pregnant other times of your cycle. One egg, one blob of fertile cervical fluid that comes out of your vagina eventually via gravity.

Some women get ovulation spotting, since you have a spike in hormones that can trigger some blood spots. This is completely normal and not dangerous. It’s important that you are not spotting outside of these times, since that could mean that something else is going on.

Your body is still figuring out how it does stuff hormonally at 15, so starting to learn about your body’s natural rhythms means that you can more easily establish when something is unusual. It’s a great time to start tracking your periods, figuring out when you ovulate (and therefore can get pregnant), and understanding what your body is actually doing. You can rest assured that your boyfriend’s tongue alone cannot cause bleeding of any kind.

Write anytime! We love your great questions.

Warmest regards,
Aunt Vadge