Blood after relations post menopause
31 August, 2009
Question:Shalom,
I experienced menopause at age 52, as a widow. I recently remarried at age 61, and noticed that upon intercourse, there was blood on the quilt and a slight pinkish stain on the pad I used for bedika, after I noticed the bloodstains on the quilt. I imagined that this blood may be due to being sensitive in the vaginal area during intercourse, after not having had relations for a very long time. Is this blood considered niddah blood, and if so, do I have to exercise the usual behavior during niddah status, i.e., hefsek, 7 clean days and mikveh? Thank you.
Answer:Mazal tov on your recent wedding!
Whether or not you are considered niddah depends on confirming that you had some other cause for bleeding, which sounds most plausible. Please see your physician or a bodeket, niddah-trained nurse, to check if you have a lesion or clear sensitivity that would lead to the bleeding. If you do, you may attribute the bleeding to that and resume married life as usual.
If not, please get back to us or a local halachic authority, including details on how long after relations you found the blood, what color surface it was found on, its size and color, whether you performed an internal bedikah with the pad and how soon after relations you did so.
If your bleeding was from sensitivity, it may help to use a vaginal moisturizer prior to your next relations.
This internet service does not preclude, override or replace the psak of any rabbinical authority. It is the responsibility of the questioner to inform us of any previous consultation or ruling. As even slight variation in circumstances may have Halachic consequences, views expressed concerning one case may not be applied to other, seemingly similar cases. All health and health-related information contained within Nishmat's Women's Health & Halacha Web site is intended to be general in nature and should not be used as a substitute for consulting with your health care professional. The advice is intended to offer a basis for individuals to discuss their medical condition with their health care provider but not individual advice. Although every effort is made to ensure that the material within Nishmat's Women's Health & Halacha Web site is accurate and timely, it is provided for the convenience of the Web site user but should not be considered official. Advice for actual medical practice should be obtained from a licensed health care professional.
For further questions or comments:
The Nishmat Women's Health and Halacha Site is a public service of Nishmat, The Jeanie Schottenstein Center for Advanced Torah Study for Women. This project and others like it are made possible by contributions from people like you. If you have benefited from the service, and wish to enable us to help others, click here to donate.
Users of Internet filtering services: This site discusses sensitive subjects that some services filter without visual indication. A page that appears 100% complete might actually be missing critical Jewish-law or medical information. To ensure that you view the pages accurately, ask the filtering service to whitelist all pages under yoatzot.org.