Nishmat's Women’s Health and HalachaIn memory of Chaya Mirel bat R' Avraham

  • Hebrew
  • English
  • Espnaol
  • Francais
  • donate
Menu

Stain in perimenopause

26 March, 2017

Question:

I am in between the stages of perimenopause and menopause. I have not had a period for a few months and assumed it was pretty much menopause. Recently I had a discharge on white that was the size that would be questionable and it was pinkish. Is there room to be lenient here? I don’t have any other discharge, and no period. What would you recommend?


Answer:

If the stain was found on a white garment (as opposed to white toilet paper or disposable pantyliners, which are subject to leniency) and it was at least the size of a gris (the size of a US dime or Israeli shekel), you should bring the stain to a halachic authority for evaluation.

If you no longer have the stain and it was larger than a gris and clearly pinkish, you should assume it rendered you niddah. You need to wait five days before performing a hefsek taharah and counting the seven clean days.

If you no longer have the stain, and are unsure of the size and/or color of the stain, if it was found externally (i.e., not on a bedikah) there is room for leniency and you may disregard the stain.

See our article on Stains for more details.

Going forward, we advise wearing colored underwear at all times, and waiting at least a few seconds (ideally 15 seconds) after urinating before wiping, in order to avoid becoming niddah from stains. Particularly at this point in your life, staining can be erratic and you may not be prepared for it, so you should take these precautions at all times.

Please feel free to get back to us with any further questions.

B’Hatzlacha!

This response has been updated to reflect the rulings of our current Rabbinic Supervisor, Rav Kenneth Auman, regarding waiting before wiping.


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.

Accessibility Toolbar