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

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Dam betulim or dam makkah?

30 June, 2019
Question:

I have a question regarding dam betulim. My wedding night was 3 weeks ago and I did not bleed during the first time of intercourse. About 2 weeks later I went to the Mikva, and we had intercourse probably 5–6 times over the course of this past week. Last night I had bleeding for the first time suddenly start during intercourse. Would this still be considered dam betulim and I am now in Niddah, or could this have been due to some other internal tear due to regular activity? It was not uterine blood, but there was quite a bit of bleeding that stopped after about 30 minutes. I am on birth control pills.


Answer:

Mazal tov on your wedding!

Based on what you write, that you have already had several full acts of relations without any sign of dam betulim (hymenal bleeding), this might be treated as dam makkah, bleeding from trauma. Dam makkah does not make a woman niddah, even if it did come from the hymen.

However, in order to establish that this is dam makkah, you need to be able to identify what is causing the bleeding. We suggest inspecting yourself physically using a mirror, and/or consulting your physician or a bodeket taharah. Once someone has visually identified the source of bleeding, no further steps need be taken other than precautions to enable you to heal.

If no external cause can be found, then please get back to us with details.

Please write back with any further questions.

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