I usually have a 4 day period (finished pretty much Thursday), with the usual brown spotting on the 5th day (Friday). However on day 6 I started spotting red blood again and it's still going on day 9 - every time I go to the loo I wipe and there it is.
I've been under a huge amount of stress starting on Thursday, which I know had an effect on my physical health as well as mental health (high resting heart rate, couldn't sleep, felt sick). I ran the London marathon on Sunday too so now my body is wrecked. The spotting started before the marathon so I don't think it's that.
Smear was 3 years ago, by chance I have my next one next Tuesday. I'm massively panicking (driven by the anxiety and stress I've been under I think) and wondering if cervical cancer can take hold in the intervening 3 years since my last smear.
I'm also 46. My periods have been every 25 - 28 days for about a year (used to be regular 28 days without fail) and heavier for a few years, which was checked out with a womb scan a couple of years ago, all normal then. So I also wonder about perimenopause.
I've started to suffer with health anxiety in recent years, since my mum was diagnosed with a "it's rare, it won't be that" terminal brain tumour and we lost her. Since then I've had my thyroid removed, gallbladder removed, i'm now waiting for a blood test to recheck my liver enzymes as they are raised (I don't drink). I feel like I'm on a constant health rollercoaster that I can't get off. This spotting is driving me to distraction and I can't think about anything else. I know I'm extrapolating, catastrophising, but I no longer feel 'safe' from worst case scenarios.