I am 20 years old and slightly underweight.
Sunday my period started early (by over a week).
It was really light (I normally start very heavy and it tapers off by the end of the second day and doesn't cause me any discomfort by the third and bleeding is very light).
The blood was really dark, sometimes brown (which I am used to on day 4 or 5).
I experienced back pain (very unusual) and my cramps were incredibly dull but constant by the end of the day. Midol did not help at all which is also unusual.
For a few days before my period I was experiencing headaches and was very emotional. I actually started crying for no reason on Saturday. I am still really moody at the drop of a hat and am bothered by this tremendously.
Also, I was sleeping absurd amounts (taking 4 hour naps after a full nights sleep). But yesterday and today I woke up at 6 30 and was unable to go back to sleep. (Not a morning person at all, ha! have problems getting up by 7 am to get to school on time)
Today when i tried to eat some dumplings I got through my second one and was immediately sick, and then at dinner at the school tonight I couldn't taste my food, but had the horrible aftertaste that spicy food often leaves me. And my stomach felt really heavy to the point of discomfort, despite only eating a sandwhich.
My bleeding is already very light again and this concerns me since I'm used to having a very very heavy flow for the first two days.
Why would my period start so early and then be so unusual and leave me feeling so strange constantly?
I am sexually active (last day of intercourse was the 19th of last month, yay long distance relationships!)
I was reading up on causes and read about implantation bleeding but which would occur at about this time but I think I am bleeding too much for that.
Please let me know what you think!
Also.. I can't see a doctor for at least 4 weeks (moving to minnesota in three weeks and have to find a doctor...) So advice like, see a doctor, wouldn't be terribly helpful at this point. (no offense)
Thanks again for any help you can offer!
If you think you might be pregnant, take a home pregnancy test. If it's positive, see a doctor right away. (Trust me, call any GYN and say you're pregnant, and you get in the same day or next day. Heck, you could probably claim you're pregnant on the basis of current symptoms.)
If it's negative, and you're still feeling funny in a week, repeat the test. It takes at least 2 weeks to show up positive, sometimes more.
However, if your cycle is very regular, then the timing is a little off for you to be pregnant. Generally implantation occurs very shortly before the start of your period, not a week or more. Still, it does vary, so get tested, it's the only way to know.
If you aren't pregnant, there are a lot of other explanations, stress and disruption due to moving would actually fit all of them.
Also, every once in a while, especially as you get older (I know you're not that old) even in your twenties, hormones can start to change and fluctuate. This happens often when you've had stress in your day to day life, just as janewhite suggested. The uterus doesn't always expel all of the blood that it should and this will sometimes cause spotting in between periods.
This started happening to me in my mid twenties. The spotting would sometimes be accompanied by bad cramps, nausea and even clots. And it is usually dark brown, instead of bright red. Don't mean to be gross, but sometimes sour smelling.
It definitely wouldn't hurt to take the pregnancy test either. That way, you can eliminate some stress, if that is what is causing this in the first place.
Thanks for your replies.
I realize that stress can cause changes to your period, and maybe I'm being too skeptical but I have been under a tremendous amount of stress before and my period was unaffected.
I'm also really afraid to take a pregnancy test at the moment. I am on a really tight budget because I have to get prints of my photographs made for my finals this week and don't really know how much I can spend on one, or if it is even a good time to take one since my period isn't supposed to start until the 11th. So i wonder if I would take one, get a negative result and yet it not be accurate.
And maybe I am just being too freaked out by this but last night I stopped bleeding for the most part. Now I really am only spotting (granted I've never really experienced spotting before, but I don't have a way to describe the amount of blood. it is way way less than normal but more than a few drops...)
and today I am super bloated and my stomach is still churning and I keep having to run to the bathroom.
I have had an almost constant headache today as well (but only about an hour and a half after i got up this morning I ended up crying and I'm unsure if the headache is linked to that or not). But just leaning over (this began last night) is almost intolerable because my back starts hurting so bad and I have to find something to support it or it drives me crazy.
I am just worried because I feel sick today, more than I did the last few days, and yet my bleeding has subsided substantially. And my cramps are worse than they were yesterday and I normally never have cramps after the second day, and now I am having them and they are worse.
Are there any reasons beyond stress that would cause this? I'm just really trying to keep my eyes open as to what could be causing this since it is so terribly different from my usual.
And I am shying away from believing that this is related to pregnancy as well... just because I think I was bleeding too much for that to be the case yesterday and today even though it was lighter than my normal period would be.
8 years ago I went through amenorrhea (loss of period) for 2 months. My period returned with a vengence. It started out light each day for a week and then it slowly progressed to heavy bleeding. I ended up with fibroids and I had to undergo major surgery. You may not want to hear this but it's critical to see your doc asap! There is nothing more heartbreaking that instead of a baby you have some other growth inside of you.
Unusual period- possible causes? 
