I am not married and my period comes regularly every month. But my problem is that it starts off yellow, tinged with beige and brown, and sometimes goes on for three or four days with pain in the lower abdomen, intense agitation and bad mood. Then it becomes black for one or two days at the most, then red blood comes for between five and seven days, then it goes back to a brown colour, then yellow, then after one or two days of the yellow discharge, sometimes there is a white discharge, the sign of purity (end of the period), or sometimes the yellow discharge continues until the next period, i.e., it lasts for a month.

My question is: when should I pray and when should I stop praying? When should I fast and when should I not fast?


Praise
be to Allah.

Firstly: 

The yellowish or brownish discharge that precedes the blood
is not regarded as the menses; the same applies to that which comes after
seeing the white discharge (that signals the end of the period), because Umm
Salamah (may Allah be pleased with her) said: “We used not to regard the
yellowish brownish discharge after the white discharge (that signals the end
of the period) as being of any significance.”

Narrated by Abu Dawood, 307; classed as saheeh by al-Albaani
in Irwa’ al-Ghaleel, 199 

With regard to yellowish and brownish discharge that comes
after the bleeding and before the white discharge (that signals the end of
the period), this is regarded as menses, because of the report narrated by
Maalik in al-Muwatta’, 130, from Umm Salamah, according to which she
said: The women used to send to ‘Aa’ishah, the Mother of the Believers,
small vessels containing the pieces of cotton on which there were yellowish
traces from the menstrual blood, and they would ask her about praying, and
she would say to them: Do not be hasty until you see the white discharge,
referring to that which signals the end of the period. 

This was also narrated by al-Bukhaari in a mu‘allaq report (Kitaab
al-Hayd, Baab iqbaal al-Maheed wa idbaarihi; classed as saheeh by
al-Albaani in Irwa’ al-Ghaleel, 198 

Based on that, the yellowish or brownish discharge that lasts
for three or four days before the bleeding starts is not regarded as menses,
and you should not stop praying or fasting at that time. 

The black blood and the red blood that comes after it, and
the yellowish discharge, are menses, until you see the white discharge or
complete dryness. 

If you see the white discharge or complete dryness, any
discharge after that, yellowish or brownish, is not regarded as menses. 

Please see questions no.
171945,
157020 and
82507 

Secondly: 

If the red blood continues, or the yellowish or brownish
discharge that come after it, before the white discharge or complete dryness
appear – if that goes on for longer than fifteen days, then you are
mustahaadah (i.e., experiencing istihaadah or irregular,
non-menstrual bleeding), according to the majority of scholars. Some
scholars say that istihaadah cannot be proven unless that continues for the
entire month or for the entire month apart from two or three days. This is
the view favoured by Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah and those who followed him
and those who do not think there is any maximum length for the menses, and
their view is closer to the apparent meaning of the evidence. 

If it becomes clear that you are experiencing istihaadah,
then in the following months you should act in accordance with your cycle as
it was in the past. So you should stop praying and so on for the duration of
bleeding, until the appearance of the white discharge (signalling the end of
the period) that you mentioned in your question, then you should do ghusl.
For example, if your period, before experiencing istihaadah, used to last
for ten days, then you should do ghusl after the tenth day, and do wudoo’ at
the time of each prayer. 

A woman who did not have a regular cycle before experiencing
istihaadah should base her actions on differentiating between different
kinds of bleeding. This has been explained in the answer to question no.
68818 

Our advice to you is to consult a specialist doctor for
treatment of these ongoing discharges. 

And Allah knows best.