My cycles have gone wack please help!
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| Tue, 07-08-2008 - 11:40am |
Hello!
I have been off of birth control for about 9 months, my cycles have been always really consistent 31 days long will about 4 days full bleeding and 3 spotting well last month I started spotting 6 days before my expected period, I continued to spot all the way until I was supposed to start and started bleeding heavy right on time. I also experienced the worst cramps I have ever had in my life I thought I was dying it was horrible, my doc called me in worried I may be having a miscarriage and did an ultrasound and everything was fine no problems just a normal period cramps. Well I ended up bleeding for 5 days spotting 2 more. Then I moved on to this month again I have started spotting this time 7 days early and it has not stopped I am due to start my period on the 13th. My spotting is really light I noticed it when wiping and a few times in a pantyliner. If I count I have like 15 days of no bleeding and 15 of bleeding I feel like Im always on my period. I am also worried that with the signs looking the same this month I may also have those horrible cramps again. I attached the image of my chart this month...
Has anyone had this problem or may know what is wrong with me. I have heard that a lack of progesterone can do this which scares me because we are TTC.
Thanks!



Hi there,
It sounds like it could very well be a progesterone deficiency. This would explain the bleeding. If it was an ovarian cyst, that should have shown up on the ultrasound.
I was looking at your chart, and your cover line is too low to start with. IMO it should be at 97.8. Fertility Friend is useless as a charter, since it doesn't work just on your own cycle alone. It takes an average of all women across the site that use it. If you did indeed ovulate on the 18th day of your cycle, with the coverline at 97.8, this would put you in a slow rise, which is often indicative of a progesterone deficiency.
Especially concerning is the huge dip at 5DPO. This can sometimes indicate implantation, but since your temps jump up and then look like they are starting to go down again, I'd say it's not likely. If you were pregnant, you would expect your temps to jump up and then stay really high.
I'm curious to know what your previous chart looked like also. How long has your post-ovulatory phase been the last few months?
iVillage offers it's own charting service set up by Toni Weschler who wrote "Taking Charge of Your Fertility". It's now free, and is based off her TCOYF software, which is excellent. You might want to start using that instead:
http://www.ivillage.com/fertilityplanner?o=dcm,fp,iv,el,fptopic,pp,lnav
Also, the women on the following board are really good with fertility planning:
http://messageboards.ivillage.com/iv-ppnfp
I hope you are taking pre-natal vitamins. If you want to try and boost your progesterone levels, try natural chasteberry. You can get it in liquid form. It boosts your progesterone levels, but be sure to stop taking it the moment you know you are pregnant. The women on the above board should be able to give you more info on that as well.
Good luck!
Thank You for your reply and advice. My temps have always been really low since I was a kid my doctor said they are always really low would that effect anything? This is actually my first full month charting, after last months crazy period I decided to get on top of things. I am not taking prenatal vitamins but, I am taking a multi vitamin for women and an extra 500mg of Folic Acid and Some Calcium Pills. So I entered all my data for this month into Ivillage chart and it said my O was on the 15th now I am really confused and discouraged. Attached is the photo of the updated chart, what do you think was my real O date? This is my only my 2nd month spotting between O and AF should I wait a couple more to be sure or see my doctor again?
http://www.ivillage.com/fertility/chart?intCycle=0&maxCycle=2
Also let me know if you can see this link cause Im having some issues with it.
Thanks!
Hi there,
Sorry, I can't see your chart. There might be an option under your settings to make it viewable to other people.
If your temps are really low it could mean that it is just you, or it could be a thyroid issue. You might want to talk to your doctor about hormone testing. Since you are having issues with spotting, and you're trying to conceive, I think you should look into it and make sure there is no thyroid issues or anything that might be causing issues.
I would say that you ovulated on the 18th or 19th day of your cycle, since you didn't record CF for the 19th day of your cycle, you could have had EWCM then. It's normally the last day of EWCM that you would record as your ovulation day. You would confirm it with three days of temps above the coverline, but you are experiencing a low rise, so that makes it harder. Low rises also make it more difficult for software to work out your O date, but you should be able to override it with your own calculations. If you haven't read "Taking Charge of Your Fertility" by Toni Weschler, I strongly recommend you get a copy if you haven't read it. I love this book. I used it to learn how to naturally prent pregnancy. By reading this book you can learn how to do your own charts so you have an accurate idea of what is going on. It also helps to know how to see anomalies in your computer charts.
If you can get the link working, I'll have a look at your chart again.