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06/17/2009
Are you there, Internet? It's me, Margaret
Attention! Attention! I am about to talk about my period! I warn you so that if frank talk of menstruation unnerves you, you may hastily click away, because I'm about to gross even myself out.
I am having a little problem, Internet, and I don't know what to make of it. Rather than calling my doctor, a qualified, compassionate, and licensed medical practitioner, I thought I'd turn to my experienced friends inside the computer. The Internet's not going to ask me questions I can't answer, like, How long has this been going on? and When was the last...? and How many days? Because, I mean, who can be bothered to keep track when the subject is abnormal vaginal bleeding?
My periods have always been regular. My particular flavor of infertility — Drāno lutefisk fiberglass ripple — has never had to do with ovulation. I do it — did it? — like clockwork, day 13 or 14 of a 28-day cycle. A reassuring and dependable sequence: blood-mucus-mittelschmerz-nothing-blood. It didn't do me any good, but, like a beloved pet that thinks he's people, my reproductive system thought it was normal, and, well, that was something. (Who's a good right ovary? Who is? You are! Yes, you are! Okay, not good exactly, but...)
But everything's recently gone haywire. For the last few months I've had basically a week on, a week off. A seemingly normal period begins. Maybe there's blood for a shorter time than I'd been accustomed to in my younger years — oh, my God, listen to me, it's like at age 38 I am declaring my vagina a sacred burial ground. Apply to tribal elders before digging — but basically normal. Then comes the mucus, that clear and stretchy stuff all the books assure me is the fertile kind, which I swear to you on a stack of little red books I never once in my life saw before I met exogenous gonadotropins. Then the little bit of fullness and cramping I feel right around ovulation, earlier than I'd normally ovulate. And then...blood. First as streaks in the mucus, then as real red bleeding. With mucus, and plenty thereof.
Which, well, huh, that's weird. But it goes away after a few days and I figure it was just a strange short period, so I take off my white bikini and reluctantly stop riding bikes and doing gymnastics and straddling a white horse cantering down a beach with sugar-white sands. I bid goodbye to my attractive friends, also coincidentally menstrual. It's a shame because you know that slumber party we were having in that all-white room on that fluffy white down comforter? You know, where we were laughing like assholes about a joke you, the impatient viewer, don't actually get to hear? Well, the joke was real damn funny, and we all had an awesome time.
Aaaand now back to our show. Except not! Because instead of the 28-day bloodless, bikiniless, balance beamless furlough I'd expected, about ten days later, there I am bleeding again.
It's strange and I don't like it. I haven't done a lot of — oh, let's call it research, real doctors loooove it when we call our half-assed late-night Googling research — because virtually every pixel Google owns wants to tell me that I'm entering menopause, and who needs to hear that when I have years of fecundity ahead of me? And I haven't called my doctor because, as I said above, I haven't yet done careful enough tracking to do anything but stammer equivocally when asked a sensible question. (Help me, President Obama.) So I'll ask you, tiny corner of the Internet: What's going on here? Has anything similar happened to you? And will you come over in about ten days' time and join me in a pillow fight? Do wear your white pajamas. I want us all to match.
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I had a very similar thing happen last month (and my periods, too, have historically worked like clockwork). Turned out I had an ovarian cyst that was leaking blood every so often (apparently that's what happened when I was supposed to be ovulating), and then a week later, I got my period again. The GYN said that the cyst had caused an anovulatory cycle, so I got a period mainly because my body lacked the progesterone hormone, making my body think it was time for my period to begin. I'm a little confused, but the doctor seemed to think it made complete sense. Maybe this is what's going on with you, too?
Ditto above, for my sister. Irregular weird bleeding turned out to be ovarian cysts.
aye, and look out for fibroids. They just took one out of me the size of a flippin nerfootball. Here I was trying to figure out how I could be constipated and not. Go ask doc. Twenty minutes of you time and you'll get the answer
This won't actually help since I haven't gotten any answers, but I've actually had the same thing happen to me for most of the last year. I had b/w and u/s done and both were normal. I actually had high progesterone and was bleeding, and they didn't see any cysts or fibroids on the u/s. I'm 28 with good FSH levels so it's unlikely to be menopause. I hope you do get answers.
i also have an irregular menstrual cycle. my gyne prescribed me to take pills to make my cycle regular and for protection as well.
see, the only who can give you a definite answer is your gyne. consulting the health experts can clear your mind off worries and crazy thoughts.
Hmmm. Please see your doctor. Please, pretty please. And meanwhile, take an extra iron supplement.
I struggled with this when I was in my teens and was treated first by progesterone cream and then by the pill. It started again this fall after I had one of my ovaries removed (had a tendency to grow ridiculous things; nothing useful like a Wii or cash) and was on Yaz to rest my ovary for a few months but my body decided it didn't like following any schedule but its own. A simple pill switch did the trick.
I have been through this EXACT same thing for 6 months, and have been through a battery of tests. Fibroids, cycts, cancer, oh my. Everything came back normal, so I've been using acupuncture (twice a week) and herbs (maca & vitex) with some success. I'm up to a 25 day cycle, but as soon as I miss an appointment/run out of pills, then it all floods back. Birth control pills were also offered, but I've had horrible reactions to each pill I've tried, and am not ready to go there yet.
My wackadoo cycles were also due to a cyst (in this case, I would occasionally miss a period, and then get random off-schedule bleeding later). The pill (yasmin) fixed all that.
I had this same experience...for me it was fibroids (and lots of them!). Particularly if they are submucosal (partially in the wall of the uterus, partially in the cavity itself), the lining gets disturbed and shed more often. For me, the bleeding would come so suddenly and heavily that I more than once had very, very embarrassing "clean up on Aisle 6" experiences in grocery and department stores. Not pretty.
Funny. My cycle has been out of whack all my life. Sixty days, 35 days, 41, and occasional 27. And I will not tell you how revoltingly easy my born-without-a-calendar body did conceive first one, then two kids.
Now I am on the Mirena and I am also bleeding at irregular intervals. I'll have to go to the doctor and I think you should do it, too.
My mom had bleeding every other week, and it turned out to be due to an abnormal buildup of the endometrial lining. She'd shed a little, but not all, and so her body kept trying to get rid of it, and was unable to ovulate. She had a D+C and then started taking progesterone to keep the lining at a reasonable thickness.
I've had that - both because of ovarian cyst and early onset menopause....
hope you find out what it is.
My mom goes through something very much like that, and she has polycystic ovaries, or as they like to call it, PCOS.
Definitely don't wait to track, just go. It can't hurt to go and have them tell you to come back with charts - but what if you go, and the information you already have is enough for them to do tests and figure it out?
When it comes to cysts and ovaries and all that, sooner is so much better than later.
I developed a similar irregularity (but they would last 10 days or so)when in my early 40s. No cause was found. I opted for an edometrial ablation, which has left me blissfully period free! However, this does kill any possibility of further children, so you have to be sure that you are done with the whole 'birthin babies' thing.
Good luck.
As above, I also had frequent and irregular bleeding when I had a ovarian cyst. I had to have it removed (the cyst) but it was an easy same day surgery. My only other symptoms were twingy pain on that side.
Good luck!
I was having some similar stuff happening, coupled with nine years of abnormal paps, and, more recently, impressive and terrifying bleeding after, uh...intimacy. It got to the point that I felt like it was all blood, all the damn time, plus pap smears every 3 months because of the abnormalities. It turned out I had fibroids causing the bleeding. The abnormal paps - still no answer.
I had a hysterectomy last month (only the uterus, leaving the ovaries behind). I'm only 37 but I was just done with all the crap.
I also vote for Fibroids. My situation much like Genie's. I had much prolonged irregular bleeding. I could feel the mass in my abdomen. Sometimes they can fix it without hysterectomy, sometimes not. Whatever it is, be careful of anemia, you don't want that to get out of hand. it did for me, and oh my. You think you're tired now!
I also have a cyst, hence the mittelschmerz. Either way, not really all that scary. Go see the doc, it will be fine. Pinkie swear.
Julie, long time lurker here. Forgive me for being dense; are you saying that you have a couple of days of bleeding at the time-ish of ovulation? Because if so, that's actually pretty normal, though it may never have been for you in the past. It has to do with hormone ups and downs being sort of similar to the real menstrual time. I agree with everyone else, though, your GYN will have the answer you seek, maybe before you even finish explaining that you're not sure how many days and when was the last...
Call your doctor to make an appt. Then tell him/her what you told us. If you have a couple of weeks before he/she can get you in, write down when you get your period.
I thought everything with me was completely normal until I had to chart, then I figured out my cycles were 45 days and I bled for 11 days at a time. I had hypothyroidism.
But that doesn't sound like anything that's going on with you. So, get thee to the doctor and make sure you are ok.
I'm 26 and this happens any time I go off any form of hormonal birth control for about a month later. I also had a period for two months straight the one and only time I had depo. And I've got a hotel room reserved with white sheets and plenty of vodka coolers. Bring your own pillow.
I'm wondering why you don't think it's perimenopause.
Joke, Carol.
Please please PLEASE call the doctor? Justincase pretty pretty please? It's almost certainly not-very-harmful body wackiness: benign cysts, perimenopause, fibroids. But anything reproductively wonky makes me think ovarian cancer and just please please please call your doctor? kthxbai
Fibroids here. Horrible pain for three or four days before I start. Exceptionally heavy bleeding. Last almost 14 days.
I'm ready to give away my uterus entirely. My doc is "uncomfortable" and wants me to wait. Sigh.
I've been battling PCOS at least 10 years and it causes every wackadoo thing in the world to happen. Currently, my body thinks 45 days is a good length for a cycle (I'm on day 45 today, actually), but I often have a bit of mid-cycle bleeding and oh-my-god-cramping right about the time my ovaries do their monthly misfire.
You should absolutely see your doctor and you definitely should not ignore it, but if there's one thing I've learned from all this, it's that you really shouldn't panic too terribly much so long as you're not actively trying to get pregnant.
...Yes, I'm aware of the humor in my last post...
Mine turned out to be my wonky system. I have endo therefore I'm estrogen dominent..my jacked up bleeding has been a result of lack of progesterone (hence my bodies attack on 4 pregnancies and subsequent progesterone to support DS2). Most recently (the past 2+ years) I've been outcycling my pill. I was on the minipill after DS2...AF every 2 weeks like clock work. Move to Loestrin 24...again another 14-21 day cycles (along with bleeding/heavy heavy heavy spotting around cd14). I finally moved onto Yaz..I'm on month 3 of the pack. Last month I spotted (actual spotting) around cd14 and then had a 5 day AF (during the placebo for once!!!) We'll see what happens during month 4 but I'm not holding much hope at this point.
I had a bimanual exam, a pap, a dildo cam event, a ultrasound, and here I am. Got jacked up girlie parts. wooohooo
Good luck so far I'm going with jacked up hormones...
>fibroid(s)
>ovarian endometrioma (aka chocolate cyst--yum!)
>high estrogen/diminished progesterone during the luteal phase, which can happen in late 30s/40s. My Day 21 progesterone went down to 4.5 and stayed there. can cause an overgrowth in the uterine lining, and an incomplete shedding of same during the actual period...so you have spotting on and off.
You've mentioned before that you are insulin resistant but don't have PCOS. However you can have low progesterone and have wild bleeding.
Ask your doctor about Mirena. I have one and love it, but I'm a PCOS poster child. It has progesterone and after a few cycles you may not have any bleeding at all. It's the next best thing to menopause. I didn't care for the look of it, seeing as it looks like a little ice-axe, but I adore mine and will be re-upping when its 5 years are up.
But rule out the bleeding cyst and fibroids. An ultrasound might just take care of it.
At 37, having given up on the whole idea of ever getting pregnant after 5+ years of unexplained infertility, I had what acted just like a period starting 3 weeks into a cycle, and then another one the following week. The first thing they made me do was pee on a stick (oh the irony) and when that was negative, they put me back on the Pill, which fixed everything right up. The explanation was, and I quote, "weird things happen in our late 30s". I don't see that GYN anymore. But from what others have said about other possibilities, please do check it out!
I had those exact symptoms - it turned out to be a large uterine polyp, plus a small fibroid and a side of endometriosis. Got the polyp and endo removed, and the bleeding has stopped.
Yes, along with a borderline smear result, my first in about a hundred years. Paid a lovely private doctor to investigate the nether regions with his super duper prong thingo which did a colcoscopy (sp) and hysteroscopy simultaneously. He was so proud of that thing, he became wistful in the telling. Found to be normal, except that he noted cervical erosion, which may have caused the abnormal bleeding, or not, who knows. Scan clear, smear not proven - needed more cells, so need to go back at a different time of cycle. So...colcoscopy, hysteroscopy, u/s, smear, blood for hormone levels. Might hurt a bit, but will put your mind at ease.
Fiona
My best friend just went through this - Fibroids - Confirmed by an ultrasound and then treated by a D&C. She's back on schedule now.
Ugh, I have nothing to advise...but based on everyone's comments, I hope it is absolutely nothing at all, because really, haven't you been through enough already?! As I read your post, I just kept thinking perimenopause, which just may be a preferable alternative to some of the other theories! Good luck!
Fibroids caused similar problems for my mom, along with insanely heavy bleeding sometimes. Worth checking out - they fixed hers.
Oh, come on Julie, just go to the doctor. It's not like you aren't familiar with the dildo cam after what it took to get your two darling boys. You could probably operate the ultrasound machine yourself at this point.
This same thing happened to me for 11 months after I had my daughter. It turned out to be from the birth control I was on. (really... at one point I was actually AVOIDING pregnancy) It happend on depo, and the mini pill. So, on the off, off, OFF chance that you are on one of the aforementioned "medications", I'd say it was that.
I would recommend a visit to your gynecologist, since you probably want to rule out cysts, fibroids, etc. A simple ultrasound may be able to reveal quite a bit about what's going on. (I'm not recommending anything I wouldn't do myself -- my period recently turned into 2 day monthly hemmhoraging -- and now I'm going through all that testing myself.) Good luck and keep all your avid readers posted!
I had a very similar pattern on and off in middle & high school. My doctors (who had decided I was a hypochondriac and making it all up) told my mother that I was just "not good at keeping track of the days" and that I just had no idea what the hell was going on. Basically, they thought I couldn't count and/or was just making it up.
Once I was an adult and able to hire and fire my own doctors, I was very quickly diagnosed with PCOS (and several other completely non-imaginary disorders), and the bleeding was chalked up to terribly irregular hormones and super-sized cysts. Since my hormones have been regulated, I have nice steady cycles of around 33 days. And I can't TELL you how nice it is! All through my adolescence, I never knew when I'd get up from my chair in class with my school specified light khakis covered in blood. I still panic and check my feminine product supply at every mittelschmerz - but unless I have another miscarriage (which totally throws me off for months at a time), I'm pretty regular. (Touch wood!)
I'd have it checked. If you don't necessarily agree with the answer, have it checked by someone else. If they tell you its all in your head, or you just are incapable of counting - deck them.
Been there, done that. Fibroids the size of grapefruit were the cause in my case. Get thee to a doctor Ms. Julie.
I'd internet diagnose (Ha! Seeing the inside of your bits via my computer. Very clever that, my virtual speculum technique, let alone my saline sonogram skills), either something structural inside your uterus like a fibroid or submucosal polyp,
but more likely because of the predictable peri/post ovulation timing, it sound hormonal. I'll guessing your P4 is potentially a bit whack.
Now, go see a doc in person and part with some venous blood, okay?
g
Wow, I am about to be totally unhelpful yet sympathetic... but you have no idea how timely this is. I never have bleeding mid-cycle and this past month I had spotting for like a week, in the middle, for no reason. I'm on the pill and have been for I dunno, like 8 years almost? So off I went to the internets and found out that it could be 1) a cyst 2) cancer or 3) nothing. Betting on cancer, I went to the doctor... and she said.... make sure to take your pills on time and come in next month if it happens again. So I still have no idea and therefore can't offer any suggestions.
Buuuuut this story is totally irrelevant anyway because you're not on the pill! and not 25! and likely have something completely different from me! But I will show up to your slumber party with my white PJs. count on it.
ps. you should go to the doctor just in case. I wouldn't trust those ovaries if I were you. no sir.
My friend has a fibroid the size of a grapefruit (Phil, his name is Phil) and has similar complaints... but she bleeds like her vag has decided to end it all and opened an artery.
I have had a period every two weeks for the last year. Coincidentally when I stopped nursing and gained a few pounds. By a few I mean weighing in 10 pounds heavier than when I gave birth two and a half years ago. I've lost 20 pounds in the last six weeks or so and just went my first 28 days... well since May of 2006. Not that it is valid medical advice, but it is an idea thrown out there with the rest of them.
You should start a pool.
Up until last August, I was an OB/GYN nurse, & based on what you've described, it DOES sound like a fibroid. Go see a doc & request the dildo cam to make sure. IF, however, whatever it is has hair & teeth, will you have a contest to let us name it? Because that would rock.
Are you having ANY other symptoms, even ones that you normally wouldn't associate with your girly bits?
Hm. How much bleeding are we talking about? A little ovulatory SPOTTING is not abnormal, but actual BLEEDING at ovulation should get you a visit to the doc. No ideas for diagnosis -- sorry! -- but do go have it checked out, yes? Thank you. Best of luck.
Here's a new one I haven't seen suggested. I had a blocked/filled fallopian tube (my only "good" one thankyouverymuch). I have had cycles like clockwork, so I was surprised that around the time of ovulation (w/ wonderful mucus....ew) I started to bleed like I was in the middle of a full period. I don't/won't even describe the "stuff" that was in the blood. Then two weeks later. I got my regular period. Granted, this only happened 1x, as it seemed like my fallopian tube gave up all it's goods at one go. Just one more thing to add to the list....
My mom was like that for years due to fibroids. As she got older it got really bad and she basically got anemic and couldn't leave the house because she would start bleeding like a faucet at completely random times with no warning. Go to the doctor, it's always best to nip these kind of things in the bud.
You should have your thyroid hormone levels checked for possible hypo/hyperthyroid disease. Abnormal bleeding can be a sign of thyroid disease. Hypothyroid disease was one of my fertility issues, however I did not ovulate, and only suffer a period every third month of so. My sister is also hypothyroid, and suffered from what you described.