No idea what to think!

[Vixxy]

I know, I know, I'm sorry for posting another "Am I preggo?!" threads. But everyone on here seems very knowledgeable and I thought I'd ask for some advice/opinions. Also, Im sorry because I don't know many of the abbreviations everyone uses! Anywho..

Its been a week since my last period (I think). Although, I don't chart them, I do mark the day I start my period. Last month it was August 12, then July 18, then June 21st. I couldn't tell you how long anything is, or my typical cycle length.

Regardless, my period is late, and I've been just feeling off lately. Extremely tired, moody, bloated...Pretty typical PMS symptoms. But then, I have really odd stuff going on, like symptoms I have never EVER experienced before with PMS. For example, metal taste in my mouth, heart burn after EVERYTHING I eat (my gosh, sooo annoying), and although my boobs aren't sore per say, I notice that they will start to hurt at random times (like now, just sitting here). Also, I have a white discharge that can get so.. 'heavy' I go to the bathroom thinking I finally got my period.

I've taken 3 urine tests earlier this week, all negative. I honestly don't know what to think. At this point I feel like Im over analyzing every single body function, so some unbiased thoughts would be greatly appreciated, thanks!!

[Jaimee]

Welcome to MDC!!    You've come to the right place for support and advice!  Here is a wiki to help you with all those acronyms and abbreviations: http://www.mothering.com/community/wiki/abbreviations-and-acronyms

So let's break this down a bit...

CD 1 8/12

CD 37 today (9/17)

Previous AF 7/18: 26 day cycle

AF before that 6/21: 28 day cycle

Forgive me if any of this is information you already know...

While the textbook cycle has you ovulating on CD 14 and menstruating on CD 28, this is far from typical for all women.  When you ovulate can vary greatly cycle to cycle and can be affected by many common things like stress, illness, injury, travel, diet changes or strenuous exercise. Ovulation can be delayed by just a few days or by weeks depending on what is going on in your life.  Anything out of the ordinary happening right now?

The number of days between ovulation and AF is called your luteal phase (LP) and this length does not vary much, at most just 1-2 days unless you're dealing with hormone imbalances.  So in any given cycle you could ovulate quite late and therefore AF would be equally late.  The average length LP is 12-14 days.  Without charting more information such as when you had fertile cervical fluid (CF) or charting your basal body temperature, we cannot be sure when you ovulated.  Do you have more information about your CF, when you had unprotected sex, etc?

If we go by averages, we might say your cycles are typically 27 days long and since you're on day 37 now, you are 10 days past your expected period.  If your ovulation was not delayed then an HPT should be accurate now and if you're getting negatives, that means you are almost certainly not pregnant and something else is going on such as a corpus luteum cyst (these are benign and usually resolve on their own within a few weeks).  But it is much more likely that your ovulation was delayed, hence delaying AF. 

HPT's are usually accurate around the time of your missed period, in other words, 12-14 days after you ovulate (on average).  Again, without knowing more about when you might have ovulated, we cannot know how many DPO (days past ovulation) you are in order to know if an HPT would be accurate at this point or not.  What was the sensitivity of the test you took?  First Response Early Response, most dollar store tests, and most generic drug store tests only require an hCG level of 25, which is pretty much the most sensitive test you can purchase from a store (vs. online).  If AF does not show in another week, I would test again with one of these tests (pink dye, double line- not the +/- kind) with first of the morning urine.  If it's negative, I would go in for a blood test to rule out pregnancy (some women do not metabolize hCG into their urine and therefore "fail" HPT's) and possibly an exam to check for cysts. 

Good luck and keep us posted!