[Mama2Bug]

I suppose that I should have addressed this before now, but I have been so unsure of what is "normal"....

My dd is 21 months old. She is still nursing- probably 5 to 8 times a day. I have only had two PP periods, including this one. The one before this was three months ago. It was so heavy, with huge clots, that it scared me and it hurt so much that I actually called the doctor. He said that the first one can be heavy and prescribed pain meds. I have never had long or heavy periods, so it seemed really weird to me, but it ended in 10 days and life went on.

Last month, I began spotting on the 15th. It was hardly anything at all- just a bit of brownish-red when I'd use the bathroom. I continued to spot like this until about the 5th of this month, when I began to bleed more. The blood is bright red, sometimes clotty or mucous-y. It is not quite as much as a "normal" period would have been for me, before I had DD.

I am not in any pain or discomfort, but it shows no signs of stopping. I feel fine. I'm not tired or headachey or anything like that. I do feel the occasional abdominal twinge and I have been a bit cranky. I think the mood thing is more due to annoyance than anything else though.

I just want to know if this is "freak-out" weird or if it is normal when your body is readjusting or what. I suppose I ought to call the doctor. I just really don't want to. It is so expensive and if I can fix it at home, I'd like to try.

Any thoughts?

 

[stormborn]

Don't freak

I just went to the midwife for the same thing and was told it's probably a hormone imbalance; probably too little estrogen but I can't get hormone levels checked because they have to be done midcycle and I have no idea where my cycle IS anymore.

: So I have to do the fertility awareness thing to figure out where I am, and then they can figure out what's out of whack. I pretty much had the same thing you did for about a year...1 horrible but normal length period followed by nothing for 3 mos followed by spotting for 8 weeks or so.

I was told that the imbalance is because I'm too fat.

: Which I guess might be right, I weigh more now then I did 9 mos preg. Still sucks to hear though. And I was givin a scrip for Provera to kinda jumpstart things, but after I read the side effects I'm scared to take it.

 

[Steady101]

Yup sounds like a hormonal imbalance. I used to get this all the time before going on meds for PCOS.

 

[QueenOfTheMeadow]

So glad to here this. I've been bleeding for 16 days now. Midwife put me on the pill to take when I started my period, but since I was still bleeding at 14 days, changed the pill mid cycle. And here I am still bleeding! UGH!

 

[Mama2Bug]

stormborn- Does your midwife think the issue will resolve if you lose some weight? I am rather overweight right now and have been since having DD. I was not overweight before I became pregnant, but I had Gestational Diabetes and the weight just piled on, despite a strictly controlled diet. I am having a lot of trouble losing it now.

Steady101- What sort of medication do they give you for PCOS and how do they diagnose it? I have done some research on it and have some, though not all, of the symptoms. What should my doctor be looking for/asking about?

race_kelly- I hope we both figure it out soon. I'm pretty sick of bleeding at this point. We're going to the beach this weekend, so it will be a huge pain.

:

 

[QueenOfTheMeadow]

Mama2Bug-
Me too! It is now day 20 and I am still bleeding. I don't have any pain anymore, and strangely I feel OK, other than the everyday frustration of bleeding. THis is me every morning that I wake up and I'm still bleeding!

I should be up to that week of no pill tomorrow, and then I'm supposed to get my period, right?!

: I hope you have a good time at the beach even with af coming with you.

I've got an ultrasound on Thursday. And thankfully it's right across from the midwife's office and she'll talk to me as soon as it's done. Which is good, because if I had to wait, I'd be a nut case.

 

[MCatLvrMom2A&X]

I had the same thing the mw did blood work (she didnt mention that it had to be done at a certain time) and my hormones were messed up as well so she prescribed progesterone to be taken 14 days out of the month I did that for 3 months then stopped. I am still very irregular 28-53 days and this last af lasted 14days i may start the progesterone again but havnt decided. my longest bleeding was 28 days I about went

s I never thought this would be a issue while bfing. With my dd I went back on depo at 3weeks pp so I never had af while nursing. *sigh*

 

[QueenOfTheMeadow]

Well, I had my u's and everything looks fine, so it must be my hormones. I am extremely relieve that there was nothing to worry about there, but now I've got to figure out the rest of it! I am starting an herbal regimen today. I hope I see some improvement in the next few weeks! I want to stop spending money on these stupid pads!!

 

[futureCPM]

That's great about the u/s but you might also get your glucose tolerance checked.

HTH

 

[Mama2Bug]

Well, since I am still enduring the "never-ending period", I am going to the family doc tomorrow. Things have slowed down to spotting again, at least. I'll be relieved to find out what is going on, but I'm a little nervous too. I tend to fear the worst when freaky stuff happens to my body.

 

[EnviroBecca]

I had an absurdly long period (57 days) when I was on the Pill years ago, and one thing that made it less annoying was using a reusable cup (the Keeper) so that I didn't have to spend money on disposables or spend time rinsing out cloth. Still very annoying though.

:

For those having this problem on the Pill, are you taking a low-estrogen version? Those are safer for breastfeeding but tend to cause this problem.

You can use an estrogen patch to get more estrogen to your uterus without having as much in your whole system (and therefore in your milk) as if you took it orally.

What Provera (or any other progesterone supplement) will do is stop the bleeding for now and build up another lining; as soon as you quit taking it, you'll have a period which you can then hope will stop after a reasonable time.

Basically, it mimics the luteal phase of your cycle=makes your body think you have ovulated. I took every form of progesterone on the market during my years of irregular cycles before TTC (they never did figure out what was wrong with me) and the best was natural progesterone in vaginal suppositories; the side effects are much less than a synthetic and/or oral version.

Good luck!