Do you get spotting before AF / period? Come and talk to me here

[Whysoserious]

Morning ladies!

I have bleated on about spotting before AF a lot now on these conception boards and have realised that it does seem to happen to a log of people, can be for many different reasons and also people can be fobbed off by the doctors as "nothing to worry about".

My periods were normal until last August when I started getting brown spotting 4 days before AF came in full force.

I have googled and googled and there are lots of threads of women TTC with this mysterious affliction, but they only last about 20 posts so you can never find out what the outcome was. What were they treated for? Did they manage to conceive? And the one that I'm always desperate to know the minute I start spotting every month; did they get the spotting the month they conceived?

So I want this thread I be a place for TTC mumsnetters who spot before AF to come and share their experiences and stories and support. The information out there is so conflicted so it would be so good to keep this one going until we get some answers and some BFPs!!

blondel a chemical pregnancy is a very early miscarriage, before 6 weeks i.e. it can only be confirmed chemically via a test and not via scan as nothing would be visible.

Sometimes it happens very very early and people test before their AF was due, get a BFP and their period arrives on time or a few days late. Others (liek me) it happens a week or 2 weeks after AF due.

Jeez! This whole thing is a minefield! We've been ttc for a while (18 months or there abouts.) I've turned to mumsnet because I was looking for tips and ideas. I've since used ovulation kits and learned a whole load of things I never knew about. I've got to the stage that I think we need answers, so hence the tests with the GP and a referral to the clinic.

To think when I was first having sex I was so paranoid, using condoms and the pill! I was worried about that one slip being all it took to have an unwanted pregnancy. Now I want it to happen nothing seems to work...

A chemical pregnancy sounds so cruel. I hope that things happen for you soon. x

Thanks blondel I am actually almost 7 weeks pregnant at the moment, very early days but NOT a chemical at least which is important for me!

Best of luck with it all and I hope the GP has some answers for you.

Hi,

I also get spotting, usually for around 5 days before AF and for just once or twice a day. This has happened for the last 3 months or so. The good news is AF is due today and I haven't spotted this month at all! I don't know if it's a fliuke and I will spot next month but here are the things that were different this month:
I've now been on B vits for over a month - low dose + multi-vit at same time.
Drank Organic milk instead of my usual
Ran 7 days out of 10 nat the sstat of the cycle
Floored with flu like symptoms for a week during OV, didn't eat much that week (not that I recommend that)!
Teaspoon of Manuka Honey every morning (Cheap Aldi stuff). i doubt this made a difference though?
Have drank very little alcohol which isn't like me!

So who knows what has changed this month? I do know that too much alcohol/exercise/junk food or too little food combined with lots of exercise all affect my cycles.

On a last note, a few years ago I had brown spotting for most of the month, for months on end. Had no idea why. I wasn't on pill or anything. So specalists etc scanned me and the only thing they came up with was 'hormonal imbablance'. I was asked if we were TTC and we weren't, so I was given some pills (no idea what, but not good if TTC) and only took them for a month. After that my cycles were perfect and remained so for years. I went on to have DS couple of years later, we TTC him for 9 months.

So my AF due today, CD 26. THis is my new worry now as I only have an 8 day LP. At least the spotting seems sorted out at the moment

Oh dear, I should really proof read

Congratulations farfallarocks!

Congrats farfallarocks - that's great news!
Hope things happen for you soon blondel
And bettergetamoveon - hope your luteal phase ends up being nine months long (!) - did AF turn up today?
AFM, after 18 months of perfectly timed sex without even a whiff of a BFP, blood tests, SA and a hycosy which showed no abnormalities - we're sacking trying to get pregnant naturally off and are progressing to IVF. My spotting (which always starts like clockwork around 5/6 dpo and is brown and sludgey (sorry!)) started on Weds so AF should be here Mon/Tues. I then start the pill (yes, the actual pill!) for 21 days before stimming for 10-14 days. I've got an enormous pile of drugs under my bed and four boxes of pre-filled injections in my fridge! I'm excited that we're taking a step in the right direction but daunted about self-injecting, the dreaded egg collection procedure and how I'll feel if it doesn't work first time. Oh well, it's now or never!
Good luck to everyone else x

Hi Mrs, glad to hear things are moving forward for you. Have you talked to your IVF clinic about the spotting? Really hope you get lucky first go. We've given ourselves a cut off of this summer to proceed to IVF as that will be 18months for us. Am on probably my last cycle of Clomid with good Ov but no hint of a BFP but am hoping we might try injectibles and IUI for a couple of cycles...if no joy by June/July then we bring on the big guns, so to speak!! Am seeing my consultant this week to discuss next steps and planning to push him on the spotting AGAIN...

Amazing news farfall, huge congratulations. You must be over the moon!

Thanks Highlove.
It was interesting actually- the first doctor I saw at the ACU dismissed my spotting and short luteal phase (8-10 days) out of hand, whereas when I had my IVF consult with one of the lead consultants (at the same ACU) he said the spotting could be indicative of progesterone falling more quickly than it should (especially given the luteal phase). However, when I told him my 7dpo prog result (65, and i'd been spotting quite a bit since 6dpo), he said low prog was unlikely to be the issue. So.., who knows??
With me there seems to be a variety of issues- late O, short LP, PCO, spotting, so it could be one of those or a combo of all of them, or something else entirely!
I hope your appt goes well, and of course am keeping everything crossed that the last Clomid course does the trick x

Argh. Spotting already today and I'm only 4dpo. Seems like the vitamin b6 has done nothing.

Aw Pipbin that's early?

Last month was my first month on B Vits and the spotting started later but went on for longer I'm 3 dpo now so keeping an open mind.

Hope it works out for you :)

Last cycle spotting started at 5dpo so it's not that bad. Also this is just very watery brown, not the thick sludge (grim I know) that I normally get.

Mine was definitely different last month so maybe it is the B Vits doing something - just not what we hoped! I currently have a lot of CM (TMI sorry) which is a bit weird, just another thing to note on my one of many chart :)

I've had a mixed experience with b6 too. First cycle only had 24 hours spotting starting at 13dpo so I really thought I'd cracked it. But last cycle I started spotting at 8dpo and had five days before AF. It did seem lighter though, more watery and fewer clots...sorry way TMI! Anyway am sticking with it this cycle so we'll see what happens.

ooh have just read thread with interest. Here is my story I have always had really regular AFs and conceived DC1 in first month of trying, then a year after periods returned tried for DC2. After first month of trying got spotting for 2 days before AF for the very first time and wondered what it was about. Then conceived on month 2, no spotting at all and normal pregnancy. Since AF returned have been getting spotting for 2 days before more and more (but not every month). Going to TTC in next couple of months so was wondering if it was going to be a problem. Seems its fairly normal, so fingers crossed.

Out of interest when i conceived DC2 i counted the 'first day of my last period' as the day the spotting started and that fitted the dates that the scan gave so i now count first day of AF when spotting starts...

Good luck to all the TTC spotters!!

Hi all

Am quite excited to have a found a thread that's current about spotting, after reading ones that date back to 2006 for a few weeks now!
I have spotting for between 5 and 7 days directly before AF starts and have had this since I stopped taking the pill about 6 years ago. I came off the pill because I got breakthrough bleeding with it and after trying a third pill (which also gave me mood swings) I decided not to bother thinking that I would go back to my quite heavy, but fairly regular thanks v much, periods! That never happened though, the spotting started and has carried on ever since!
It has always bothered me because it's a pain in the backside but it's only really started to worry me in last 12 months as had a new partner and knew we would most likely want to ttc at some point. We're at that point now and only on month 1 of trying and am already paranoid! :-D
Have got an appt at Drs on 12th to try and put my mind at rest but am guessing I'll just be told it's "normal".
It is good to see that a couple of spotters on here have had a bfp...fingers crossed!

Welcome Mollymoo - I have a doctors apt on 11th so we can compare notes!! My spotting has been worse - starting about 7dpo for 5/6 days since starting prenatal vits??? Anyway off to the docs although expecting to get fobbed off with a 'wait & see'

Just thought I would share my experience as I am a "spotter" and finally got a BFP last week .

I usually get spotting from about 5/6 days before AF is due. It starts off very light, just brown tinged cm usually, then gets heavier and sludgier and then becomes AF.

This time (BFP month) I got a little bit of bright red blood 5 days before AF. I assumed it was the usual pre AF spotting. Then the same the next day, 4 days before AF. Then on 3 days before AF, just a little tiny bit of brown tinge in my cm. 2 days before AF, I got a BFP and have had just clear/creamy cm since then - no blood at all.

So basically, I did still get some spotting in the BFP month, but it was bright red rather than brown (though did get some brown after the bright red), and it stopped rather than increasing. Maybe therefore it was really the fabled implantation bleeding rather than spotting?

Good positive news minipie, there's hope for us then.

I posted last month (just a few posts up) and everything was great - no spotting at all last month. This month I have been going through A LOT of stress (FIL put in hospice etc) and because of this and other things I've been drinking too much and eating terribly. Slept has beeen awful all month. Guess what? My spotting has been the worse it's been in years AND I only had 21 day cycle. For me i am sure that my lifestyle is the biggest indicator of how my cycle is going to go. Decided to turn the slobbery on it's head and be back to a healthy lifestyle this month.

Well I'm 5dpo with very light brown spotting this morning and bright red this evening after a bowel movement.
Any rays of hope out there?

Hi ladies, another spotter!

I wanted to share my experience too - I have endured heavy spotting for a number of years that starts anywhere from 4dpo to 7 days before AF. It can range from light brown light flow to sludgey black goop (sorry!)

I did get pregnant last July but mc in September - I was still spotting when I got my BFP so it can be done! Since losing the baby the spotting has come back just as before and I have been back and forth to the doctors for the usual tests-all come back normal! I'm SO fed up with being fobbed off with 'it's normal'! I sometimes think I have become obsessed with finding a REASON for it and the closest I got to an answer was from a gynae/obs specialist saying it could be due to a 'fragile uterine lining' I really had to demand this explaination though!

sigh thanks for listening ladies - I'm so glad there is a spotters thread!

xx

Sorry for your loss Heather, its great that you can take something positive from the experience.
I do wonder if it is normal to spot. After all, why would we all be being told its normal if it isn't?
I wonder how many women spot and never mention it or worry about it because they have never had trouble getting pregnant?

So pleased it's not just me. Been ttc#1 for six months now and for last three months have had on and off spotting (pink or brown usually) 2-4 days before AF sending me up the wall wondering what it was. Now surely it's no coincidence that I've only had this since TTC which surely means the two are connected .

Or Christelle is it the case that you have never looked at your cycle in such depth?

Don't get me wrong here, I'm not doubting what you say, but I have to say that I'm fairly sure I used to spot before I was TTC but I couldn't hand-on-heart say it was the case. I just never paid that much attention to my cycle.

I'm desperately clinging to hope here. I have had less spotting than normal, but yesterday, 8dpo I had red spotting. Today, so far, nothing.

Hi ladies :)

I am quietly celebrating getting to 10dpo without any spotting for the first time in 3 months! It's only CD26 so not exactly 'late' yet but that's not stopped me testing twice and running to the loo every half hour

Am pretty sure I'm not pg but am at least glad to have managed a half decent LP as last few months spotting has started 8/9 dpo.

I have had a couple of courses of antibiotics over the last few months which seem to have delayed ovulation - I also had 4/5 days of spotting then rather than usual 2/3. All things to think about.

I did go and see my GP this month as the spotting was really concerning me (especially as taking B vits and no improvement) and although he was lovely and not dismissive he did basically just tell me to be patient and keep trying! He said that there are things can that be done to 'help implantation' but that I shouldn't worry yet that there's any specific problem (ttc 8 months after 13 years on the pill)

Hope everyone else is getting on ok :)