Very odd period?!

[Kate8989]

Hello ladies,

I came off the pill in Sept, had a normal period in Oct. Got to CD56/57 this week and had what I can only describe as brown sludge all day? Yesterday morning I had bright red blood, followed again by brown sludge and today the same! My boobs are so painful it’s actually making me feel sick. I took a PG test approx CD35 and it was negative.
Anyone been through the same???
I’m finding this bittersweet as I’m happy my body is doing something after waiting for so long, but don’t know what it’s doing lol

xxx

Brown blood is old blood. If you’ve gone a long time without having a period, all the old sludgy stuff that’s been hanging around in your uterus will come out. It definitely sounds like your body is just trying to readjust. Coming off the pill can cause all sorts of issues while your body tries to figure things out. Not ovulating, not having periods, getting lighter/heavier periods, getting killer pre-menstrual symptoms like sore boobs. It’s frustrating but unfortunately you just have to wait it out. It can take up to a year for your body to fully get back to normal after coming off birth control. But what you’re describing sounds totally normal for someone who has only recently stopped taking the pill so try not to worry too much

Thank you for the advice :-)

I just didn’t prepare myself for what a mind f* this whole process would be.

You’d have thought I’d won the lottery yesterday morning when I saw the red blood lol. I was so happy, now it’s kind of teetered off I’m feeling a little down again.

Aw I know, it’s a nightmare if I’m honest lol I’ve been ttc for 13 months now and every month seems to be different. Since starting ttc, my periods have been dreadful and are 90% brown sludge and I get very excited when I see red blood haha. The brown blood comes back very soon after though. Hopefully it won’t take too long for yours to get back to normal

Do you bother with OPK’s?? I am tempted to buy a load of cheapies from amazon. I used the clear blue digital but never got a positive so gave up!

Yep I use the cheapies from Amazon :) they work fine for me. I know I’m ovulating (confirmed by blood tests) but opks won’t tell you if you definitely are, just when you have an LH surge. I find them really easy to use. Pee into a cup, hold the strip in it for about 10-15 seconds and then I leave mine for a while, maybe 10 minutes or so. I do them twice a day (afternoon and evening) starting from around cd9 until I get a positive. I don’t understand all that flashing/solid smiley face stuff, the cheapies are super simple

I came off the pill In August and I had a couple of weird periods. The first was normal, second was late and it kept stopping and starting and was very painful, third was early and passed some huge clots. It has now settled down and back to normal.
The ultra sore boobs could be a progesterone imbalance after coming off the pill. Your hormones are probably all over the place. Give it another month or two and hopefully it will calm down for you

Just bought some cheapie OPK’s. When would you suggest I start using them after this weird sludgey period I’ve just had?!

BRING ON THE BFP’s LADIES!!!!

When did your weird bleeding finish? And how long did it last for? You should start using them about cd9 so 9 days from the first day of your “period”. If your cycles are a bit all over the place, it might be a while before you get a positive (and you might not get one at all) so just try and persevere with them for a little bit

I’m still getting it so not finished yet, I will take your advice and start 9 days when it’s finished.

I just feel I want to use something to “help” things. I was really enjoying having a sex drive again as didn’t have one on the pill. Then I got myself down about my periods but I need to snap out of it and just enjoy my sex life again.

Trying for a baby can become very tedious very quickly. You need to find ways to overcome the frustration of what your body is doing. I’ve been off birth control for over a year and my body still to this day does weird stuff it’s never done before. I was such an over thinker at the beginning and questioned/worried about every little detail. Eventually I realised I have literally zero control over what my body is doing so I just do what I can (opks and sex in fertile week) and the rest just happens. Hopefully you won’t take too long to get pregnant and you won’t be sat on MN a year down the line panicking lol you’ll find the opks really good I think and it does kind of make you feel like you’re doing “something” even if it is just figuring out your cycle :)

Although I absolutely love Mumsnet, youve been wonderful with your advice, I don’t really have anyone to talk to about this.
The internet is hell for any symptoms, I try and avoid typing things in search engines, as it really does come up with the worst possible scenarios for things.
I need to stop punishing myself and just enjoy life without the pill lol. It’s ironic I’m stressing but I know that just makes things worse. Oh the human body

No problem :) you’ll get lots of sound advice in here. We’re all in the same frustrating boat and we’ve all been in the early crazy symptom spotting phase lol it’s hard not to and even now I have to refrain from googling. Relaxing is the best thing I can advise you to do. It won’t make you pregnant but it will save you a lot of disappointment.

When I first started ttc, every symptom I googled, I found a thread where someone had it and ended up being pregnant and so I would get so upset when my period showed up because I had convinced myself it was my turn. Don’t google, don’t overthink symptoms, do your opks, have lots of sex and have a few drinks at the weekend. Everything is out of your control and if you don’t get pregnant, you pick yourself up and try again next month :) and remember, every month you only have a 20-25% chance of conceiving so the odds are pretty grim but it kind of makes you realise that it can be a long process and that’s okay and it helps you to not feel like a failure if you don’t get pregnant that month. Good luck with your opks!