Spotting before period

[Ygritte88]

Hi everyone,

This is my first time posting here, so apologies if there are already threads on this subject!

Myself and my husband have been TTC since November last year when I came off the pill. Since coming off the pill my periods have been quite erratic (22 days - 43 days) and have been to GP who has booked me in for a pelvic scan for possible PCOS as have all the classic symptoms.

My last three cycles I have had spotting two days before period and then period has started. This month I had spotting on Sunday and Monday and then nothing Tuesday or Wednesday which made me think I was maybe having implantation bleeding, however AF has shown up fully this morning (38 day cycle) 😥

I was just wondering whether anyone else has experienced similar with spotting and what the cause was? Would they be able to determine the cause at the pelvic scan?

Sorry for such a long first post, any advice would be much appreciated 🙂

Hey!

Coming off of contraception also really mucked my cycle up - hopefully it levels out for you and you get some answers from the GP.

I never usually experience spotting before a period, but did for 2 days before my last period, it then stopped for a day and the AF arrived... I think it's quite common. I'm almost convinced that 'quick lets BD before AF arrives' scared it off for a day haha!

Also welcome! :) x

I had this when I came off the pill. I went straight back onto a regular 26 day cycle though so I didn't have irregular periods. I think mine was to do with a cervical ectropion. I conceived on cycle 11 so did eventually conceive. I didn't have spotting before my period but I didn't have it EVERY cycle. I'd say 75% of cycles I did. I had bleeding a bit in the first trimester and it was to do with hormones and movement causing my cervical ectropion to bleed. I now think that's why I was spotting towards the end of my cycle too.

Sorry meant I didn't have spotting before my period on the cycle I concieved

@H1994 thank you for your reply! Hopefully I will get some answers soon from the GP. It’s just frustrating not knowing why it’s happening! Have you been TTC for very long?

@PoleFairy thank you for replying and congratulations! Can I ask whether you had to have any treatment for the cervical ectropian?

@Ygritte88 I can imagine, it's all so unpredictable... bless you! This is my first cycle of TTC... it's a whirlwind haha!

I didn't have any treatment no, but then I didn't know what it was then. I probably didn't explain very well in my garbled first post lol but basically I came off the pill and luckily went straight to a 26 day cycle. Around 75% of my cycles I'd start spotting very pale brown discharge at cycle day 18 /19 and this would go on and off until my full flow period. I was convinced this was low progesterone and stopping me conceiving but I saw a GP, a private GP and a consultant who all said it wasn't anything to do with low progesterone as I had a very regular cycle and I was getting positive ovulation tests exactly where you'd expect them in my cycle. It was only when I had a scan at 6 weeks because of bleeding that the sonographer said I clearly had a cervical ectropion (that early on was a transvaginal scan and when she pulled the probe out that was covered in blood despite my cervix beigg closed). The hormone changes etc cause it to bleed in pregnancy and now I think that makes sense that as the hormones shifted at the end of my cycle the ectropion was bleeding then. After I've had this baby, if the problem is still there I'll look into what I can do

@PoleFairy Ah I see! Thank you for taking the time to reply to me. I thought about the progesterone too and wonder if that is an issue for me, as my periods obviously are irregular and with having suspected PCOS my GP said it would be pointless me trying to test if I’m ovulating on tests as apparently PCOS can often give false positives on those 🤷🏻‍♀️ Good luck with everything and with your baby!

@H1994 good luck with your first cycle, you never know you might be first time lucky ☺️

@Ygritte88 Thank you my love... we shall see :) hopeful but trying to stay realistic, would be very very lucky if so, and if not - then we go again, whatever is meant for us, will happen! Good luck to you too! Sending all babydust your way!

Hi OP - I have PCOS (I'm lucky my main symptom is very irregular cycles) and I have always had a good few days of spotting before my period fully arrives. I've no idea if it's because of the PCOS though.

I feel your pain around TTC with irregular cycles, and with random spotting/bleeding. However, I wanted to say that despite my crazy cycles - which at times have stretched to 50+ days, I conceived my first after about 9 months of TTC (about 5 or 6 cycles) and my second in about 5 minutes 😂After having my first my cycles regulated quite a bit - they were still long but much more predictable. I'm old now so they are going back to being wonky again!

Good luck in your journey 🙂

Oh and I never once got a positive OPK!

@holidayhonesty thank you so much for your reply - that has given me some hope! It’s good to know that you were still able to conceive despite PCOS and interesting that your cycles became more regular after having your first. I’m trying not to stress too much just yet (although that’s sometimes easier said than done!) and really we have only actively been trying since January as I came off the pill back in November but didn’t get my first period/withdrawal bleed until Christmas.

Thank you for taking the time to respond with your positive story ☺️

I always spotted for a couple of days before my period after coming off the pill. I started taking vitamin b6 as it's meant to help!

Admittedly I got my bfp both times the first month of taking b6 (so can't comment on whether it helps spotting or not!) but it may be worth reading up on/giving a try.

I still spotted the months I got pregnant (it just tailed off instead of turning into AF.)

So don't lose hope 😊

@eatsleeprepeat123 thank you for your reply too! B6 is interesting - I started taking the Conceive Plus vitamins in May and then my June cycle was 28 days which I thought may have been down to taking the vitamins. Gone back up to 38 days this cycle though so maybe not! The Conceive Plus vitamins do contain B6 though, so hopefully it may work for me too 🤞