Spotting between periods - am I infertile? - what does it mean?

[OuiOui]

Posting on behalf of a friend of mine who’s really stressed out about it.
For years now, she’s had spotting before and after her periods. The drs have diagnosed it as stress related and possibly due to hormonal imbalance. But she’s really worried about it and wants to see a gynaecologist (she did see one a few years ago) she’s worried that she could have endometriosis. Does anyone have any experience of this? Does anyone know of a good gynae in Kent?

Does she have any other symptoms - eg cyclic or persistent pelvic or lower back pain? Excess hair on her face/body, irregular periods, weight she can't lose and/or spots? All these are possible symptoms of a hormone imbalance related to her ovaries. She could ask her gp to run some simple bood tests to check her hormone levels. If she's worried and particularly if she has other symptoms he should refer her to a hospital gynae (she'll need a referral even to a private one) where a checkup might include an ultrasound to check for polycystic ovaries or cysts on the ovaries which could interfere with her cycle. These needn't be at all serious and can be treated. Indeed if her symptoms are only spotting and her periods are regular and she has no other symptoms then I imagine there's nothing wrong. If she had no periods at all, now that would be a sign of infertility, not spotting.

The hormonal imbalance she has had mentioned to her could be something called a luteal phase deficit, OuiOui. There is an excellent book Taking Charge of Your Fertility which has been frequently mentioned on the trying to conceive threads on here. The TCOYF book is good at explaining cycle and fertility quirks and problems ad suggests possible causes and treatments. I have never had luteal phase deficit myself but I seem to recall that spotting before your period arrives properly is a potential symptom. I think it can be rectified with drugs or some alternative therapies pretty well.
Endometriosis is often extremely painful and accompanied by very heavy periods.
She may have very little to worry about, of course, as Aloha says, and she should definitely try and see someone about her symptoms to put her mind at rest. The only gynae I know of in Kent is a Miss Leila Hanna at Queen Mary's Hospital in Sidcup. She is supposed to be very good but I have not seen her myself. She practises privately at the BMI Hospital in Orpington, so we're talking NW Kent here.

I used to have spotting between periods, during the second half of my cycle. My GP referred me to a consultant gynaecologist and I had a hysteroscopy (where they pass an endoscope into your uterus to have a look around). They also took some tissue for analysis. The operation was done under general anaesthetic and took about 10 minutes. In my case, no cause was found and I went on to have ds. So it isn't necessarily anything to worry about, but I would suggest she gets it checked out.

Incidentally, I have not suffered from the spotting for several years and eventually I put it down to stress (house move, busy at work etc.).

I had funny periods due to ovarian cysts,but not just spotting. I think stress is a recognised cause but also a few other things including hormone fluctuations and an underactive thyroid, which can be tested for very easily.