Period what normal or not

[Shadow35]

Hi. I'm 37 years old and i never ask in my life question about what normal or not. In high school (girl school) i always wonder how the other girls new when their period start. When mine began, i start gaining weight super fast and my breast grow too quickly so i got extra loose skin to live with and a lot of stretch mark. I got my period maybe once two month, always a surprise, and it last more than a week and was heavy but not too much after reading how much it can be. I had to wear period pad almost all the time because of surprise and i got skin issue, irritation because of the pad. I lived like this for a while dealing with acne. When i finally had the guts to ask for an acne treatment i was proprosed to take the pill. I did and it didn't clear completly the acne but it help and oh surprise i had regular period, regular flow like heavy first to light after few days, easy to predict. 15 years passed like this, gaining more weigh a bit at the time. 3 years ago, i got a reaction to a medication that force me to stop everything including the pill. At first everything was fine, it suppose to be normal to have weird stuff the first few months. But it keep going so i decided to used an app to track everything. I now have a lot of fatigue that i assume was du to arthritis but my arthritis is starting to be in control since january. I have brain fog, mood swing. Pain, bloathing... and the period flow is never the same and i have a lot of days it's spotting. So my new doctor start me again on the same pill i used before, but in continu. I'm now using the second pack. But my initial symptom are worse. So i was looking to find answer about what really is spotting, the quantity, how often there blood cloth in. And what a normal period is. I couldn't find anything that answer my concern. I try to call the pharmacist and he told me it's normal to bleed almost all the time if it's not soaking a pad. On the pill web site it say that it's normal to bleed but if ot's not normal to consult but it didn't specify what normal bleeding is. So, i called a health line and spoke with a nurse that told me there's no way to know, but it's not normal that the pain wake me up and i had difficulty driving or cooking because of brain fog and fatigue. She told me, after spotting for more than 7 days to consult. My doctor told me to try to wait 3 month with the pill for my body to adapt but i shouldn't bleed for more than two week in a row. But was i bleeding or spotting? Since last month i had 3 random days spotting and today it's my 12 days of spotting including one heavy with a pad in a row non stop. For me it's like my "normal period" but a bit longer. I have to take diclofenac each day, with tylenol and i took cyclobenzaprine before sleeping. I'm gonna try to last to the next month but someone can tell me what is normal and what wasn't. I know everybody is different but for sure someone, somewhere made a chart because i don't know anymore what spotting or period should be.

Thanks everyone.

[Jessica456]

Hello have you tried the flo period app I use it and it's really good at helping you understand your cycle have you tried anything else other than the pill i have the copper coil and I have a period every 25 days and bleed only 5 days I really recommend the app you can track your symptoms daily and after a few months you really get to no your body I always no when mines due as a week before I get moody emotional cravings bloating sore boobs I hope this helps

[Shadow35 in reply to Jessica456]

I'm using the clue app since 2022 (i think it's the only fdn approved app). the flow app was less precise about the kind of flow. But none of these app or site are clear of what a spotting is. If it's suppose to count for a period or in a period. If it have blood cloth. Somewere i saw that its normal to have 9 days of difference between cycle so for me it's mean you need to wear a pad half a month each month because i can have 6 days of variability. Is it what people usually do? And i can have sometime only two days of flow a month, next month 2 days of spotting, one day of medium period and 2 other days spotting. Is it counting like 5 days period or just 1? And the month after i got a period of 8 days follow by 1 days of spotting. And a week later 5 days of spotting. It's say variation is normal but at this point? I normally didn't feel symptom until 3 years ago and i time goes by it increase but i can have the symtom started 2 weeks before so i don't know when the flow gonna start. For the sore boob do you feel pain like someone is twisting them or sitting on them? I have to put an ice pack to relieve the pain.