Cycle tracking

A_Dabauer

I've had a long cycle (30+) days or irregular cycle (several months between periods) my whole life. Previously I just had an, meh if and when it happens, it happens. However I'm now working with a ND (Naturopathic Doctor) and she has me charting and tracking my cycle. Because of that I'm paying much more attention to signs symptoms and so on. This last cycle I had pretty bad pms symptoms about when my period should have come, except it never did, and now I seems to be back into a non pms phase again. At other times I have a very light period, basically just spotting for a few days.

Anyone else have a phantom period(s) like that?

Dragonwolf

Yep. It's not uncommon among women with PCOS, because the underlying hormonal cycle is usually/often still there, but it's not changing like it should or the ratios are all off. As a result, you can end up with enough of a cycling going on that you get the PMS, but not the actual period.

Alliwan

I;m an odd PCOSer and my cycle has always been regular. But I use an app on my phone to track my cycles, both ovulation, temp, etc and period duration, heaviness, etc It helped me to see my luteal phase is 16 days long so that's why my cycles are 30-32 days. It has helped me see where my hormones might be outa whack.

My daughter takes her period cue's from me apparently. She was a week late when i was, and then we found out i was pregnant. I lost the baby, have ovulated and should be starting my period this saturday or so. She still hasnt started and its been over 60 days and she's pmsing all over the place this whole time. She's much more a classic pcos girl. Hoping once my cycles get back to normal hers will too but she also tracks her period, not so much ovulation obviously, but thats the only way she knows when things will happen, why she's craving things and why she has ovulation pains. The app we use has you track your emotions and stuff too.

So tracking i think is very beneficial, not just for trying to get pregnant but for knowing when your hormones are doing what and why. If you find a way to track that you stick with, you'll be amazed how much information you find out about yourself

A_Dabauer

Thanks ladies, I figured it probably was typical, and as much as I've lived PCOS for years, I just had never noticed this particular set of oddities!