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Dark brown bleeding prior to period

Hi, wonder if anyone can help? Have been TTC for 18 months. The last 6 months or so have been getting dark brown/black spotting before my period for 2-7 days. Have been to G.P's and they said that it is hormonal due to a slow drop in progesterone at the end of my cycle. She said that it should not effect my fertility but it is worrying me, has anyone had anything similar? Have had day 21 progesterone levels done and they were fine (49n/mol) so am definitely ovulating :\?

Replies

  • That is exactly what it is like (brown/black sludge). It generally only lasts a couple of days but has been upto 7 days. Have asked at G.P's for referal but they say criteria for referal is at least 2 years of TTC, one said 3 years. Because my blood tests showed I am ovulating they won't do anything else and have told me to just keep trying but it does get to a point where you just don't think it isn't going to happen!
    Thanks for that anyway and good luck to you too.
  • Didn't want to read and run on this one as I have had this for about the last 2 years - every month I get at least one day of it prior to AF, some months I have had it for 5 days before... I also only have short proper AF's only 1-2 days of red flow before back to then light spotting.

    I've got endometriosis - from the books I have read this can be cause of it - that's not to say that's what you have either tho, it can be hormones.

    Good luck
    xxx
  • My periods are very short too, 2 days of red flow and then light spotting again like yours. The not knowing is so frustrating and G.P's just don't seem to listen to you! Is there any other symptoms of endometriosis? When my period does start I get really painful cramping for 2-3 hours.
  • Hello syd....yes, i have exactly the same thing...the past 2 months i have had a very dark brown sludge type spotting 5/6 days before af...first day of af has been very painful too...
    the first day of af was fairly 'normal' amount of red blood...second day was red but not very much and then I had 5/6 days of brown spotting again...very strange.
    I really feel like i haven't had a 'proper' period and it really does frustrare me too...i understand how you are feeling.
    I have a 5cm cyst on my right ovary and my left ovary is polycystic....i found this out a few weeksago when i had a scan at the hospital...i am waiting to see a gynae on dec 11th....the sonographer who did my scan said she thinks i will have to have the cyst surgically removed as it is unlikely it will go away on its own....
    I tend to agree with the other ladies and say you should go back to your gp as 18mths is a considerable amout of time in anyone's books....if you feel that your gp isn't particularly sympathetic to you, I would ask for another one.
    I'm not too sure about endometriosis...i think that is when your womb lining grows outside of the womb for example on your bowel, ovaries etc...and that it can hinder your chances of conceiving....although not entirely sure, maybe one of the other lovely ladies can help....
    I hope you sort it out soon syd...good luck...best wishes xXx
  • Hi Ladies

    I've had this for as long as i've had periods. Some women get it before and some after and been told this is perfectly normal have had all manner of tests in the past. Mine can last about 5-7 days before the actual period which is then two days then nothing.

    hope this helps.

  • Thanks for all your replies. Still unsure if it's normal or not but am not going to leave it too long before I go back to docs and bother them again!! xx
  • HI Syd,

    I get this every month - sometimes for a day sometimes for seven. It's perfecty normal. I got pregnant in September, turns out the baby had a screwed in sense of direction and ended up in my tube, but thats irrelevant. What I was trying to say is this is perfectly normal and won't stop you getting preg xx
  • Hiya,

    I've been getting this pre-menstraully every month and I read that it is due to progesterone dropping off slowly and causing spotting rather than dropping off sharply and leading to af arriving immediately. My GP told me not to worry about it, I had 21 bloods and progesterone was high, unfortunately it was taken on the same day that the spotting started. I self-diagnosed and got myself some progesterone cream. I used it last month for the first time and the spotting was reduced.

    I wouldn't advise you to use this, I just got fed up of my GP fobbing me off!!
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