Too soon!

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I have some cycle questions, and you ladies seem "in the know." I don't know the date of my period in October, but I know I was totally surprised when it came in November a few days earlier than I expected. And I know the exact date I started in November, because it started the day Brad came out for Thanksgiving. Grrr. And then I was glad that I wouldn't start while I was out in Philadelphia for our anniversary, but no, the weekend I was out there, it started after 24 days. And now I started again, after 24 days. What is up with this? I was pretty regularly around 28 days, and I suppose that 4 days isn't a HUGE difference, but it feels huge. 3 weeks isn't a long enough break between periods for hormonal me. So, ladies, why would a period go from a consistent 28 days to a consistent 24 days?

Comments

Stephanie said…
24 day cycles are the shortest cycles still considered normal. As far as why yours all of a sudden shortened-I'm not sure. Honestly, I look up stuff like that online all the time when I am curious, for some fast answers. I would totally recommend starting to chart, and keep track of your periods on paper, even if you don't want to chart temps. I'm a visual person, so it helps me a lot to understand what is going on in my cycle to see it on paper. Also, health care prof. love to have you bring in those papers for fertility appts. If you continue to have periods that are out of whack, that info will help them figure out what's going on! Good luck!
January 13, 2009 4:44 PM
Queen Mother said…
There are 2 phases of a cycle. The first is the follicular phase, and that is the phase before ovulation. The second phase is the luteal phase, and that is the phase after ovulation.

Your follicular phase can vary - i.e., you can sometimes ovulate on day 12 and sometimes on day 18. But the luteal phase pretty much stays constant, within a day or two. My luteal phase is almost always 12 days.

The "28 day cycle" is based on the (false) idea that women will ovulate on day 14 and then have a 14 day luteal phase. This is a false assumption.

If your cycle suddenly went down a few days, I'm willing to bet that you have been ovulating earlier in your cycle than you were before. And that's ok. I totally agree with Stephanie's suggestion to chart your basal body temperature. FertilityFriend.com is some great, free software.

I hope this helps ~
January 14, 2009 11:27 AM
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