Should spotting for 14 days be considered AF?

Well after 14 days of spotting/bleeding it's stopped.  As soon as I saw the spotting stop I questioned if i should consider all the spotting af?  The problem I have with this is i could have been experiencing breakthrough spotting/bleeding for 14 days because of lack of ovulation.

It's so hard to say exactly why I spotted for 2 weeks but if i consider it af it could through my bbt chart off and worse I could O any day.  When a cycle begins you can count in the fact that you will O around the same time you've been ovulating in the past.

So I've decided to not consider the spotting af and continue to bbt temp and take opks again.  The opk from last night was very light so i cant imagine it will be much darker today but we'll see.

I am beginning to feel broken again.  I can feel the stress rising in my system as i try to figure out what is going on with my body.  I'm stressed and over all I am feeling hopeless.  My goal until af comes is to try to not stress and worry.  I need to trust that my body will do what it's meant to do.

Update cd 44/ cd1....

Well I woke up to an actually flow of some kind.  I believe my af is finally here.  What an exhausting and terrible last cycle.  In fact 2 days ago ( cd 42 ) the spotting completely stopped.  I was hopeful I would have some fertile cm and O but that's not the case here.

I definitely need to see a dr again but the odds of this happening seem slim to none.  Onward to the next cycle i suppose.  Here's to hoping I O this cycle.

13 days of spotting, late af

Well this will be technically another update but still no af, after taking licorice root, although it will focus on odd mid cycle/pre af spotting.

It started on cd 24 like mentioned in another post.  I noticed some very light pink spotting.  I assumed it was due to ovulating but i hadn't had a pos opk yet and my temp had increased but not normally how high as it does go.  The light pink spotting susidded on cd 25.

On cd 29 it came back although more of a red color and only when I wipe not enough to use a tampon or pad.  When I reached cd 35 (which would normally be my last day in a cycle although it wasn't) i grew worried that maybe my polyps have returned.  To be honest I'm still worried about this.

Worrying isn't good for ttc or keeping a regular menstrual cycle so I put it in the back of my head.  I've taken hpt between cd 31-37 with "shadow" or faint second lines but to me they were evaps or bfns.  Today is cd 39.  I have had a long cycle once (47 days) where I spotted from cd 40-47.  I had assumed.maybe that's what my body was doing but after calculating my cycle length and days of spotting I have reached 13 days of brown-pink-red spotting.

I nearly thought my af had arrived this am as it seemed to pick up to a light flow but as the day went on and i went to change my tampon, it was brown blood and did not fill the tampon.  I've had cramping on and off for over a week now and I'm really thinking my af is coming but it doesn't come.

I've red articles of "break through bleeding" and have considered this is what it is.  I haven't checked my temperature in well over 3 days as I temp vaginally and keep thinking this is my flow, it's here but it subsides after a few hours.

I've read many articles about multiple days of spotting to light bleeding in early pregnancy but have yet to take another pregnancy test. Honestly I don't think I'm pregnant but there have been bigger surprises.  The spotting today is dark red and is constant.  I have had no other CM in the last 10 days and if the spotting stops for even a moment and I check my cervix, I'm "dry" and my cervix is high and med (not firm or soft).

I have had some sx (symptoms) but who can day if they're real or not...

1. Cramps
2. Lower back aches
3. Muffled hearing (swimmers ear) that lasted a week.
4. Odd taste in mouth
5. Nausea  (bad in late morning)
6. Loss of appetite  (which normally increases when on af).
7. Itchy breasts

I have no idea if these are due to pregnancy, af or in my head?

I'm truly frustrated and sad about my current cycle issue especially since the idea of bd with my dh seems like a distant memory.  I cant seem to find any other post that is similar to my current experience.  I'm praying for all the ladies out there ttc.

Update:

Well after 14 days of spotting it stopped.  I'm pondering if i want to consider the bleeding/spotting af or just wait for the real deal.  The more I read about break through bleeding the more I question if that's what happened and I never ovulated.  I plan to take an opk after a 2 hr urine hold.  I'm either on cd 15 of a new cycle (if considering the spotting af) or I'm on cd 40.

I will post my opk results below... I'm just concerned that I'm not ovulating and in fact I am experiencing breakthrough bleeding and I'm considering it af.  Another thing that really gets me is all this posts, articles and forums of women talking about their experiences but never leaving the end results.  I can say I will not do that.  I will continue this blog long after I get pregnant.

Licorice root, 1st cycle.

Well, my 1st cycle on licorice root is coming towards an end (i think).  It's been so hard for me to tell.  Every day I think my cycle  has started and the brown/red spotting leaves.

I'm currently on cd 34 and about 10 days ago I realized I was spotting.  I thought maybe a new cycle was starting due to an early ovulation but the spotting has come and gone over the last week.  I've also been having af like cramps on and off since cd 21 and they've become more intense as my cycle ends. One morning I thought my af was surely here and it seemed to be a light flow and the next morning it was gone.

I've looked into "breakthough" bleeding due to non ovulation and an increasing amount of estrogen in your body.  I wonder if that's what I've been experiencing these last few cycles.  I'm not sure and when/if my cycle ever starts again (as i could spot for a week so counting any of this spotting as af would be wrong) I will try the licorice root again.

I've also taken 3 pregnancy tests as like usual I wonder if the spotting/unusual bleeding is due to pregnancy.  I've received my first "evap" or false positive I believe from a hpt ever.  I will post those pictures in this blog.  2 of them were clinical guard and one was with an answer pregnancy test strip.  The answer test was the only  one I used fmu with.

The reason I believe they are evap or a false positive is i have since taken a frer with fmu and it was clearly negative. It's heart breaking when you think/know you see a line and it's so faint but it's there and with a trusted brand of frer it's negative (pictures will be below).

Typically I start my cycles on what would  be cd 36.  That's in 2 days.  I have bought the new "temp drop" device to better help determine ovulation especially since I've been forgetting to temp a lot this cycle.  The only issue is Tempdrop  won't ship till spring of 2015 and if I go off of the calender spring  doesn't start till March 2015.

I will update when the new cycle starts.  Wishing all the ladies ttc lots of baby dust as always.  They say when you really strive for something it's even sweeter when reached. 

Licorice root part 2

I am now on cd24 and BBT has yet to show I’ve ovulated.  This will be part 2 of a possible 3 part blog of my experience with licorice root.  If  you haven’t read part 1, please do so as this may confuse you.

As mentioned before, I am on cd 24 and I have had little rises in my BBT chart (pic will be posted below) however no definate sign of ovulation at this point.  I have been having “cramps” on my left side for the last 2 days.  It comes and goes and feels very unusal.  I keep questioning if I’ve ever felt these things in the past over the last few days.  My breast have hurt off and on for a little over a day now but no significant rise in BBT.  Other things I’ve been experiencing are: extreme tiredness, nausea, bloated feeling, cramps on left side, headaches, smelly urine and dark urine (not due to dehydration as I am drinking over 60 oz of water per day), achey feeling in lower back and arms.

I can’t tell if this is due to either: af, ovulation or in my head.  I know I haven’t ovulated yet due to my chart and I am confident I temp accurately.  No app or information on the internet has come close to helping me determine what is going on.  I’ve taken ovulations tests (opks) everyday aside from yesterday as I ran out.  15 days of taking opks 2-3 times a day is exhausting and expensive.  The last bundle of opks I purchased was on Amazon which is what I used this cycle from cd 8-22 (pic of cd 22 opk included).  They were clinical guard which came with 40 opks and 20 hpts.  I’ve used 2 of the hpts as I always test with one right when my af ends just to make sure I wasn’t one of those odd medical oddities where you get your af and yet are pregnant.

I took a hpt test this AM (2/6/2015) as I had no idea if my sx (symptoms) are due to af, ovulation, pregnancy or in my head?  After 5 years of TTC, I’ve become a bit parinoid that if I ever did concieve I would never know as I would be the odd one who still has their af like clockwork.  So I’ve made it a habit of testing every 2-3 weeks.  As you can imagine the resutls of my hpt were a bfn (pic will also be included) and I have yet to make it to a store to buy more opks.  This is exhausting.  Next cycle I will not be using opks.

Dh (dear husband) and I have been BD (baby dancing) the last 2 days and will continue through this weekend.  I’m disappointed there isn’t more to report.  I’m extremely sad that I haven’t ovulated yet but more importantly I’m worried that once I do (if I do) my spotting issue will return.  This was the entire reason I wanted to try the licorice root so I could somehow move my ovulation up (if I did ovulate) to possibly improve my LP.  Last cycle I ovulated on cd 26 but af came right on time at what would been cd 36 so I had a 9 day LP?  This is terrible.  I’m also spotting off an on throughout my entire LP.

Obviously all of this worries me and brings me extra stress I don’t need.  No app or article has been helpful to me.  I’ve tired several things to attempt to lengthen my LP but for unknown reasons they don’t work for me (b6, progesterone, Vitex, maca root, royal jelly, clomid etc).  I have seen my doctor about this issue as well and as I’m sure you’ve discovered by now, they weren’t willing/able (what’s the difference?) to help me or fix this issue.  After a mere 6 months of seening my OBGYN after my surgery in August of 2013, I was referred to a FS (this is elaborated on in past posts).

As usual, I will continue what I’ve been doing as far as temping, testing and praying.  Here’s to hoping sooner rather than later I get my BFP.  Gl to the ladies who are TTC.

Licorice root, my experience so far.

I had made a post about my supplement experiences and now I'm half way in my long cycle.  This will be an update on my experience with licorice root so far.

I took 2 pills 3x a day with meals from cd 2-9.  I had an average flow of 7 days.  Good to know the licorice root didn't affect my flow.  I had no sx while taking the supplement.  I also took my standard prenatal and vit d3 with the licorice root.

I began testing with opks on cd 8.  I received the darkest line early in my cycle ever.  Normally I don't see a second test line until cd 18 or more even when I took clomid.  On cd 9 (the last day of my licorice root regimen) I received an almost positive opk (pic included).  I thought for sure I'd be like some of the ladies and O the next day after my last day taking them.

I came home that evening late on cd 9 so I didn't test at my normal 5pm time.  I tested at 830pm and the line was lighter.  Confused, I continued to test twice sometimes 3 times a day.  The test line continued to get lighter...  Now I'm on cd 19 and have yet to receive a positive opk in fact the test line is gone.  I've also been bbt temping and FF gave me CH on cd 11.  But i didnt have a pos opk and now on cd 19 I am certain ewcm is back.

I had ewcm the earliest ever in my cycle.  I did the water test (putting your cm in the water to determine if it dissolves or sinks in a ball form) and each time I thought I had ewcm I did.  I had ewcm from cd 8-12 and then it turned sticky to creamy and now on cd 19 it's returned confirmed with the water test.

My temp has remained between 97.30-97.66 for the last 8 days.  Post O temps for me range from 97.80-98.60 so I am confident I didn't O yet.  Either way I bd just in case after my near pos and occasionally over the last 8 days. 

There's hardly any info out there of experiences or trials regarding licorice root so I'm unable to compare my experiences to any one else's.  I have decided to continue testing with opks and temping. 

The true test for me will be if my flow just comes as usually on cd 36 ( or what would be considered cd 1) or if i begin spotting at cd 29.  Here's to hoping the next 10 days go smoothly.  An update will again follow in the next 2 weeks.

As always ladies whom ever may read this, good luck to you.