Spotting the Whole Time

[Jami Roach]

I am only on day 3 for the very first time and I started "spotting" yesterday, out of the blue. I am on hormone birth control and nursed my daughter until 2.5 (only stopping 3 months ago), so my periods have been wonky for awhile. The thing that concerned me is the thick, dark spotting. I have not seen anything like it and I woke up to it again. I wonder how long it will last or what the cause is. Do I just wait and see if it passes?

[Cassie M]

I am only on day 3 for the very first time and I started "spotting" yesterday, out of the blue. I am on hormone birth control and nursed my daughter until 2.5 (only stopping 3 months ago), so my periods have been wonky for awhile. The thing that concerned me is the thick, dark spotting. I have not seen anything like it and I woke up to it again. I wonder how long it will last or what the cause is. Do I just wait and see if it passes?

Hi Jami,

I feel you. I spotted through the majority of my Whole30, and am now in the re-intro phase and still spotting - total, I've spotted every day for the last 25 days. It's been brutal but it is starting to lighten up. Then again, over the past 3 weeks that this has been happening, there were several times that I thought it was clearing up. Anyway, my doctor is running another round of blood samples and should have results for me on Monday, so if there's anything I think someone can learn from this, I'll update this thread.

Given that so many women have experienced spotting and changes to their mestrual cycles as a result of hormonal imbalances from a changing diet, you could give it a few days to see if it clears - but as always, see a doctor if you have any concerns.

[qwerky]

I'm really hoping this isn't an ancient thread and that my post will bump it up again. It's day 14 for me. Yesterday I started breakthrough bleeding, and it's still going today. I'm 54 and my period happened to coincide with day 1, so it finished on day 7. So this is very odd! (and yes I know it's odd that I'm still getting periods at 54). So is spotting/breakthrough bleeding common on Whole30 if we're not on BC of any kind? Are there other women of my age experiencing this?

[SugarDemonBaby]

Hi Qwerky, I'm glad you resurrected this thread. 

My problem is that I bleed every day, have for 4 years. It's related to my PCOS. Sometimes it's literally spotting, sometimes so heavy I can barely leave bathroom. It's reassuring to me that so many women's hormones are affected so early in the programme. While I'm sure it's annoying for you at the moment, if it leads to more balanced hormones in a few months surely that is better?

I so want this bleeding to stop. Although, I have recently discovered a menstrual cup (soft cup) for 12 hours a day and you can have sex with it in, and that is making my life with this bleeding more bearable.