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Females (or OB/GYN) - Aunt Flo - Marathon (Read 779 times)

    Hi ladies! **note: I have included graphic descriptions related to menstruation, if you can't handle that, you should stop here!** I recently completed my third full marathon (Sunday, Oct 7). Yay! My period was supposed to begin the Tuesdsy night after the race (I am on an OCP so my timing is like clockwork). I had no signs of my period at all (the usual cramping, bloating that I normally experience) in the days before I expected it. On Wednesday evening I experienced a slight amount of discharge, which I at first assumed to be the start my period. However, upon awakening the next day, there was no further discharge. I went through the entire day Thursday with next to no discharge at all, save for a negligible amount of very light brown discharge. Thursday night into Friday afternoon, I had absolutely NO discharge at all, along with no ususl signs of my period. Friday evening there was a slight amount of discharge similar to that on Thursday. I can't tell if this is my period or not. Or rather, what is happening here. It is certainly not my period, as judged by the normal signs that accompany it for me as well as the type and amount of discharge I'm experiencing, which is nothing like a normal period for me. What complicates the matter is that I had forgotten to take my OCP the night we arrived in OR (Wednesday). I had to double up the tablets Thursday night to compensate. Friday night I may have been intimate with my husband...I was on the third week of my OCP pack (the last week of active tablets). Naturally I'm freaking out just a little bit because I never miss a period, and I am always 100% regular, never off by even a day. Running has never affected my menstruation before. I've been running for the last 3 years, both on and off the pill, and it has never affected my flow. I've done my due diligence and searched around the most reliable source out there - the Internet - and I have suspicions, that either (1) I'm pregnant or (2) - and more likely (?) - the traveling and change in environment coupled with both the physical and emotional stress from my race stopped my period from coming. I'm just wondering, has anyone had a similar experience? Also, for you moms out there, does my signs sound like anything you experienced in early pregnancy? I'm probably over reacting but I can't help but ask! I'm going to wait and watch and buy a test OTC and take it in maybe a week or two if my period doesn't show up. I have a MD appt on Oct 31 for a physical anyways, so if I'm still in a pickle then, I can ask my PCP. Thanks in advance for sharing your advice or personal experiences!

    2012: Just run.

    AnneCA


      Yeah, it's almost certainly 2.  But on the offchance it's 1 -- someone's got to be in the .5% or whatever the failure rate is, right? -- go ahead and test now.  You're almost a week "late" now (if I've followed the timeline correctly), so a home test would be pretty reliable.  Although, really, truly, it's almost certainly 2, it's also stressing you out enough to ask the question here, so why wait to take the test?  Seems like cheap peace of mind.

       

      Congratulations on the recent marathon!


      A Saucy Wench

        I've lost my period from running and unlike what they usually say about high mileage causing it to stop for me it was always a sudden drop in mileage. Or the missed and then doubled pill.

         

        Also...it sounds like you haven't been on the pill consistently for a terribly long time (by that I mean years).  When I was, eventually I started skipping a period here and there.  It freaked me out for awhile and i spent a fortune on tests before I just got used to it.  The combo of longer term use of the pill and the marathon running might just have kicked it over.

         

        Buy an OTC test now.  If you are already late you are late enough to test, why wait a week or two of stressing out to see?  Then you can repeat the test at the doctors office in a couple weeks just to be doubly sure.  (which they will automatically do the second you say you skipped your last period)

         

        My first symptom was always always my running felt like crap and then I threw up.  

        I have become Death, the destroyer of electronic gadgets

         

        "When I got too tired to run anymore I just pretended I wasnt tired and kept running anyway" - dd, age 7

        zoom-zoom


        rectumdamnnearkilledem

          It does sound a LOT like early pregnancy was for me, but I also wasn't a runner and/or dealing with a change in routine, so I would chalk it up to that. BUT you should still test, on the off chance that it could be a bun in the oven.  Generally missing one pill won't make a big deal, especially if it's later in the pack and you take the missed pill and are back on schedule ASAP, which you did.

           

          Do your boobs hurt like mad?  I had a week of crazy spotting early in pregnancy, but the most noticeable symptom of being knocked up was INSANE boobhurt during the first month or two.  It was really bad every time I'd be in a car and hit a pothole (we have lots of those in MI, heh).  OW!!!

          Getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to

          remind your lungs how much they like the taste of air.    

               ~ Sarah Kay

          Trent


          Good Bad & The Monkey


          12-week layoff

            Yes, buy a test and follow up, but stress can cause you to miss. I have always been like clockwork, but both times that my husband was deployed I missed periods. It happens, so don't freak out.
              Well the OTC test said NEGATIVE this morning! So hopefully it was just stress, surprised, but seems to be the case! Will follow up with PCP at the end of the month. Thanks all!

              2012: Just run.

              zoom-zoom


              rectumdamnnearkilledem

                Just to be safe I'd test in another week if you still don't have AF visit.  My test for my rugrat was officially "negative," but I suspected it was wrong (female intuition?  Plus I had never once in my life been late--I typically have the opposite issue, much to my chagrin).  I dug it out of the trash a few hours later and it was just ever so faintly positive.  It was a cheap test, so maybe it required more time to show the result than what the box stated.  Or maybe my early AM pee was simply too dilute and evaporation allowed the hCG to concentrate enough to trigger the accurate result.

                Getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to

                remind your lungs how much they like the taste of air.    

                     ~ Sarah Kay