(no subject)

[mutt182.livejournal.com]

The average "cycle" length is supposed to be around 28-35 days, right? I'm not sure I understand it all correctly though, I always thought there should be on average, 21 days from the day your periods ends, to when the next begins, but my Chinese medicine DR thinks that the 28-35 days is the time it should be inbetween periods..which I don't understand as birth control pills you take for 3 weeks and leave for 1 week...

who's right? my period finished on 22nd of last month and I'm still waiting for the next..my last few periods have been a bit longer apart than usual...but in the past I've suffered from having periods too often so I've completely out of touch with what should be normal. My DR never seems to offer much thought into it.

Comments

[stripling.livejournal.com]

you should count your cycle starting from the first day of menstruation until the last day before the next menstrual period. this could be from 24-35 days-ish.

[mutt182.livejournal.com]

Oh ok, so if your periods last about 5 days, 30 days inbetween is normal?

[mutt182.livejournal.com]

well can be normal anyway?

[stripling.livejournal.com]

yes, definitely. you'll find that most women don't have clockwork 28 day cycles, and we all certainly don't ovulate on day 14. like people, menstrual cycles can be rather unique. :)

[stripling.livejournal.com]

ps- if you want somewhere to easily track and record your periods try http://www.mycycle.com I wouldn't really recommend trusting their ovulation predictors, but it's nice to see on a chart exactly how long things are going for, and perhaps picking up on patterns.

[winifred.livejournal.com]

Don't count "between" periods. You're misunderstanding the way cycles are counted. When a doctor or health pro says "X days between periods" they mean "X days between the first day of your period and the day before your next period starts."

Count the day you start your period as 1. The day before your next period starts will be anything from 21 to 32, depending on what's healthy for you. This is because not all periods are created equal. As you get older the days you bleed will either get shorter or longer, and sometimes little things like stress or how hydrated you are will affect the duration of your flow, so counting the day your period ends is useless information.

[anduril-phoenix.livejournal.com]

My cycle was never the same length until I got on bc. Until then I'd have a cycle of anywhere from 30-36 days, and I never could tell when my next period would start.

[jennifer0246.livejournal.com]

day 1 is the first day you see blood. count until you see blood again, which is your next day 1. "average" cycles are between 25-35 days, but then again, averages can be way off.

[nefarious--sins.livejournal.com]

Before I started birth control my period wouldn't be so irregular, sometimes I waited up to 40 days in between. My doctor said that wasn't horribly irregular but I could make it better by taking the pill. As long as you're getting yours a few days before or after the week of placebos then I'd say you're fine. If not you may want to consider changing pills.