HealingWell
Search Close Search
☰

Super Light Period

Support Forums
>
Lyme Disease
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
Posted 5/12/2020 8:48 AM (GMT -5)
Hi, folks who menstruate!

Does anyone have experience with a sudden, very light period - like 75% less heavy than usual? (I use a Diva cup so I can tell exactly how much fluid loss is happening.) My periods usually are very heavy - like losing eight ounces on the first day. This time it was less than 2 ounces. I'm not dehydrated, and everything else about this menstrual cycle has been completely normal. My cycles are extremely regular. I'm 37, and do have a history of HPA axis dysfunction, but stress has been fairly normal, ovulation has been normal, PMS symptoms have been consistent, cycles are regular almost to the hour, etc.

I know perimenopause is always a possibility, but would that come on so abruptly, and with no other symptoms?

I continue to take some supplements that thin blood (ashwagandha, ginger, turmeric, quercetin) at the same doses as I have for years. I did recently switch to a vitamin D3 that also contains K2, which plays a role in blood clotting, but could that make such a big difference?

I would shrug this off, but I read recently about COVID-19 patients who seem to recover but then end up having strokes and blood clots due to thickened blood. (I had a virus in February that had many features of COVID-19 but wasn't tested.)

Thanks for any ideas!
Posted 5/12/2020 7:38 PM (GMT -5)
I did have light or phantom periods for some years during peri menopause.

Do you want to or can you get tested now for Covid-19 to see if you had it? I would talk to the doctor.

I know of a pastor’s wife who had coronavirus and got a blood clot afterwards. I didn’t even know about the clotting connection until I heard about her.
Posted 5/12/2020 8:57 PM (GMT -5)
At 37 this happened to me. Went from a 7 day normal cycle to 2 days very light. Been that way for last 5 years. I’m also very regular.

This happened about a month after my neuro symptoms started so I assumed it was related.
Posted 5/13/2020 8:11 PM (GMT -5)
I had what k07 mentioned, too. My life altering symptoms started at 39. My whole body shifted at that point. I can’t remember for sure if it was then or before then that my periods lightened. Went from 7 days to 3 and less bleeding and cramping and cycle shortened from around 37 days to close to 28 days. Stayed that way until everything went off the cliff at age 45. Then I stopped having regular periods.

I turned 50 this year. Haven’t had a period since April of last year. Once you go 12 months without one, you’re supposed to be “menopausal.” With Lyme/chronic everything dysfunction, I’m not so sure. Just in the last 6-8 weeks I have had hormonal shifts and had fleeting cramps one day and thought I saw faint signs of a period, but nothing happened. Been moody, too.

When my periods stopped at 45, I made the gyn test my hormones. My FSH was menopausal range then. A couple years later after moving from the moldy house and starting detox/treatment for Lyme/co, another doctor tested my hormones again, and FSH was no longer in menopausal range. I was still only having occasional periods, though.
Posted 5/19/2020 11:13 AM (GMT -5)
My menstrual fluid contained the same amount of tissue and clotting as usual, but the liquid was slightly more viscous, and there was much less liquid overall. The difference in volume definitely was the liquid - just much less bleeding. I usually spot for a week following menstruating, and this time I have spotted much less than usual.

I am curious what will happen this cycle. Suppose I'll just wait and see. My pulse ox and BP are normal (for me), so I suppose any blood-thickening issues are not urgent yet. I sort of want to bruise myself as a test. It would be nice to bruise less easily, just like it was nice to have a period that I didn't take two weeks to recover from, but the significance of the change worries me....

I'm considering adding nattokinase, ginkgo, or some other blood-thinner....
Posted 5/20/2020 7:33 AM (GMT -5)
Thanks, sandyfeet. Now I'm noticing a much lower pulse rate than normal (52 BPM when I'm lying down) and I have a bad forehead headache. Both of those are odd for me - pulse usually higher, head usually doesn't hurt much (and if it does, it hurts on the sides). I'm pondering possibilities that could cause all three anomalies - light period, low pulse rate, forehead headache. This is probably my chronic illness trauma inspiring to to look for links where there might not be any, or to worry about a transient phenomenon. As you say, even a post-viral thickening of blood should be temporary, one would think. Thanks for brainstorming with me.
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply