I often get questions about whether X (Insert just about anything about periods and the menstrual cycle here) is “normal.” Meaning, does that happening mean that the asker has some kind of hormonal issue, or is it ok that it’s happening and not indicate any kind of issue.
When you start charting your menstrual cycles, suddenly you have a decent amount of information about what is going on with your hormones. Not only do you know when or if your period arrives, but you also are paying attention to and recording how long it is, how much of that might be spotting and what the coloring is like. You pay attention to and record your cervical fluid, your peak day and temperature rise, and the amount of days it takes from your likely ovulation until your next period begins.
With all of this information, it’s only natural to wonder if everything is happening as it should, especially if you are not seeing the “textbook” patterns in your own cycle.
Important note: These parameters that I am listing are appropriate to measure yourself against only if you are in a stage that you should be having a normal “adult” menstrual cycle. That means if you are close to puberty or menopause you can see completely different things and it’s ok. Same goes for if you are breastfeeding, coming off hormonal birth control, or in some kind of hormonal flux like that.
Let’s get into the details…
Your cycle length
This is the time from the beginning of one period until the day before the beginning of the next period. Healthy cycles generally fall between 24-36 days and they generally keep a range within that that is smaller (anything within a 6 day range is good) for your personal cycle. So, your personal cycle may run on the shorter side of that spectrum, the longer side, or somewhere in the middle, but if you are frequently having a cycle that jumps from one end of that spectrum to the other then that could indicate a problem and you should check with a cycle savvy doctor.
Your period
3-7 days with at least one day of medium or heavy flow. Ideally, you do not have a lot of spotting at the end of your period, particularly brown spotting.
Your cervical fluid
3-6 days of cervical fluid with at least one day of peak-type fluid (this is the most fertile type of mucus). Many people see more fluid than this, which I commonly see on charts, some of the reasons could be checking/charting incorrectly, elevated estrogen levels, or inflammation. If your follicular phase (that’s the pre-ovulatory part of your cycle) is irregular/long you can also see more mucus than this, often building up and dropping off before ovulation happens. This is due to hormonal imbalance.
Your luteal phase
You can count your luteal phase from the first day after your peak day and/or the first day of your temperature rise. Ideally, you want to see 10-16 days in your luteal phase. Some sources contend that 9 days is ok, as well, but 9 days can be an issue for fertility and can also be an issue for those with a longer follicular phase, meaning they have a lot more time that their body is dominant in estrogen than in progesterone.
Your symptoms
Cramps, PMS, heavy and very clotty periods, migraines, and the list goes on. What is a normal part of being a cycling person and what is a sign of a problem? Honestly, most everything you can complain about is not. If something interferes with your quality of life and is associated with your cycle (and therefore your hormones) you can make the safe assumption that it is not normal. It may be common, but it is associated with a hormonal issue that can be fixed.
Has charting helped alert you to anything going on with your hormones? Let me know in the comments.
Join the FREE mini-school!
+ Learn the top tips for coming off hormonal birth control
+ Understand all of the non-hormonal birth control options
+ Discover if fertility awareness is right for you
+ Free weekly updates
Your information will be kept private. Directions and log in details will be sent to you via email.
What kind of hormonal balance would this indicate (too much of estrogen or progesterone or not enough of either)? How would you fix it?
“3-6 days of cervical fluid with at least one day of peak-type fluid (this is the most fertile type of mucus). Many people see more fluid than this, which I commonly see on charts, some of the reasons could be checking/charting incorrectly, elevated estrogen levels, or inflammation. If your follicular phase (that’s the pre-ovulatory part of your cycle) is irregular/long you can also see more mucus than this, often building up and dropping off before ovulation happens. This is due to hormonal imbalance.”
That depends on if you are seeing more or less than that but like I mentioned, you want to be sure you are checking and charting correctly to correctly asses your days and types of cervical fluid. In addition, in the case of cervical fluid it can sometimes be related to hormones or sometimes something physiological with the cervix. For example, previous hormonal birth control use can age the cervix and some cervix procedures can affect cervical fluid.
It can get complex, though. More could mean high estrogen and or inflammation as well as a direct cervical issue. Less could mean low estrogen direct cervical issue, be because of previous birth control use, come from an underlying issue, etc.
In addition, depending on what the timing is like it could be a low progesterone issue.
Generally you have to take a whole chart into account when trying to deduce hormonal issues, but the above are the parameters you want to see things fitting into. If things don’t fall into those parameters you can get some pretty good guesses of what’s going on with your hormones from your charts, but in some cases you may want to get hormonal testing with your doctor, as well, especially if you have been doing things to help fix your hormones holistically and nothing seems to help and you want to go to the next level.
Now that I look at your question again, maybe you are asking me what my example at the end indicates? Again, it could be a variety of things, though one of the common times you see that pattern is in PCOS.
I am charting with TCOYF app, this cycle on day 12 I had a significant drop in temp which occurred 1 day before my peak day, then the rest of the days (now on day 18) have been around the same as before the temp drop, so an average 97.5 both before and after my peak day, in the ~6 months I’ve been charting there has always been a noticeable Temp rise. Any thoughts?
I would guess either you have not yet ovulated or something is up with your thermometer.
I took it with two :-/
Are the two thermometers calibrated the same and were you taking the temps at the same time? Since thermometers can be calibrated differently you want to be consistent with the same thermometer.
Meaning I took my temp with one and then right away With the other to double check. Both digital except one is for BBT so it reads hundredths. It is always 5:30-6AM window. Only thing I can think of is the weather has started turning cold in last week and I leave my heat set to 62. Not sure if that has an effect? I kind of had egg white today though. My previous cycles have been straight forward, peak day around day 13-14 so this is just baffling me.
For some people the ambient heat will have an effect on their temperatures, but most people would still see a temp rise. I would just play it safe and assume you have not ovulated yet.
I went off the pill a year ago and have since had 14 remarkably normal cycles– between 26-30 days every time (but usually between 27-29) and always with an obvious temperature shift mid-cycle accompanied by EWCM. However, though I feel good about ovulation and my luteal phase length, I have been worried about my periods. Most cycles, they are only around 1 day long. I’ll have spotting leading up to and after, and at *most* 2 days are heavy enough to require tampons/pads (otherwise I get away with liners). This seems really short/light to me (much shorter than my withdrawal bleeds on the pill). We started TTC 3 cycles ago, so now I am worried my uterine lining might be inadequate. Am I worried over nothing?
It sounds like it can be ok. So you have 1 day for sure that is heavy or medium flow, at least, sometimes two. Then the other days are very light or spotting? That can be totally normal. I personally also have lighter periods, generally 2 days of flow and a couple/few of spotting. And even the flow days are really not very heavy at all.
Do you have a lot of spotting before your period, though? That could *maybe* be an issue (I am hesitating to say it, because I don’t want to freak you out and your cycles sound pretty normal).
I have noticed for about a year now that I will have the brown spotting after most periods. Why is this not good? My periods are 6-7 days long and my average cycle length is 28 days. I’m pretty consistent with that; it only varies a day or two.
One of the more common reasons for brown spotting after the period is low progesterone. It’s not a 100% sure thing, but I’d look out for other potential signs of low progesterone. Usually when there is only one of the potential signs I wouldn’t worry.
What about temperatures? What is a “normal” range pre ovulation, shift, and range post ovulation? How much variance is acceptable when recording is done accurately and consistently?
That would definitely be a good thing to add. It’s not a hard and fast rule, but many sources who use temps as a first source to look at for potential low thyroid issues want to see about 97.2 (F) pre-O. However, a lot of people have temps that low and do not seem to have low thyroid symptoms, so I’m not sure that I fully agree with it. When I see a lot of temps dipping that low, though, I do often ask about if there are other thyroid symptoms present.
Other than that, there isn’t a normal range you should necessarily see before or after ovulation, but you DO want to see temps staying above the coverline after ovulation.
I’m not 100% sure what you mean about the variance that is acceptable, can you explain?
I was just looking for the answer to this question. So do you mean 97.2 pre-O (or 97.1 in my case) might be a little too low? Or do you mean that you would only worry about thyroid issues with a temp lower than that?
I would only honestly worry about it with temps lower than 97.2 (pre-O) AND symptoms that may indicate a thyroid issue. But, if I saw low temps and symptoms I’d definitely be pushing my doctor to give me a full thyroid panel workup and not just settle for a TSH test, which can often not show an issue.
Thanks for the reply!! …I meant, how much jumping around should/can the temps do if circumstances (sleep, time, methode, etc.) are as consistent as possible… There may not be a guideline on that… Sometimes I see almost a straight line and other times lloyd of spikes without crossing the coverline. Really curious if there is a reason for that, or if there’s any point when it’s an indication of something out of wack. Obviously, the rest of the chart would give an indication to… Sorry for the confusion.
No problem. There isn’t a guideline on that, but generally you will see temperatures that are more jumpy early on in the cycle, then they will start to even out with the increasing level of estrogen pre-ovulation (this is why you only use the previous 6 temperatures to draw your coverline and not your entire cycle). Then, ideally, they stay above the coverline for your LP. It’s not a problem if they jump around within those ranges, though if it starts happening all of a sudden and you can’t figure out why you may want to check your thermometer.