those of you who do get a period, do you count from the first day of spotting or just when it really starts to flow? and do you count the days after when it spots? I spot for 3-5 days then my actual flow goes 1-2 days then spots again for a day or two. Does that count as a 1-2 day period or a 5-9 day period depending on spotting?
ah....ok...wasn't sure.....for a while, I would start spotting the same day my daughter got her actual period...but mine wouldn't really kick in until a few days later...I wonder if her 14 year old hormones are what keeps mine going? They say women often synchronize/influence each other.
I wonder if her 14 year old hormones are what keeps mine going? They say women often synchronize/influence each other.
Of interest:
Menstruating in sync.
From: Mothering Magazine
Menstrual cycles respond to many subtle cues, and one of these is the ongoing presence of other women. Women who work closely together, or who live together, can set off each other's menstrual cycles.
It happens via pheromones-chemical substances that are secreted by the skin. According to Kim Smith, MD, at the Burlington Medical Center in Burlington, Iowa, "Evidence suggests that while a woman is menstruating, [her skin secretes pheromones,] which other women smell subliminally." Once their nasal receptors pick up the scent, the pheromones stimulate their endocrine systems, which then drive their menstrual cycles into a similar pattern.
In a California study, researchers asked 79 university women to record their cycles. After four months, those women who lived closest to each other and also socialized the most together had synchronized their cycles. Closest friends had the most synchrony, while roommates came in second. In a separate report, a college student at the University of California at Santa Barbara explained that in the fall of 1976, she shared a dormitory suite with seven other coeds and that, before long, they had coinciding menstrual cycles. "By the end of the school year," she noted, "six of us were menstruating at the same time, or very close together."
Prison inmates also exhibit the pheromone phenomenon. In a study conducted at a women's prison, researchers found that of the 37 women in one dorm, those on the top floor all started their periods within a seven-day interval--a full week before the main-floor residents started theirs.
Anthropologists point out that the Yurok and Karok tribes of the Pacific Northwest were menstrually synchronous-most likely the result of a tribal. custom they had in common. All of the women of the household would enter the menstrual hut together, and any time a woman was not in sync with the others, she was advised to talk to the moon" so that she could regain her place within the menstrual group.
Exactly where the pheromones are housed remains unknown. The role they play when they are not stimulating synchronous menstruation is likewise under question. Many scientists suspect that these substances act as sexual stimulants, triggering "erotic magnetism" between men and women; others think the pheromones may serve as ovulatory agents among women who are experiencing bouts of infertility. Research is in progress. (Saint Raphael's Better Health, Jan/Feb 1990,pp.12-14)
COPYRIGHT 1990 Mothering Magazine
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Are the workings of the female half of our species always to remain a mystery? One of my lady acquaintances recently relayed the following piece of physiological trivia, which I won't believe unless I get confirmation from a higher source. She said that when a group of females live together, their menstrual cycles begin to coincide. Even harder to believe, she tells me this is because of a scent women react to. Is this true? Is this phenomenon observed in women's prisons and schools? How come I never heard about this before? What else don't I know about women's bodies? --Mark D., Washington, D.C.
Cecil replies:
What you don't know about women's bodies is something you'd better take up with your girlfriend, Marko. But you heard right about "synchronous menstruation," as it's called. This amazing phenomenon was first described in 1971 by researcher Martha McClintock, now with the University of Chicago. Having asked around a bit, I'd say it's common knowledge among women, but I'll bet not one male in 50 has ever heard of it. Women do have their little secrets.
Synchronous menstruation has been observed among mothers, sisters, and daughters who live together, and sometimes among women who simply work together. McClintock tells of seven female lifeguards who started out one summer with widely scattered periods. Three months later they were all menstruating within four days of one another.
A study of 135 residents of a women's college dorm confirmed the effect. Most of the cycle shifting occurred within the first four months and was usually complete after seven months. Fortunately for the dorm's plumbing, the whole building didn't synchronize, just roommates and close friends. As often as not, the women were unaware of what had happened. Later research has suggested that synchrony is caused by some sort of scent cue, or pheromone.
Scientists at the Sonoma State Hospital Brain Behavior Research Center in California identified several women who were believed to be menstrual pacesetters--they made other women conform to their cycles. The scientists placed cotton pads under the dominant women's arms for a day, and then wiped the pads on the upper lips of five female subjects three times a week. (One wonders how much the subjects got paid for this.) Within five months, four of the recipients were menstruating at the same time as their donors.
Interestingly, men also have an effect on women's menstrual cycles--and not just because they make women pregnant. Women who associate with males frequently find that their periods become shorter and more regular. One woman told McClintock that she had a six-month cycle length until she began hanging out with guys, at which point her periods began occurring every 4.5 weeks. When she resumed her solitary ways, her cycle lengthened again. Another round of cotton pad experiments, this time using males as donors, confirmed this. Having sex with a man at least once a week will also do the trick.
Why synchrony occurs is pretty much a total mystery. The only published theory I've seen treats it as an evolutionary holdover from prehistoric times, when it was common for men to take multiple mates and efficient reproduction was essential to the survival of the species. The author of this theory assumes that women in their brief monthly phase of peak fertility give off some pheromonic signal that drives men wild. (The author, I'd be willing to bet, was either the owner of a dog or the parent of a teenage girl.)
If his wives are on different cycles, hubby has a good chance of picking the wrong one when his nose tells him it's time to go into action, thus wasting precious bodily fluids. But if the women are all menstrually synchronized, he CAN'T pick wrong--they're all fertile. In short, Marko--and you can probably relate to this--synchronous menstruation compensates for congenital male cluelessness about women's bodies.
One little problem with this theory. Surveys show sex occurs most frequently around the time of menstruation, when women are LEAST fertile. So either the theory is BS, or male cluelessness is more deep-seated than we thought.
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In other words, it could be my daughter's pheromones that are keeping my period going, as I thought. When they do actually come, they are very heavy for about 24-36 hours with big clots and some discomfort and then it's back to spotting...so now I can actually say they are too short and heavy.
I know for sure she pulled me off schedule by a week, two months in a row, then we went the other way, with me pulling her off, I think....or maybe she was just irregular and still was doing the pulling!
I wonder how many pcos women who still have periods could have another close female friend/relative around that they might be hormonally piggybacking on?
counting days of your period? 
