Long cycles/short luteal phase possible to conceive?

[curlyemma]

A bit of background history.
I am 21 my periods started when i was ten years old. Always very heavy and painful. Then at 19 they stopped for nine months. six months i went to the doctors who did a blood test and i think i either had a low lh/fsh level.However the doctors didnt want to do anything at the time because i wasnt ttc. eventually they came back on their own.
now i have regular 43 day cycles with what i suspect is an 8/9 day luteal phase. also now they are painless except for mild pain just before my period and mild pain the firsy day. also they are very light. no blood flow over night and only a proper flow the first two days and then it slows down drastically.
last month i had tons of mucus in my panties from the 17th march to the 22nd. i started spotting on the 26th march with a ful flow on the 27th.
this month i had mucus on the 27th and 28th. nothing yesterday so assumed i ovulated one of these two days and except my period on the 6th/7th this month. how ever my mucus has been drastically less this month than last month and im starting to freak out ill have trouble conceiving.
thanks. emma.

 

[shivangi1210]

Hi Emma,

Through mucus you can only predict that ovulation is going to happen.
normally mucus dry up just after ovulation.
I'll suggest you calculate your luteal phase, use opk and charting to predict ovulation and contact your doc if luteal phase is short (less than 9 days).

 

[curlyemma]

Hi.
just spoken to my gp.
she said it sounds like i may only be ovulating some months and not others but even though their roughly 43 days its good their regular and to try naturally for a year before thinking about tests and pills.
any stories about clomid etc? will their defiantly be a drug which can help if its found i dont ovulate every month?

 

[kitchenware]

Hey, I don't know much about it, but just wanted to offer you reassurance before you get too worried about it. I also have a short luteal phase. In fact I got positive opks last Monday which suggests I ovulated Tuesday / Wednesday last week and I got my period yesterday. So seems very short, I'm currently trying for baby 3 which is why I've started worrying about it again! But I remember I had the same concern with my first 2 kids and it didn't turn out to be a problem as we were really lucky and conceived both in a few cycles of trying.... I'm not saying it definitely isn't a problem, and I'm actually winding myself up about worrying about now as well, but I just wanted to let you know it doesn't always seem to be a problem. Also as you are only 21, I would really just give it a go before you get concerned... Suspect the worrying will cause you more harm!

 

[Tigerlily01]

I have a 7-8 day luteal phase (and suspect I don't ovulate every month) and got pregnant second cycle of trying. So short luteal phase is not necessarily an issue. I was worried about it as well, but turned out not to make a difference for me.

If you're worried about it I'd use opks to track when you ovulate each month and keep records of this and when your period is, then bring it back to your doctor after a couple months. If you don't ovulate regularly or if your LP is less than 10 days, you could ask for a referral to an OB/Gyn who works with fertility and at least have a discussion about whether it makes sense to try for a year or if you should get help sooner. I wouldn't worry too much about it, since there are lots of people with short LPs who get pregnant, but I also would probably not take a GP's word for it if you can get in to see an OB/GYN instead...they'd (probably) be more knowledgeable about fertility, just make sure you ask for someone who CAN prescribe clomid and other drugs if needed...not all OBs do that, so they may not be up on when is appropriate to use it.

Edit: Also make sure that if you are prescribed clomid or other similar drugs down the road that you are monitored, and that you take a pregnancy test before taking it, even if you are CERTAIN you are not pregnant (sometimes implantation bleeding can look an awful lot like a normal period...ask me how I know this!). It is a category X drug, so better safe than sorry.