Post-pill irregular cycles support thread!!

[missangie]

fluffette, that is an amazing story!

 

[Trishg21]

Yeah - I think you are right Trishg. It just all fits, you know? I'm definitely going to make an appointment if AF arrives this cycle. You are right though - if it is PCOS than I am one of the lucky ones as I am ovulating. I think, however, I have low progesterone to go with it as I spot from 7/8dpo... I think that is likely why I can't stay pregnant

We'll get there though! How are things with you?

That would totally make sense if your progesterone was low. Mine is low also and my doctor said that after ovulation he will put me on progesterone supplements until I was 12 weeks into a pregnancy to help sustain it. If that is your issue I bet you'll be just fine

I'm okay I guess. This was my first cycle with my RE. We were planning on doing clomid, a hcg trigger shot, and iui. But it is looking like we are going to cancel the cycle instead. I had 2 scans this week and the one follicle that I have has not grown at all between the scans and my lining has gotten so thin they can't even measure it. It was very discouraging to hear and it looks as though we will be done with Clomid and moving on to more aggressive treatment. Trying to be okay about it though. Hopefully we will have better luck next month.

Thanks for the advice there. So does PCOS make it harder to conceive?

Also, I've been meaning to ask - is there any vitamin or herb that you can get to encourage menstruation?

PCOS can make it harder, but not always. I have a friend who has PCOS and she got pregnant two times without trying. So it really just depends on the severity and if you are ovulating or not. But then again I am technically on the low end of the PCOS spectrum and my body is determined to not become pregnant. It really just depends.

I don't know of any herb but if you have had an abnormally long cycle your gp should just prescribe you Provera. You take it for 10 days and your period will start a few days after the last dose is taken. It is also pretty inexpensive. But if that is the case your doctor should be running tests to see why your cycles are so long. Good luck!

 

[struth]

Yeah - I think you are right Trishg. It just all fits, you know? I'm definitely going to make an appointment if AF arrives this cycle. You are right though - if it is PCOS than I am one of the lucky ones as I am ovulating. I think, however, I have low progesterone to go with it as I spot from 7/8dpo... I think that is likely why I can't stay pregnant

We'll get there though! How are things with you?

That would totally make sense if your progesterone was low. Mine is low also and my doctor said that after ovulation he will put me on progesterone supplements until I was 12 weeks into a pregnancy to help sustain it. If that is your issue I bet you'll be just fine

I'm okay I guess. This was my first cycle with my RE. We were planning on doing clomid, a hcg trigger shot, and iui. But it is looking like we are going to cancel the cycle instead. I had 2 scans this week and the one follicle that I have has not grown at all between the scans and my lining has gotten so thin they can't even measure it. It was very discouraging to hear and it looks as though we will be done with Clomid and moving on to more aggressive treatment. Trying to be okay about it though. Hopefully we will have better luck next month.

Oh Trishg21 - how disappointing especially as you had the follicle there. After the first scan you must have thought that it was going to work. I'm so sorry to hear that. What will be the more aggressive treatment? Sorry I don't know much about the treatment aspects. I hope you are okay hon x

 

[baby_nurse]

Hi ladies sorry I've been away for a while, just been catching up on everything I've missed! Fluffette what an amazing story! Good luck in your journey this time round. Lots of people seem to be being diagnosed with PCOS it seems a lot more common than I thought! Good luck to all the ladies awaiting test results, like someone said try and see a silver lining that at least you know you have a problem and can find out ways to overcome it.
Well I'm now on my 3rd cycle and initially I was feeling quite positive and ready to go but over the last few days I've lost my positive mojo and those dreaded negative feelings have returned. Im CD 13 so should be gearing up for ovulation but yet again my body is not co operating. I'm scared it'll be another long annovulatory cycle which will mean I definetely need to get my butt in gear and have a trip to the doctors. I'm so scared what he might find I try and stay positive and think I might ovulate but then every time I do an OPK and it's negative, or see another low temp, or no change in my CM I just feel so crushed and want to cry :'(
Sorry for rambling and moaning xx

 

[dodgercpkl]

Well I'm now on my 3rd cycle and initially I was feeling quite positive and ready to go but over the last few days I've lost my positive mojo and those dreaded negative feelings have returned. Im CD 13 so should be gearing up for ovulation but yet again my body is not co operating. I'm scared it'll be another long annovulatory cycle which will mean I definetely need to get my butt in gear and have a trip to the doctors. I'm so scared what he might find I try and stay positive and think I might ovulate but then every time I do an OPK and it's negative, or see another low temp, or no change in my CM I just feel so crushed and want to cry :'(
Sorry for rambling and moaning xx

If it makes you feel any better, at least you are having periods. My first 4 months of ttc went by with no period, no spotting, no bfp, nothing at all. I only had a period at that point because it was brought on by Provera, then I had another 7 months of nothing at all, and the rest of the time has been spent taking Prometrium every 6 weeks to jump start my period. I can fully sympathize with how frustrating it is. I actually had to stop reading baby/wedding forums completely until the last part because it was so disheartening seeing all of the ladies posting a low cd!

Just keep your head up. Try to see the bright side. Going to the doctor can give you some answers as to why things are happening and give you a goal to work towards. I can't tell you how much better it feels (especially after all of that time of not having any clue of what was going on) to have something that I can *do* to help my body. I felt so out of control, and while I know that there are still a ton of things out of my control, at least now I have this one thing that I can do that *is* in my control!

It's not easy to always see the silver lining. I get blindsided more times then I care to admit by friends getting pregnant, or at my job where I see pregnant ladies and their kids/babies all the time. I do find though, that the more I concentrate on things that I can do something about, the better I feel about things in general.

*hugs* I hope your stay here is a short one.

 

[dodgercpkl]

I'm okay I guess. This was my first cycle with my RE. We were planning on doing clomid, a hcg trigger shot, and iui. But it is looking like we are going to cancel the cycle instead. I had 2 scans this week and the one follicle that I have has not grown at all between the scans and my lining has gotten so thin they can't even measure it. It was very discouraging to hear and it looks as though we will be done with Clomid and moving on to more aggressive treatment. Trying to be okay about it though. Hopefully we will have better luck next month.

I'm so sorry that happened. How frustrating! Hang in there. Hopefully the more aggressive treatment will bring your bfp! I'm also curious as to what the more aggressive treatments will be. Have you talked to your RE about them yet?

Thanks for the advice there. So does PCOS make it harder to conceive?

Also, I've been meaning to ask - is there any vitamin or herb that you can get to encourage menstruation?

PCOS can make it harder, but not always. I have a friend who has PCOS and she got pregnant two times without trying. So it really just depends on the severity and if you are ovulating or not. But then again I am technically on the low end of the PCOS spectrum and my body is determined to not become pregnant. It really just depends.

I don't know of any herb but if you have had an abnormally long cycle your gp should just prescribe you Provera. You take it for 10 days and your period will start a few days after the last dose is taken. It is also pretty inexpensive. But if that is the case your doctor should be running tests to see why your cycles are so long. Good luck!

I'm going to 2nd Trish on this. Whether PCOS affects getting pregnant or not depends on the lady and probably how severe the pcos is. My mom and I were speculating yesterday as to whether she had pcos. Like me she always had irregular periods, and interestingly enough we are having pretty much the same tests done to us right now by different endocrinologists and getting pretty close to identical results. We are betting that she probably did have it, but it didn't manifest in her like it did in me (maybe due to differences in weight). She had 2 kids with no problems although she did have an MC in between (good thing because her last pregnancy was me and they only wanted 2 kids!).

I personally would lean more towards Prometrium for jump starting a period rather then Provera because Prometrium is a bio-identical and can actually safely be taken while pregnant and Provera can't. Other then that, I have heard of taking soy, but I don't know much about it. Do you get plenty of sun? If not, you might want to think about d3. And I found too that I was low on B12 and I remember my endo mentioning something about that possibly having an affect on cycles.

I can't remember if I've seen it posted in this forum or not, but another forum that I'm on posted this article and it has a lot of very interesting points to make about things people can do to increase their fertility: https://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2007/12/01/fat-carbs-and-the-science-of-conception.html

 

[mouse12]

Thanks very much for that dodger.

So, in my quest to officially lose my mind, I decided to start temping and today I did an OPK. The reason I decided to get an OPK is because I checked my cervix for mucus and what can only be descibed as a 'blob' of cream, stretchy mucus came out, just one blob though (I sincerely apologise for the detail here but I have nowhere else to try and get answers from). So, I did the OPK and it came up with a faint positive. One side of it is darker than the other, but still not quite as dark as the control line. I read that regular positives or almost positives can be indicative of PCOS, however I wouldnt go as far as to say its even 'nearly positive'. That said, its definitely there.

With regard to my temps, no idea what these mean:

Monday - 36.32
Tuesday - 36.20
Wednesday - 36.05
Thursday - 36.00
Friday - 36.22
Today - 36.70 however I went out last night and had quite a few vodkas, so think this could have skewed it.

Any insight, as always will help me out!

Also, I'm sorry I don't comment on other peoples situations much but as I'm clueless about this stuff still I don't really know what to say!

 

[Trishg21]

Oh Trishg21 - how disappointing especially as you had the follicle there. After the first scan you must have thought that it was going to work. I'm so sorry to hear that. What will be the more aggressive treatment? Sorry I don't know much about the treatment aspects. I hope you are okay hon x

I am doing much better today, thank you! Everything seems much more dire and dramatic when the news is fresh. I did have a lot of hope for this cycle, but I guess it wasn't meant to be.

The treatment my doctor is recommending is Injectable Hormones most likely Gonal-F. This is sometimes referred to super ovulation. Pretty much means I will make a whole lotta eggs, we will trigger, and do an iui. I am still a little hesitant because the chance of multiples is much higher (this is what Jon and Kate plus 8 did. I do not want 6 babies.) and I have had two separate doctors tell me that based on how many follicles are on each of my ovaries, that I will make a lot of eggs.

I am going to try to talk my doctor into trying Femara (clomid alternative) before we go there. I has brushed it off in the past but I really feel like we should maybe give it a shot. I am also hopefully gonna get a second opinion soon just to make sure we are getting the best treatment.

I'm okay I guess. This was my first cycle with my RE. We were planning on doing clomid, a hcg trigger shot, and iui. But it is looking like we are going to cancel the cycle instead. I had 2 scans this week and the one follicle that I have has not grown at all between the scans and my lining has gotten so thin they can't even measure it. It was very discouraging to hear and it looks as though we will be done with Clomid and moving on to more aggressive treatment. Trying to be okay about it though. Hopefully we will have better luck next month.

I'm so sorry that happened. How frustrating! Hang in there. Hopefully the more aggressive treatment will bring your bfp! I'm also curious as to what the more aggressive treatments will be. Have you talked to your RE about them yet?

Going in on Tuesday so I will know for sure what he is recommending then. We will see. He and I are of different opinions at the moment.

 

[dodgercpkl]

@Mouse - I'm just starting temping myself, so I can't help you there. Have you tried looking at fertilityfriend.com? There are a lot of charts that you can look at and see what temps did for other ladies that got pregnant, or just get a feel for what your temps should be doing at what time.

I've done a whole bunch of opk's in the last year and the only thing I can say about them so far is that I went from getting NOTHING but the control line (so depressing since lots of people say "Oh I'm going to test with an opk because at least I always get a line on there") to getting barely there lines. I see that as an improvement, but definitely not a sign that I ovulated. But then that's proved out by the fact that my period has to be jump started every 6 weeks. lol On my doctors recommendation, I'm trying to clear blue easy fertility monitor starting this month. I'm pretty hopeful that there will be something to pinpoint this month!

@Trish - Oh my. I can understand your dilemma. I wouldn't mind having twins at all, and triplets I could be ok with, but above that is scary on so many levels! Has he said why he prefers that over Femara? Keep us posted!

 

[MrsReiver]

Mouse don't ever worry about TMI - we are all regularly sticking our fingers in our bits and checking our own mucus so we're all perfectly happy to hear about yours. Sorry I have nothing insightful to say about your temps, as I'm no expert at all but there are lots of clever ladies who will be along with something more to offer lol

Trish - I'm so sorry this cycle hasn't been productive. Fingers crossed for Tuesday. I've come up with a possible solution - you go ahead with the Gonal-F, and if you have 8 babies - we have a raffle. I'll quite happily rehome a couple for you. In all seriousness though it is a difficult decision and I wish you all the best making it xx

baby_nurse - ((hug)) we all have good days and bad days, especially when your hormones are all over the place like they are in this group. Have a cry if it makes you feel better - I spent all weekend snivelling, and it does help. If you need an excuse, hire Haachi, aside from having Richard Gere in it (yum) it is possibly the weepiest moving known to man. It had me and my 7yo howling.

Right, I think we all need a group hug

I know I jolly well do, one of my loveliest friends is pregnant. I'm so happy for her but I could just cry. Again. Oh well, onwards and upwards.

 

[mouse12]

Ahh thanks fluffette, that msg really made me smile, and I am down with that group hug! Any idea what that blob I experienced may have meant? Also, I did another OPK today and it was even lighter than yesterdays, so since doing the first one on sat they have got progressively lighter - does this tend to mean anything or not?

To add a little light hearted convo to the group - today I went for the dreaded blood test, husband and diazepam in tow, and I dare say I was extremely impressed with myself, or 'such a big brave girl' as my hubby hilariously put it. When I finally got called into the room I quite literally burst into tears, terrifying the nurse, however I was determined to go through with it so mounted the bed (univited) and stuck out my arm. I felt a tiny prick and thought that was her looking for a vein, then literally 15 seconds later she announced it was done - I couldn't believe it! So after accusing her of telling porkys, I burst out laughing at how utterly ridiculous I'de been for being so terrified! I was so convinced she hadn't done it I demanded to see the blood as proof...it was there.

Now just hope they come back ok so I can put the whole worrying thing to bed (no pun intended)

Trish - Stay strong, it might seem so tough now but you'll get there and it will all be worth it. I know you don't want 6 babies but that won't necessarily happen and if it does then you'll have a lovely family all at once. And you'll love them.

 

[Reba]

Ok Mouse you need to look at this link.
https://www.babycenter.com/101_what-cervical-mucus-looks-like-through-your-cycle_10351429.bc
I found it very helpful Based on the temps going down I would say that Ov was coming. If you had drinks the night before the big temp rise then you can't really base anything on that temp as the alcohol does wonderful things to your temp the next day been there done that!

If you got a very near positive on an OPK then perhaps it was OV and that big glob was your creamy CM kicking into gear? I have also found that after having some well deserved I end up with extra cm mixed with his left over material coming out up to the day after sometimes!! So it might have even been that.

Trish HUGE I totally understand. I don't think the clomid has worked for me this month, I'm looking at surgery on my left ovary to remove a cyst that has grown , and the dr is talking about referring me to an even more specialized specialist because things aren't progressing. I feel like she's given up on me so it's hard for me to not give up on myself. Feel free to check out the last few pages of my journal... it's all there Try to stay positive - I know how hard it is - That's all we can do though... that and have a big cry once in a while

 

[dodgercpkl]

@mouse - yay! I'm glad the blood testing went ok and was easier then you expected! FX'd for you that everything is good - but don't be surprised if they want to do a follow up blood test a few months down the road. I just got done with my follow up blood work (oooo I'm antsy for the results!).

 

[mouse12]

Ok Mouse you need to look at this link.
https://www.babycenter.com/101_what-cervical-mucus-looks-like-through-your-cycle_10351429.bc
I found it very helpful Based on the temps going down I would say that Ov was coming. If you had drinks the night before the big temp rise then you can't really base anything on that temp as the alcohol does wonderful things to your temp the next day been there done that!

If you got a very near positive on an OPK then perhaps it was OV and that big glob was your creamy CM kicking into gear? I have also found that after having some well deserved I end up with extra cm mixed with his left over material coming out up to the day after sometimes!! So it might have even been that.

:

Thanks Guys, still getting all confused with this temping stuff though - its all over the place:

Mon - 36.32
Tues - 36.20
Wed - 36.05
Thurs - 36.00
Fri - 36.22
Sat - 36.70
Sun - 36.51
Mon - 36.43
Tues - 36.25

What on earth is going on? I take it I haven't ovulated? Could it be that I'm just not doing it right? I've been doing it within the same hour every day (except Sat and Sun when I drank the previous night anyway). I'm beginning tho think temping is pointless as I havent had a period since end of July anyway...arrrgghh so frustrating! Hopefully I'll get the blood test results soon which may shed some light.

I also did another OPK today which was barely there. So they've gone from quite obvious but deffo not positive, then got lighter each day since then. Ive tried to upload an image of them but dont think I have managed to.

Feeling more confused than ever today! xx

 

[dodgercpkl]

I wish I had answers for you Mouse. I'm *just* starting temping myself, so I'm pretty sure that I'm going to be following in your confusion in the next couple of weeks. For now, I'm putting my temps in fertilityfriend.com. We'll see what I come up with! lol

I've taken 2 tests now with the cbfm and gotten high fertility on both of them. This too will be interesting to see what develops over the next couple weeks.

Our SA results are in and we are just waiting on my pelvic u/s results to make an appointment to talk about them and get a copy of the results. I do know that at my u/s the tech said that I did have a couple of cysts, but nothing too big and it all seemed like it was pretty routine. I'm hoping that's the case! I know my DH is antsy to find out the results of his SA.

I finally got off my duff and started a journal here too. I figured I better with all the time I've been on here lately!

 

[Reba]

You should be taking your temp with in 15 minutes of each other each day. I set my cell phone alarm for 7am and take my temp then snooze until I have to get up. It could be that your body attempted to ovulate but didn't quite get there. Which is why the temp went down and then up. You should see a marked difference with two stages of temps (from what I've been told) between the pre O temps and the post O temps. I have yet to experience this myself so I totally understand where you're coming from.

My temps this cycle are crazy and all over the place. They make no sense at all. I'm not even sure I believe Fertility Friend (FF) when it says I'm 3 DPO today. I can totally see it taking away the cross hairs tomorrow sometimes I wonder

 

[Trishg21]

Thanks Guys, still getting all confused with this temping stuff though - its all over the place:

Mon - 36.32
Tues - 36.20
Wed - 36.05
Thurs - 36.00
Fri - 36.22
Sat - 36.70
Sun - 36.51
Mon - 36.43
Tues - 36.25

What on earth is going on? I take it I haven't ovulated? Could it be that I'm just not doing it right? I've been doing it within the same hour every day (except Sat and Sun when I drank the previous night anyway). I'm beginning tho think temping is pointless as I havent had a period since end of July anyway...arrrgghh so frustrating! Hopefully I'll get the blood test results soon which may shed some light.

I also did another OPK today which was barely there. So they've gone from quite obvious but deffo not positive, then got lighter each day since then. Ive tried to upload an image of them but dont think I have managed to.

Feeling more confused than ever today! xx

Sorry hun, it does not look to me like you have ovulated. Keep it up, it sounds like you are doing it just right. I know its frustrating but I really did find temping helpful.

Trish HUGE I totally understand. I don't think the clomid has worked for me this month, I'm looking at surgery on my left ovary to remove a cyst that has grown , and the dr is talking about referring me to an even more specialized specialist because things aren't progressing. I feel like she's given up on me so it's hard for me to not give up on myself. Feel free to check out the last few pages of my journal... it's all there Try to stay positive - I know how hard it is - That's all we can do though... that and have a big cry once in a while

Don't give up! That is the lesson I learned today. I went into the Dr. today expecting him to cancel the cycle and as it turns out I am actually responding! I have 3 follicles on the right side and 1 on the left. We are hopefully going to be ready to trigger Thursday or Friday and do the IUI this weekend

When do you go in for bloodwork to see if you are responding?

Trish - Stay strong, it might seem so tough now but you'll get there and it will all be worth it. I know you don't want 6 babies but that won't necessarily happen and if it does then you'll have a lovely family all at once. And you'll love them.

Thank you for the kind response!

@Trish - Oh my. I can understand your dilemma. I wouldn't mind having twins at all, and triplets I could be ok with, but above that is scary on so many levels! Has he said why he prefers that over Femara? Keep us posted!

I actually didn't even mention it because as it turns out I am responding to clomid, just not as fast as most people do. But hey! I'll take it!

Trish - I'm so sorry this cycle hasn't been productive. Fingers crossed for Tuesday. I've come up with a possible solution - you go ahead with the Gonal-F, and if you have 8 babies - we have a raffle. I'll quite happily rehome a couple for you. In all seriousness though it is a difficult decision and I wish you all the best making it xx

Heh. You know if I had to give babies to anyone it would definitely be to the ladies in this thread! I just want us all to be happy and pregnant.

Thank you for the good vibes. I feel very lucky to have such great support.

 

[Reba]

Trish HUGE I totally understand. I don't think the clomid has worked for me this month, I'm looking at surgery on my left ovary to remove a cyst that has grown , and the dr is talking about referring me to an even more specialized specialist because things aren't progressing. I feel like she's given up on me so it's hard for me to not give up on myself. Feel free to check out the last few pages of my journal... it's all there Try to stay positive - I know how hard it is - That's all we can do though... that and have a big cry once in a while

Don't give up! That is the lesson I learned today. I went into the Dr. today expecting him to cancel the cycle and as it turns out I am actually responding! I have 3 follicles on the right side and 1 on the left. We are hopefully going to be ready to trigger Thursday or Friday and do the IUI this weekend

When do you go in for bloodwork to see if you are responding?

Well it looks like I might have O'd so I'll go in for blood tests on Thursday and on Monday since Friday is a holiday and that's really the day I should go in. I'm so glad it looks like things are working out for you. I'll keep my fingers crossed for both of us this month!!

Trish - I'm so sorry this cycle hasn't been productive. Fingers crossed for Tuesday. I've come up with a possible solution - you go ahead with the Gonal-F, and if you have 8 babies - we have a raffle. I'll quite happily rehome a couple for you. In all seriousness though it is a difficult decision and I wish you all the best making it xx

Heh. You know if I had to give babies to anyone it would definitely be to the ladies in this thread! I just want us all to be happy and pregnant.

Thank you for the good vibes. I feel very lucky to have such great support.

I missed this the first time too funny

 

[dodgercpkl]

@trish - glad to hear you are responding after all! That's great news!

 

[mouse12]

Hi ladies, results came bck and all normal hormone levels so very relieved. Can I just ask- for those of you with pcos or anything else, did this show up in your blood tests? Just wondering if I need to pursue anything more or if this is the all clear? X