Short cycles

[lillyttc]

Hello everybody,
From past four months i have been noting my cycle lengths and this month I have tried to track my BBT. My cycle length has been varying from 23 to 28 days. and this month my BBT showed a zigzag (up and down) in the middle (CD10 to CD16 ) and last 8 days it was high and today AF started on CD23 (had observed a very slight drop in BBT today). Does these kind of cycles show some problem?

My history is that I have had a scan and HSG about a year and a half or more and at that time everything seemed normal at my end (my overies and uterus were as they should have been, and my tubes open). I dont remember my gyno had ever got me tested for any hormonal imbalance or ovulation problems, but till date my periods have always been on time, on or before 28days.

(we have been trying for more than 3 years with male factor infertility).

 

[Leila Fae]

Hi lillyttc, I don't have any answers I'm afraid but I too have short cycles. Generally I average 25-27 days but my last one was only 24 days. My LP tends to be 9-11 days.

I charted my BBT for 7 months when I started TTC but it stressed me out so much I stopped.

I'll be asking about this when I see the FS on Monday. Will let you know if I find anything out.

 

[NGRidley]

usually short cycles are fine as long as your luteal phase (time from O to AF) is long enough. Usually anything over 9 days is fine. Shorter than that then you probably have luteal phase defect and may need some help like taking progesterone.

do you have a link to your chart?

 

[lillyttc]

hi,
Sorry for late response, i thought AF has started but i just had very little spotting yesterday morning and nothing after that. the possibility of a BFP is nearly zero as we stayed away from CD5 to CD20 for work, and during that time I saw the temperature shift.

I don't have a link to my BBT chart yet, but I will do it soon.

 

[lillyttc]

and of course my temperature has started dropping from yesterday morning!

 

[dan-o]

I also have short cycles and OH has a little bit of a MF

We hope to get a FS referral some time soon, so we can get some further investigations done

 

[lillyttc]

@dan-o: What does your DH SA figures look like, I want to know because your signature reads that u did conceive twice naturally. I have no hopes for a natural BFP (but still trying).

 

[dan-o]

Hi lilly, funnily enough we had one done the same month I got the second BFP, he had 34m 39% motility and 10% morph.
We are pretty sure this was a good month (sperm wise) as his varicocele was quite small, for a change!

xxx

 

[HappyDaze]

Hi Lilly - short cycles CAN be a sign of problems (i'm not saying it is!) - especially if they haven't always been that short. I had the same, cycles used to be around 28 days and then became 23-25 days. when i went for my first FS appt, this was the thing she was most concerned about as she said that as we approach menopause our cycle lenght shortens. Well she was right with me because ultrasound scans and blood tests revelaed that I have diminshed ovarian reserve (eggs basically running out early).

I'm not saying this is the same for you, and I don't want to worry you but I would go and ask for some blood tests to determine hormone levels etc. There may be a reason for your short cycles and if there is, they can possibly do something to help it. My FS tried me on progesterone first but that didn't help and then on clomid - i'm not sure if that lenghtened my cycle or not cos I got my BFP on my first clomid cycle, but i def OV'd later than usual that cycle so it probably would have been a longer cycle. Good luck x

 

[lillyttc]

Hi HappyDaze - thanks for answering. Congratulation for ur BFP, and healthy and happy 9 months . For me this has been my cycle length (23-28 days) ever since I have started having my periods regularly (about 2-3 years after puberty, I remember from my 14 years). But yes there would always be scope for problems as I am growing old day by day. let me see what my gyno has to say about our case, I have my first appointment with a gyno after 1.5 years in this new place. we had a SA recently which has the same results which we have seen earlier with an extra revelation about bad morphology which is only 15%. So my husbands sperms are scoring low on all the tree aspects (count, morphology and motility) without any diagnosable cause.

Hi dan-o: thanks for writing back, good to know the counts, they seem pretty good. Hope u see ur BFP again soon and have a healthy baby.