Testing progesterone levels.

[wavescrash]

So I just had my 3rd loss out of 5 pregnancies and my doc is sending me to check my beta levels again tomorrow but I wanted to call and ask to check my progesterone too, because after lots of reading, that's what I believe is the main culprit.

My question is does it matter at what point you are in your cycle to have it checked?

Say I'm CD 5 tomorrow so will whatever reading it is be accurate enough to say "yes, you have low progesterone and that's likely the cause." Or will the reading not be accurate at that point in my cycle?

Any input is more than appreciated.


Also - my mom orders a progesterone supplement cream online and it's bio-identical as opposed to synthetic, she swears by it. Assuming my OB doesn't agree with my train of thought and I decide to try it out myself, does anyone have any success/personal experience using the progesterone cream in regards to fertility/conceiving?

 

[kiwilove]

So I just had my 3rd loss out of 5 pregnancies and my doc is sending me to check my beta levels again tomorrow but I wanted to call and ask to check my progesterone too, because after lots of reading, that's what I believe is the main culprit.

My question is does it matter at what point you are in your cycle to have it checked?

Say I'm CD 5 tomorrow so will whatever reading it is be accurate enough to say "yes, you have low progesterone and that's likely the cause." Or will the reading not be accurate at that point in my cycle?

Any input is more than appreciated.


Also - my mom orders a progesterone supplement cream online and it's bio-identical as opposed to synthetic, she swears by it. Assuming my OB doesn't agree with my train of thought and I decide to try it out myself, does anyone have any success/personal experience using the progesterone cream in regards to fertility/conceiving?

Hey wavescrash
I am so sorry for your loses.
I do think it matters where you are in your cycle. once you ovulate your progesterone rises, This is the number you want. You can have high enough progesterone level to ovulate, but it may be on the low side to maintain a pregnancy. Before you ovulate your progesterone levels are supposed to be low.
As for the supplement, I say go for it. research it a little more to make sure it wont hurt you if you do produce enough progesterone. Sometimes we have to take matters into our own hands. GL and lots of sticky

 

[Laurana]

Typically they draw blood around day 24-26 to test the progesterone level if you have a 28 day cycle. The test can tell them if you likely ovulated and have high enough levels to maintain a pregnancy. My doc just started me on Prometrium which is a natural progesterone. Basic instructions are to take it daily from CD 18-28, take a pregnancy test, if not pregnant, stop taking it and you get AF. If you are pregnant you keep taking it to prevent miscarriage.

You should NOT take progesterone before you ovulate or you may prevent ovulation completely. Talk you your doc. I'm sure they will write you a script.

 

[wavescrash]

Thanks.

I thought I'd read that it's supposed to be low before ovulation so I figured it probably mattered when they tested it. I just don't know if my doc would prescribe anything before checking my levels at that point in my cycle but I suppose it wouldn't hurt to proceed with TTC this cycle and see if she'll test my levels around that point and go from there.

We're just TTC by the end of next month because our wedding is May 31, 2014 and I want to make sure I have time to have the baby, fit back into my dress and recover/get some sleep before the wedding lol. So if we don't conceive by the end of July, then we have to wait until a year from now and that's a bigger age gap than I wanted between my youngest & another sibling. Not the end of the world, obviously but I'd just like to conceive ... now lol.