Hi my friends in the computer. I am looking for some advise from those in the know.
I have always had really long cycles. When I was an athletic high schooler, I thought 60 day cycles were great (although at times stressful).
When I got pregnant with Serenity, I was fairly regular for some reason, at about 35 days. I subscribe to the belief that women grouped together share hormonal signals and get 'in sync'. I once asked an OB about this and she gave me the hairiest eyeball, but hey, I had three college roomies and, when I got pregnant with Serenity, two women officemates. And I know my cycle doesn't follow the 'law' if left to its own devices.
So, after the miscarriage last fall, I wanted to have two or three regular cycles. I haven't really got that yet. My cycles are about 40 days. I have been temping each morning, and my temp doesn't increase.
I called my MFM office this week, and they don't do anything with helping you to get pregnant. I don't think I have a problem with that, we are preventing that right now, and that's not actually what I wanted help with. But, after the miscarriage, the MFM told us to come in "right after a positive pregnancy test" and we would test progesterone and do progesterone supplementation.
So here's the gist of my question:
1. Let's say I am ovulating, but my temps aren't shifting. (I think that is a progesterone nonresponse). Is it 'safe' to conceive, or is that new blastocyst doomed. I am concerned about the lag time between conception and POAS +. (The miscarriage was scanned at 5-6 weeks and confirmed failed at 7 weeks - pretty early)
The MFM office told me to go to a fertility specialist. But I don't have a documented problem with conceiving. And I don't really want to go to another doctor.
Anyway, any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated. If anyone is super gung ho on helping me, I IM on FB, skype or gmail. We can exchange IDs, email me at aksvlpstl at yahoo.
xxoo
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11 comments:
I would go to a fertility specialist. Our guy has been GREAT and has made us feel so much more at ease and hopeful that we will get pregnant and have it be successful.
if your temps are not rising, you are not getting sufficient progesterone from the corpus luteum, or you are not ovulating at all. if your cycles are long and also irregular, it is probable that you are not ovulating.
the *safety* of conception with low progesterone: without sufficient progesterone (assuming you did ovulate), chance of implantation is greatly decreased. i believe it is LATE implantation that would clue you to higher possibility of early miscarriage....you might be able to spot an implantation temp rise when the time comes. BUT!!! early miscarriage can happen for many many reasons...super-duper early low progesterone is a pretty unlikely cause of a miscarriage after all those weeks.
dong quai is a good herb to help balance the reproductive hormones in general. keep temping and try the DQ, if you don't see an improvement, think about an RE then. you can also ask your GYN to send you for luteal phase progesterone bloodwork.
remember, though, not enough estrogen-->not building up good lining-->not triggering the other ovulation hormones-->if no ovulation, no progesterone. it all flows together.
don't be scared to see another doc when the time comes. infertility sucks.
holy shit, charmy gave a fantabulous answer. in fact, i may just have to go pick her brain myself.
i was just going to say that i am the last person to give you the answer to this question as i can't seem to carry a pregnancy very long myself. hope you got (get) the answer you need. xo.
I don't think I've commented here before, but I've read often, and I'm really sorry for all you've been through.
I have similar cycles- after I lost my daughter I had a couple of 58 day cycles, then a few at 45 days, a 30 day, then back to 45. I wasn't tracking my temperature until very recently but I generally had no pms-type symptoms and I never had a clue when my period was actually coming.
We recently found out that we're pregnant, so something must have gone right in those crazy cycles.
Best of luck to you.
Charmy has some great thoughts. I am certainly not an expert in any way shape or form, but from reading lots and lots of blogs, it seems that for most women long cycles plus no temperature changes are consistent with non-ovulatory cycles. Of course, if you know you're ovulating, I suppose that something else might be going on...
I hate doctors and resent going to them, but, I think that in this case, you should really, really consider trying a good fertility doctor (I'd get some recommendations from people in your area). Because, who knows, maybe there's something going on that's easy to diagnose and easy to fix....
Well, I just followed a link here from Azaera's blog so I may be butting in a bit. I have 4 living kids plus one miscarriage. I never tracked my temp, but my cycles have always been long and irregular. Two of my kids were conceived when I was going through a stretch of 50-60 day cycles, so I wouldn't rule out the possibility of having a baby even though your cycles aren't what they're supposed to be.
And if it gives you any hope, I quit using birth control just after my second child turned two. It was seven years before I got pregant. I lost that baby, but got pregnant almost immediately after we were given the go ahead to try again. My next child was born when her big sis was eight. We didn't see a fertility specialist or have any treatments because we figured that we already had two and it would be OK if we didn't have more kids. After so long it was a shook to realize I could still have a baby. That's not the same thing you're going through, but it does show that sometimes things change and it could still happen for you.
I agree with charmedgirl, it sounds like it's time to see a fertility doctor. I know it's yet another doctor, but it's better to be armed with all the knowledge and medical treatment from the beginning.
From my experience, my fertility doctor told me progesterone treatment after you have a confirmed pregnancy test is a bit too late. You should ideally start it at conception if you have a low progesterone levels.
Good luck and we're here for you, unfortunately, there are lots of us with fertility issues.
good luck honey. sounds like a fertility specialist is the way to go. good thoughts to you!
My assvice, would be to see a fertility specialist, I know it is another doctor and another stress, but it could save you in the long run. Hugs.
Unfortunately I have no clue about tracking ovulation, but I tagged you on my blog for a meme thing.
I know you don't want to hear this, but I'd go to a fertility specialist. Keep in mind that my history is screwed - I never had anything working long enough to even tinker with, so this is just purely assvice from me. But from all the testing I've had done, I realize how very many tiny things must be in place before the big things will work properly. It all boils down to statistics, really. Would you rather go to someone who can give you not only the answers you seek but also a plan, or would you rather tinker? :-/
Best of luck to you - hang in there..
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