Long follicular phase?

rosegoldgirl

Have any of you lovely ladies had a long follicular phase? I haven't properly tracked in about a year as it was adding a lot of stress, but I am going to start again next cycle. We have been TTC for 3 years and I've had 3 losses (very early losses), all last year. Since my last one in December, I haven't been successful at getting preggerz again.

I have had my progesterone levels checked for 3 months now, one week post ovulation each time (all numbers have been good so far). I determined I was ovulating by the cervical mucus, and only that. This month, I decided to do an OPK. I took it last Wed and it was positive (not super light, not super dark). I didn't have any mucus until a few days ago, and yesterday I had quite a bit. Today I (think) I had the "fertile" mucus; clear and stretchy. I'm 17 days into my cycle, and I have been getting a positive ovulation test for at least a week. That's a long time isn't it??? I mean from what I've read, the follicular phase can be pretty long, but I thought an LH surge should be less than a week? Why is the menstrual cycle so confusing?! Haha

Anyway, the question is: what can be done about that if that is the case? If my follicular phase is sometimes too long, is there something my RE might have me take? I left them a message and am waiting to hear back, but I always value your thoughts too!

mwmiller4

The first time I got pregnant, I ovulated on CD22. That ended in a MMC at 8 weeks, but it wasn't because of the length of the follicular phase. After my D&Cs, I had super screwy follicular phases for 2 months--I would have about 2 weeks of nearly positive OPKs (prior to that I'd have a very short rise and 1 day peak--OPKs are only positive if they're as darker or darker than the control.) I also was extremely stressed out about conceiving again and took a trip mid month for work, which could have increased the follicular phase. It also could have been my body taking a long time to fully rebuild my lining each month--if everything is working perfectly, you shouldn't ovulate until your lining is thick enough (which signals to your ovary to let the ovum mature and rupture).

The next month I had a short rise and one day peak on CD 16 and I got pregnant. I temped that month, too, though I'm not sure it made a difference.

From what I've read, follicular phases are highly variable and generally the variability isn't something you need to correct--though it's super frustrating because you're not sure about timing and why people usually suggest you temp to confirm actual ovulation.

This is a long way of saying, I think you're probably ok with a long follicular phase and maybe try temping?

rosegoldgirl

@mwmiller4, thank you so much for that information! Definitely helpful! I didn't know that the line had to be as dark or darker than the sample line. I had a darker line (darker than the past week, that is) yesterday along with the egg white (pretty much clear) stretchy CM. The line wasn't AS dark as the test line though, but I would think CM tells you more than an OPK would, right?

It's been so long since I've really tracked my cycle (temping, etc), so the details are fuzzy to me. I remember that your temp is low for the first half of the cycle, then starts to increase. Then if you're pregnant, the temp continues to increase at the time when it would normally start to decrease. Is that correct? What part of temping tells you that you are ovulating? I can't remember that part.

rosegoldgirl

I just spoke with my RE, and she said the OPK should only be showing positive for about 3 days. She said I ovulated too late this time, assuming I did ovulate yesterday at 17 days into the cycle. She suggested that I go on Letrozeole next cycle to shorten the follicular phase. Anyone had experiences with this?