Anyone took BCP for two months to regulate period to help with conceiving?

porche123 · May 2016

Wondering if anyone was told to take bcp for two months to regulate period and also reset ovaries to balance out hormones. I did provera for two cycles but my obgyn feels that taking bcp might be more effective in regulating my hormones to help me conceive. I was wondering if anyone had any similar experience.

picklesplease · May 2016

I recommend a different board. Many of us are still TTC #1. I would try the first tri board. I believe there might be a couple of ladies here who have taken BCP while TTC, but you may find more answers on the first tri board.

porche123 · May 2016

I rephrased the question. I meant to ask if anyone was able to conceive after taking bcp for two months to help with balancing their hormones. I am TTC #1. Sorry for the misleading question.

izza2 · May 2016

porche123 said:

I rephrased the question. I meant to ask if anyone was able to conceive after taking bcp for two months to help with balancing their hormones. I am TTC #1. Sorry for the misleading question.

PP's reply still applies -- your best bet to ask this question would be on the First Trimester board, where the users there have all successfully conceived.

porche123 · May 2016

Ok. Sorry about that. I am new to this and wasn't sure where to post but it makes sense to post it there instead.

izza2 · May 2016

porche123 said:

Ok. Sorry about that. I am new to this and wasn't sure where to post but it makes sense to post it there instead.

Totally fine! You'll just get a lot more responses and more luck for someone else having the same experience there.

Good luck!

Sugargirl1019 · May 2016

TW loss

I thought I'd share my experience with you, OP. I did not take BCP for regulating; I was on them for years to prevent and decided to stop to get pregnant. I wanted to share the name of the pills I was on because I did get a BFP the first month off. I MC'd though so I don't know if that was related. I was taking LoLoEstrin Fe (a very low dose of estrogen).

I agree that for the answer to if anyone took BCP to regulate, posting on the 1st Trimester board may yield more results because a lot of ladies here are TTC #1.

[Deleted User] · May 2016

Sugargirl1019 said:

TW loss

I thought I'd share my experience with you, OP. I did not take BCP for regulating; I was on them for years to prevent and decided to stop to get pregnant. I wanted to share the name of the pills I was on because I did get a BFP the first month off. I MC'd though so I don't know if that was related. I was taking LoLoEstrin Fe (a very low dose of estrogen).

I agree that for the answer to if anyone took BCP to regulate, posting on the 1st Trimester board may yield more results because a lot of ladies here are TTC #1.

This could certainly be wrong, but I have heard/read that the first few months you are off HBC you are more likely to miscarry than someone who has been off 3+ months.

Sugargirl1019 · May 2016

After doing some looking, I found two articles that find long-term use of oral contraceptives increasing the likelihood of miscarriage.

The first, by Dr. Ellen Grant in the British Medical Journal (which I cannot link to because you need to pay for her multiple letters) finds that babies conceived within 3 months of coming of birth control are more likely to have birth defects that range from incompatiblity with life to minor nutrient deficiencies in live births. She has many books regarding oral contraceptives' effects on the uterus and body ("The Bitter Pill" and "Sexual Chemistry. Understanding our Hormones, the Pill and HRT") which you may find interesting .

This other study links the cause to BCP thinning the endometrium to less than 7 mm. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22825095
"The study found that women whose endometrium was 7mm thick or less had a nearly 600 percent higher miscarriage rate than those whose endometrium measured 7mm or thicker. Nearly two-thirds (63 percent) of women who had used oral contraception for 10 years or more were found to have an endometrium of 7mm or below."

Of course, we all know plenty of healthy babies born to mothers who conceived right off the pill. And studies exist that do not find a correlation between miscarriage and oral contraceptive use.

The only thing I had been told was possible hyper-ovulation. I did not know of any correlation with an unhealthy (thinner) endometrial lining. It would have been interesting to know given my normal progesterone levels in my pregnancy.
My doctor does not find birth control to be a cause of higher miscarriage rates, but I do find it interesting. I was on the pill for almost 10 years when I stopped.

OP, I do not know if a short 2 month time period would have effects like this, of it is correlated, but good information nonetheless so that you can make an informed decision about your health.

Thanks @antoto . I had never heard of this possible effect on pregnancy.

porche123 · May 2016

Thank you @Sugargirl1019 and @antoto for sharing your insight. It's definitely helpful to know about this and how it could have affect on conceiving right after coming off of bcp. I was debating on whether or not to try right away after the two months of bcp but I think I will talk to my obgyn and think it through first. I wanted her to prescribe me clomid when I was doing the provera challenge but she seem to be hesitant and insist that I tried doing two months of bcp first and see what happens. Hopefully it will help regulate my hormones in some ways, it's frustrating with long irregular cycles.

Sugargirl1019 · May 2016

@Porche123 Clomid is a drug that must be watched very carefully - please use the search function to find all of the great threads on Clomid use I remember these ladies discussing. I would not take it lightheartedly, especially if your OB was hesitant to start it. Most take it under careful guidance of an RE, and refused to take it under a general OB.

porche123 · May 2016

@Sugergirl1019 Thanks for the advice and heads up. I just spent the last few hours reading threads about unmonitored clomids. It's scary.......

Do you know if femara has the same side effects?

picklesplease · May 2016

I am starting Femara next cycle. Femara has side effects like mood swings, bloating, headaches, ETA: hot flashes, joint pain, and dizziness. At least, that is what my RE told me. Also keep in mind that everyone responds differently to these medications. A medication that can cause lots of issues to one person might have different effects on another.

beary67 · May 2016

Femara must also be monitored like Clomid (blood work U/S)

hunnybunny17 · May 2016

Femara, while it generally only targets one lead follicle, does have the ability to create multiple follicles/eggs like Clomid.

KristoKekerooni · May 2016

OP, just throwing a bit of info your way.
# 1, Just FYI, I have heard of using BCP as a precursor to TTC to regulate hormones. A lot of places that do things like IVF (normally an RE's office) use it so you can get on a good schedule so they can more easily predict what day your follicles mature, ovulate, period is expected, etc. Most of the time 2-4 months is all it takes. IMO, 2 months probably won't do much to hurt you. It's probably just used to get everything in line and sort of have a baseline.
#2, I have not been on Clomid or Femara, so take this with a grain of salt. My two best friends both had PCOS.
A.
Friend number one is on the Clomid route. She was told to start BCP before TTC to establish baseline and partly because her doctor was a bit of a quack (IMHO). Once she got off BCP, she started immediately with Clomid. She did have a bunch of symptoms for the first two months (basically everything they tell you-diarrhea, constipation, mood swings, EVERYTHING). Then it leveled out. Her doctor wasn't a fan of Femara in her case, because she wanted her to have lots of follicles, and since Femara focuses mostly on one, she opted for Clomid. Clomid is very harsh and can only be used for a max of 6 months because it will start causing damage (my aunt took it for far too long and it was disasterous!) Most docs won't even have you take it that long, because statistically, if it's going to work, it'll work within the first three months. After that chances are low. I will throw in this disclaimer: her doc is a little weird and she's going on month 8... Her doc thinks it's okay to continue Clomid as long as every 6 moths there is a break. I disagree with that course of treatment, but hey, I'm not a doctor and it's not my uterus. As of now, they have not yet discussed future options.
B.
Friend number two is on the Femara route. She has been off BCP for about a year. She was not told to start BCP, but instead hopped right onto Femara and Metformin. She had symptoms for only the weekish she took Femara, but they weren't quite as severe as Clomid (whether that is a difference in person or medication, who knows?). Once she stopped taking it for the rest of her cycle, she went back to normal. I can't attest to whether it works on her, as this is only her second cycle and she hasn't hit even the TWW yet (FX for her!). She was told she will only be taking it twice (maybe three times), and then move onto medicated IUI if it doesn't work.

Anyway, super long, but that's everything I know. Jump on over to 1st Trimester to get some better opinions. Better yet, I always recommend a second (or even third!) opinion. Fertility medications are beasts. They really wreck havoc on your body an they shouldn't be taken lightly. Also, I hate to say it, but infertility is a high ticket item. Unfortunate, there are many in it for the money. Women get desperate and already have a mentality that IF treatments are costly, so they really rig those prices up sometimes. There are great doctors and clinics out there that do care, you just need to be cautious and stand up for yourself!

porche123 · May 2016

@KristoB Thank you so much for the information! Definitely very informative! I guess I was pretty naive and uneducated in the beginning thinking that I can just take Clomid and bam! I will get a BFP. (If only it was that easy, right?) I was also reading other different forums online where other women just recommend other women to just ask their doctors for provera and then rounds of clomid. I had no idea how dangerous and crazy this drug could be. I guess a success for one person does not mean it will be successful for everyone since every person's body is different.

And thank you other members for contributing and replying.

Edit: I forgot to mention that I totally agree with you about the last part where many are in it for the money and don't truly want to help and very true that many women would willing to pay whatever prices to get what they want. But I am sure there are also those who are really dedicated and would try their best to help but again, it's also what kind of price are you willing to pay.

KristoKekerooni · May 2016

no problem @porche123 . Like I said though, that all was info I most got from my friends and research I did to understand what they are going through. I probably would be way more informed if it was my own thing, so take it with a grain of salt. Now I hope you go ahead and join in the community posting in the WTO & TWW threads. This community is awesome, and you've only had a taste of it so far. Believe me, the more support you give, the more you receive. Don't forget to read the posts that are pinned to the top (specifically the Newbie thread). Those will give you a lot of valuable information and help you not step on toes with mistakenly breaking rules.
Good luck, I hope to see you stick around these parts.

porche123 · May 2016

Thanks! I will definitely start participating in those threads. In the meantime, trying to learn all the abbreviation first before I start jumping in the threads. Yep, the newbie thread and guide has a lot of good info too. I am going to re-read that right now since it's slow at work.

vrj0522 · June 2016

This is a bit of a late response to your question but I use the BCP to regulate my periods. After each pregnancy I've had, I don't get a period until I re-start it by going on the BCP for a month and then my cycles regulate. I have PCOS and used to have really long, irregular cycles so I got on the BCP and would take it for one month only every 4-5 months and that would be enough to get me regular for several cycles. Eventually my cycles got regular without the need of the pill anymore so I only use it now after a pregnancy to get my period going again.

porche123 · June 2016

Thanks @vrj0522 for your response. I have really long irregular cycles also so I really hope that this method that my ob suggested would be helpful. I asked my ob if I want to do clomid after the bcp, would she be monitoring my cycles with ultrasounds. She was like "I will monitor with blood work to see if clomid is effective but I usually don't monitor with ultrasound for low dose 50mg which is what I would start you on". Ughh..after reading all the posts here about clomid, I prefer being monitor so I did research and found a RE that I will be seeing in July. Earliest appointment I can get and a little far from my house but I know it will be worth it.

Want a personalized experience?

Anyone took BCP for two months to regulate period to help with conceiving?

Re: Anyone took BCP for two months to regulate period to help with conceiving?

Choose Another Board

Search Boards