Advice (sorry, it's a little long)

ashleyroot · January 2009

DH and I have been TTC since the end of October. ?Prior to that I was on BC about 6 and a half years, and prior to that I rarely (once or twice only) menstrated without taking some kind of drug (BC or another period enducing drug I took for a while). ?My first cycle off of the pill I got my period, and was ecstatic at the hope of possibly having normal cycles, BUT now I'm in cycle 2 going on 47 days (and feeling like that first cycle must have been a fluke). ?I'm charting and my frankly my temps are so up and down every day that I don't see and regularity in sight. ?I was planning on holding off on talking to a doctor until my annual exam which I will be April-ish. ?Do you think they'll talk to me about fertility if I've only been trying 6 mos or so? ?I would think given my history they might. ?Also - have any of you had this problem? ?I know consistent annovulation is pretty uncommon, but any tips, commiserating would be appreciated. ?Thanks in advance! ?DH and I don't want to tell family/friends that we're trying yet, so I feel all alone and I'm having a really hard time emotionally right now. ?

oct11bride03 · January 2009

IMO, if you are charting and aren't noticing a clear ovulation pattern and aren't getting a regular period I would certainly talk to a doctor. You might want to start with an OBGYN if you're under 30, especially since they can do some blood work on you and a semen analysis for your husband. If you aren't ovulating then you can't get pregnant, end of story, so yes, I think that you should talk to someone about getting preliminary testing done. Good luck!

smilelari · January 2009

They'd probably be willing to talk to you about fertility at that point given your history of anovulation

mrspresley · January 2009

hi! you're welcome to post here anytime. this board is a great resource and wealth of information. i would go ahead and bring this up at your next annual exam - that's what i did. after 6 months of TTC, i brought it up to my ob/gyn at my annual and she looked at my charts and said it wasn't too early to start doing some preliminary testing. esp if you are unsure if you are ovulating. there are many reasons to have irregular/long cycles w/o a clear ovulation but it seems to me that a lot of women who have these symptoms have PCOS. so your ob/gyn could do some tests to rule that out.

i've always had regular cycles but they are long (35-39 days). i thought i was ovulating based on my charts, and OPKs, but it's possible that i don't ovulate at all, or that i don't have a "strong" ovulation b/c my follicles don't mature enough on their own. luckily, it looks like we can fix that with meds.

so i would continue charting (make sure you are doing it at the same time every morning before you do anything else) and consider using OPKs to get some additional info. you can get a box of 20 tests at walmart for about $20 (the brand is called Answer). if you haven't already, get a copy of the book Taking Charge of Your Fertility

sliz · January 2009

I think you can definitely talk to someone about fertility. I had normal cycles most of my life from age 13-26. At 26 my cycles started getting wacky (4 months - no period and not pregnant). I thought it was just job hunting stress or whatever....I went to my ob/gyn (not ttc at the time) and despite pretty normal bloodwork and u/s they gave me a pcos diagnosis.

Fastforward 1.5 years - I did have a couple regular months over the year and a half. Then last spring when we wanted to ttc, my period disappeared again. I went to the ob/gyn and brought my earlier records. They put me on metformin for the pcos but that didn't help me ovulate. I went to the RE after 3 months and got pregnant the first cycle of clomid (+ met). Sadly we lost our twins a couple weeks ago to complications. As we ttc again I am going straight to the RE.

If you already know you have chronic anovulation, I would even try to go straight to the RE. They will do a lot more thorough testing and monitoring than the OB (i.e. my OB was doing hormone tests on random cycle days, but the RE always gets you in on CD3 which is the baseline etc.)...

debdebtx · January 2009

I scheduled a special TTC consultation with my OB. She ran a number of inexpensive peliminary tests and talked to me about nutrition and charting, which I had been doing anyway. It was a longer appointment than that of an annual exam.

Ask for a 7 day post surge progesterone to see if, and how hard you are ovulating, if that is in question. Once you get a (+) on a OPK, you go in 7 days later for this blood test.

Certainly people will tell you to wait a year after TTC if you are under 30. IMO, if you are at all concerned about not ovulating, be proactive. Do not be afraid of asking for the simple tests to rule out things that will not resolve themselves; lack of ovulation, male factor infertility... My OB sent my DH in for a Semen Analysis after we actively had tried for 4 months.

Good luck!!

ashleyroot · January 2009

sliz:
I think you can definitely talk to someone about fertility. I had normal cycles most of my life from age 13-26. At 26 my cycles started getting wacky (4 months - no period and not pregnant). I thought it was just job hunting stress or whatever....I went to my ob/gyn (not ttc at the time) and despite pretty normal bloodwork and u/s they gave me a pcos diagnosis.
Fastforward 1.5 years - I did have a couple regular months over the year and a half. Then last spring when we wanted to ttc, my period disappeared again. I went to the ob/gyn and brought my earlier records. They put me on metformin for the pcos but that didn't help me ovulate. I went to the RE after 3 months and got pregnant the first cycle of clomid (+ met). Sadly we lost our twins a couple weeks ago to complications. As we ttc again I am going straight to the RE.
If you already know you have chronic anovulation, I would even try to go straight to the RE. They will do a lot more thorough testing and monitoring than the OB (i.e. my OB was doing hormone tests on random cycle days, but the RE always gets you in on CD3 which is the baseline etc.)...?

What is RE? ?(Sorry not up to date on all of the acronyms)?

BBLindy · January 2009

I had a similar situation - history of annovulation, periods only with bcp and not period after getting off bcp - after consulting with my regular dr about the next steps I moved towards my current re. I defintely think that a consulation with and re makes sense.

*BlackSheep* · January 2009

Can we see your chart? tia

jenber77 · January 2009

Your situation sounds a lot like mine. I also had a history of anovulation/amenorrhea before BCPs. I went off BCP in Nov '06, had one period in December (yay!) but then nothing before my annual physical in April. I told my doctor what was going on and she had no problem referring me to an RE (reproductive endocrinologist = infertility specialist) at that point.

Good luck!

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