Have a 48 day cycle, will I have problems TTC?

[wandflower]

Hi there fellow mumsnetters,
I'm brand new (1st post) to mumsnet, and pleased I've found it!

I've always had irregular periods, ever since I started back in my teens (missing for months at a time, then occasional long, v. heavy, painful periods when they DID come along). I think about 10 yrs ago I got my doc to check me out, but all she did was put me on the Pill for a while to "make me regular". I think blood tests showed my thyroid to be OK too, so nothing was really ever explained, and I just forgot about the irregularity.

Now I'm TTC and a bit worried of how my infrequent periods might affect my chances. My last cycle was 48 days. i.e. Difficult / frustrating / hard to monitor exactly what's going on. Where do I start??

Anyone in a similar situation got any advice for me?
Thanks,
Wandflower

Hi wandflower and welcome
i had similar cycles to yours for around 20 years (although having children has miraculously cured the problem now i have a 30 day cycle each month!)
they gave me a scan, said i had pcos (polycycstic ovaries) and would take time to conceive.
it took about 6 weeks (ie one cycle) to conceive first child.
i had to have a dating scan at 12 weeks or my dates would have been very out.
i think i was lucky, but it shows it can happen so hopefully will for you too.
incidentally took about 9 months for DC2 even though my cycle was much more regular. i guess i you have less frequent chances to make it happen but it can still work.

I have also had irregular and v painful periods since starting menstruation in my teens. I would seek medical advice sooner rather than later if your cycles have been consistently of this length. Often such problems are due to hormonal imbalances; in this regard a condition called polycystic ovaries is a common culprit. A "normal" cycle is a cycle length of between 21 and 35 days or with a variation of 4 days or less from month to month.

What the pill did here was mask the symptoms of the underlying problem.

What blood tests did you have done btw?. Any test result over six months old should be discounted; you need up to date test results. What you need is a day 2 blood test done (as your cycles are irregular the test can be done according to calendar days) to measure and compare your LH level against that of your FSH level. Usually these two are the same, in PCO for instance there can be an excess of LH to that of FSH. Also a day 21 can be done to measure progesterone.

Do not be fobbed off by GP and if he/she is unhelpful ask at that time for a referral to a gynae specialist at a subfertility unit. This is not the sort of problem that the GP should try and treat.

if you do have pcos then diet may help you conceive - in particular low GI. there are threads about this on here. I had lost 2 stone in the 8 months before i conceived DC1.