Ovulating during period?

[kittyb]

I have a very short cycle, around 21 days, and am having LH surge on day 4. Still having my period. Which leads me to very simple question, can you get pregnant while having your period? At crudest level, everything's going in the wrong direction isn't it? What chance have the little blighters got?

I do not think you can become pregnant when you are having a period. If the egg is not fertilised the womb lining comes away.

I would say as well that it is quite possible to have more than one LH surge per month and such a surge is not followed automatically by ovulation. This is why the opk's are not totally reliable.

I would have a blood test done to see exactly what your hormone levels are like paying particular attention to LH and FSH levels. If these two are out of balance then ovulation will be affected.

that sounds like it actually, about 18 months ago unsuccessful IVF mainly because of high FSH levels. Decided to stop actively trying, get on with lives and just see what happens. Yet here I am with the opk's out again! Its like picking a scab!

Sounds like hormone levels still all over the place. Thanks for advice though ATM

I am sure that in Zita West's book she talks about someone who's EWCM was mixed in with the last of her AF blood.
Once they discovered that she fell pg very quickly after a long time of trying unsuccesfully.

EWCM?

Sorry - egg white cervical mucus...nice!!!!

It's the see-through stretchy stuff that's supposed to be an indicator of ovulation.

A friend of mine, who knows her cycle very well, got preg whilst having her period. She bleeds for 2 days stops, ovulates, then bleeds again. Has been to doctors about it and thats what they told her!

My SIL's second child was concieved because someone told her you can't get preg when having a period!

BTW - I went to school with Zita West's daughter... my claim to fame ! lol

kittyb, noticed you said you tried ivf with high fsh. I'm going to give it a try next month as long as my fsh is below 12.0. I'd be very interested to hear about your experience because at the moment I am not able to be very postive about it....like its a last ditch attempt to ttc.

Drs say that I may not respond at all because of the high fsh. Is that what happended when you tried ivf?

Also, I am doing the short 2 week one (co-flare I think its called) again because of the high fsh. At least it will be over pretty quickly. A bit like iui but with the egg retreival

I was talking to a friend last week and she told me she fell pregnant because she had sex the day before her period and then OV straight after, the doctor told her that sperm can live in a friendly enviroment for up to 7 days.

SHe must of had a very friendly enviroment!

dizzy36, I didnt have any luck I'm afraid. I did the short flare thing too because of high FSH and produced two eggs only, which was disappointing. So didnt bother with egg removal, just did the insemination thing (can't remember proper name for it)but it didnt work.

I am really glad I did it though. I can look back now and think "well at least we tried" rather than thinking "what if"

can I ask what your fsh was for the ivf cycle and how did you respond to the iui. I had three goes, responded 'nicely' but no go.

As FSH is a sign of low ovarian reserve I can only imagine that the reason I am not getting pg is because my eggs are not of good quality.

Like you I want to be able to look back and know that I tried everything to give my ds a little brother or sister. I'm more sad for him as I know he'd love one.

fsh was 10 I think. IUI seemed a bit tricky, the guy took ages but I didnt get any feedback from them about the procedure.

Did get pregnant naturally a few months after, but scan showed it hadnt developed properly in the very early stages, and in my mind I link this to poor egg quality.

Dont know what age you are but I'm on high strength folic acid 5mg to help prevent early development problems.

Its not always easy but as I keep telling my beautiful almost 5 year old son, you have to look at what you've got, not what you've not got. It doesnt take away the ache but it helps.

Good luck dizzy36,

thanks kittyb. cut off fsh at my clinic is 12 so if higher than that can't do.

My 2nd and 3rd iui's were tricky also, if you mean the acutal insemination. Something to do with my cervix being in a funny position. Lookin back I wish I'd carried on with a few more attempts. I've heard of women (with elevated fsh) conceiving on the 4th or 5th attempt at iui.

I conceived naturally in sept 2003 but lost at 5 months pg. Baby had downs syndrome which, like you, makes me think related to my high fsh and egg quality.

The ivf is my last try and will maybe give the drs some more indication of my egg quality (if we get to the retreival stage that is). I'm prepared for the worst happening and am also prepared for us not having a 2nd child. Have realised that its likely not to happen for us naturally.

I just wish my drs had told me in april 2005 that my fsh was high. They didn't seem concerned enough to tell me until I decided to start treatment some months later and even then they didn't explain the importance of it, just that my ovaries were working a little bit harder and that I might not respond to the drugs. As it happens I did but noticed that on each occasion there were only about 4 follicles developing and then 1 going on to mature. I don't think 4 is a lot, should me more than that knocking about each month shouldn't there?