Imagined symptoms but arrival of AF 9DPO

[SallyMischievo]

This is my first post although have been lurking for a few weeks now. I would be grateful for any advice that you could kindly give to a damsel in distress!
Have been TTC #1 since July last year after coming off the pill. My cycle has taken a little while to settle down but seemed to have evened out to around 28-29 days. I started using ov sticks this month and ovulated on CD16, (and DTD four times in fertile window). I was excited that this could be our month as had been experiencing some unusual symptoms since 3-4DPO, (including nausea, dizziness, lower backache, headaches, sore and erect nipples and a horrible taste in my mouth) so had stocked up on extra tests and was planning to wait to test until later this week. However, AF arrived last night with no warning at only 9DPO. Really hoped at first that it could be implantation bleeding but it seems not. So my questions are - why the symptoms, (could my mind have conjured them up?!) and should I be worried at my luteal phase being only 9 days?! Please help!

You can definitely imagine symptoms if you want it badly enough! I had every symptom going for a couple of cycles - nothing. Then when I actually got my BFP I didn't have any symptoms, or rather I probably just didn't look for any as I was pretty convinced this wasn't our month.

As for the luteal phase, wait and see what next month brings. If it happens again it might be worth seeing your GP, but it might just be a weird one-off. Good luck!

Thank you, Metalhead! Note to self: must try to take calmer approach to TTC and avoid symptom spotting - although easier said than done after several months with no success... Hopefully short LP a one-off, as you say.

it's worth bearing in mind that many of the symptoms of early pg are the same as those of impending af, except that when we're not ttc we don't actually look out for them.

It's also worth bearing in mind that four DPO is far, far too early to be experiencing actual pg symptoms as generally symptoms go hand in hand with HCG levels, and HCG isn't actually produced until implantation has occurred which generally isn't quite that soon after fertilisation iyswim.

Fwiw there is no right or wrong answer - I ttc for over a year for my first dc and for six years (unsuccessfully) for a second dc, and I found that some months I had loads of "symptoms" and convinced myself I was pg but then when I didn't have symptoms I convinced myself I was pg because when I'd had symptoms I hadn't been iyswim. :-) my advice would be to just go with the flow and if your af is early again to perhaps look at going to see a gp.

Thank you for your advice, WannaBe. It's funny as I know logically that 4DPO would be far too early to experience any symptoms. I can only conclude that reasonable, rational behaviour must have temporarily escaped me! I will attempt to 'go with the flow', as you so brilliantly put it

There is something called 'early pregnancy factor' which can give symptoms from right after fertilization. It's produced by the ovaries after the blastocyst (fertilized egg which has begun to divide) 'talks' to them and is thought to cause the symptoms some women feel.

I personally had symptoms from the very start with both DD and DS (both conceived first cycle). I don't get these symptoms in cycles when I'm not ttc, so the argument that they're due to progesterone doesn't work: if they were, I'd get them every cycle, and I don't - I've only ever had them in cycles when I've ended up pregnant.

So it may well not all have been in your head: you may well have had an egg which fertilized but didn't stick.

Thank you, Radiatormesh. Is this what is known as 'chemical pregnancy'? Incidentally, the only other time I thought I felt symptoms like this was the cycle straight after I came off the pill but I put it down to my body adjusting. I am wondering if this would be worth mentioning to my GP or whether they would dismiss such a theory?

Sorry to be unclear, I mean is the egg fertilising but not sticking called a chemical pregnancy?

A chemical pregnancy is where the egg sticks and begins to send out hcg (so you get a faint positive test) but then doesn't continue to develop (so tests turn negative / you get your period, which is often heavier than normal and possibly a few days late). If you have a chemical pregnancy then you'll have EPF (and hcg) in your system, but having EPF in your system doesn't guarantee a pregnancy, if that makes sense.

EPF is a pretty proven thing, if you do some research into it, but it's not used to assess for human pregnancies, so a regular GP may not be receptive to the idea of it.... The symptoms it causes can be caused by other hormones (most notably progesterone) but if that's the case, I'd argue you'd get them every/most months, whether or not ttc.

It sounds to me like this fertilized egg didn't stick for whatever reason. That happens and is totally normal (albeit very frustrating/upsetting). Since it's not happening every month, I'd put it down as one of those things: it could have been the egg, the sperm, the lining or a million and one other things.

FWIW I didn't get a period until 6m after coming off the pill: sometimes it takes a while for our bodies to regain full fertility after all those hormones. So don't despair: you'll get there :)

Thank you so much for your kind advice and reassuring words, Radiatormesh. I now feel so much more clued up and have a new spring in my step - even if I still can't figure out how to insert a smiley :-)

Not at all. Even though both our DCs were conceived first month trying, we had a very stressful lead-up to both months for various medical reasons (long story short, both times we were concerned that I wasn't fertile, and I got pretty obsessive about it), so I understand how stressful/infuriating/frustrating it can be.

Best of luck :)