Ovulation?

[ConfusedWannaBeMum]

DH and i had to delay TTC recently due to personal and work circumstances. We were both upset about this but it was the right decision. Ideally we'd start again some time after Christmas.

This has given me a few months since coming off the pill to observe my natural cycle. And it's all over the place!

My first cycle off the pill was 65 days and I thought it might have been an anomaly. The next cycles have been 43, 30, 33, 36, 52 days respectively. You can see no regularity and very, very long.

My mother had issues conceiving and had to be given hormones as she did not ovulate. I'm worried this might be the case with me as well. My sister doesn't have children but again she has extremely varying lengths of periods.

TMI but I can't observe changes in mucus, which I remember from when I was a teenager. I don't get that anymore.

I wonder whether I should get this checked out before TTC? I considered testing for ovulation myself for a few months and if nothing happens I could at least go speak to a gp about it. Or is this ridiculous considering we aren't even trying?

I just feel like my cycle is just not normal and worn family history this worries me.

I'm also too overweight so will try to lose weight.

I'd really appreciate some advice.

I don't think your gp would do anything until you've been ttc a year (or 6 months of over 35). Many people have irregular cycles and conceive. It also can take some people up to a year to normalise after the pill.

Losing weight (even 5% of body weight) can improve your fertility (i.e. Normalise cycles).

You gp would have to run blood tests, and they won't do that until youve been trying a year (or two years in some cases).

Thanks for your response Kate, I am glad I asked before making a fool of myself.

I come from another country where you see a gynaecologist all the time and things like this would all be done before TTC. This is what happened to my mother-her issues with ovulation were detected long before she tried to have a baby and she was treated for the causes.

I think weight loss might be the most active thing I can do now then! Interesting you said the cycle can take up to a year to regulate.

I get it confused. I too come from a country where you see a gynae yearly for your smear, checkup etc! I think there are very different expectations of medical care in the UK. I have been pretty disappointed by the standard of care during this whole journey that my GP has been willing to provide. I went after ttc a year to start the ball rolling on tests, and because I expected them to run tests, I was destroyed when they said they wouldn't because I had a chemical pregnancy within the 12 months.

I was able to self refer to a fertility clinic on the NHS. Went after ttc about 15 months. They found a huge number of cysts on both of my ovaries on an ultrasound. Second appointment tomorrow after ttc 18 months where I might find out they might run tests to check if I ovulate regularly? Or might discuss what they think all those cysts might mean about my fertility.

Adjust your expectations massively downwards!!! Don't make the mistake that I did of expecting them to give a shit. Have incredibly low expectations and no realistic prospect of treatment anytime soon and you won't go far wrong.

As you can tell I am a bit bitter and jaded. Don't get me wrong, the NHS is a fantastic institution, but because it is so overstretched it isn't possible to provide all the services it promises (Nice guidelines etc..?) to provide. So the standard of care and the expectations that come with it haven't (in my very limited experience) come to fruition.

Bear in mind that if you are on a spouse visa (no reason to expect you are other than saying you're from another country), your access to some fertility treatments are limited.