Post mirena, AF disappearing, help?

[Foreverretro]

Hi All,

Just wondering if this has happened to anyone else? I will be heading to the doctors if I don't ovulate this month but I'm just trying to get reassurance I think!

I had my mirena coil out at the start of September, and then had a 45 Day cycle. Since then my cycles have been 30-32 days, but AF is getting shorter and lighter each month. I've attached a screenshot I just compiled from Fertilty Friend... it looks bad.

I ovulated before the October AF and before the December one, but not November or January. This month I had convinced myself that the light flow was because of not ovulating, but it doesn't look like that works because November's was relatively normal.

It's all driving me crazy, does anyone have any reassurance at all??

TIA xx

Afraid I don't have any advice but I experiencing similar and it's making me really worried. Had mirena removed in August. Before it they were very regular but now I'm having periods every 25 days and seem to only bleed for two days. I'm only starting to use opks this month but am not convinced I'm actually ovulating. So frustrating! Would be interested to hear how you get on at the doctors. If I don't have any luck with opks over the next couple of months I think I'll be heading that way too. Just feel like I'm wasting my time at the moment. I know it can take time for things to get back to normal but they don't show any signs of improving.

I didn't have any periods at all while I had my mirena but was always regular before, and always heavy as well. I had mine for just under 3 years.

Sorry that you're going through something similar, it's so infuriating when you have the mirena removed and they tell you that you can get pregnant straight away and that things normalise straight away - they don't tell you about the minority that have all this BS to contend with!

I wasn't too seriously worried until I looked at the pattern and it's quite obvious that they are reducing each month... it's very strange.

I take my BBT as well as OPKs because it's quite possible to miss a surge, and also I had a positive OPK in November and then didn't actually ovulate, our bodies like playing all sorts of tricks on us it seems!

I hope that you have some success with it all soon, thank you for responding 😊

@MamaL86 I went to see the doctor and she was really great.

She said to me that it it's normal to be irregular after coming off contraception, and even for only short periods to happen as long as they are 'proper' periods. Light periods are something that you should get checked out.

My last one was 4 days of very very light flow.

She has referred me for an ultrasound to look at my ovaries/check for PCOS and I've booked in an appointment for 21 Day bloods to check for ovulation and check all my other hormone levels. It's the first step...

Foreverretro sorry OP, can you ollease explain how you can tell if you 'actually' ovulated? Surely each of these tools are just indicators, not 100% accurate?

@MsHippo if you take your BBT as soon as you wake up (before getting out of bed) and don't get a spike in temperature then you haven't ovulated. You can have a positive OPK and not ovulate as the OPK is just a sign that your body is gearing up for ovulation rather than that you have definitely ovulated, but the temperature spike is a definite.

@MsHippo sorry that's if you take your BBT before you get up and at around the same time each day.

@Foreverretro surely that's not 100% accurate though, for all kinds of reasons? Human error apart from anything else. I'm not saying this isn't a concern to you, of course it is, your cycle is doing weird things! But all I was saying is none of these methods are perfect, merely indicators.

@MsHippo sure I could have a faulty thermometer and/or I could be reading it wrong. I'm pretty certain that I'm not though, from all the advice online about CM and all the signs your body can give you, especially last month I had no sign of ovulation at all, no CM at all and only the tiniest hint of a line on an OPK.

I'm still trying, I'm still checking CM every day, will be doing OPKs each day from CD 10 and DTD every other day, as I would any month, but if there's no temp spike then it's better not to build myself up for a massive disappointment each month?

The doctor told me I did the right thing going at this stage anyway and not waiting, so they can do the proper tests to find out what is causing it all.

Thanks so much for letting me know how you got on @foreverretro. I'm so glad the GP wasn't dismissive - it sounds like the first step in getting some answers and a positive way forward.

Just to clarify, was she saying that it's normal to have short periods after coming off birth but that you should still expect them to be heavy?

In terms of the referral, was she more concerned about you not ovulating consistently (as you've monitored this and know) or the changes to your periods. I've just started temping etc for the first time this month. Wondering if it's best to do this for a couple of months to see if I am ovulating or best to go now and just mention concerns about light periods. I'm using CB opks and on Cd10 - all negative at the moment... At least it makes me feel like I'm doing something proactive.

Did GP suspect Pcos then? Fingers crossed you don't have to wait too long for the ultrasound

@MamaL86 she was more concerned about the light periods. She said some women only have 2 day periods but they should still be 'normal' so I imagine that would be 2 days of the mess & clots etc.

Yeah she did say it is quite likely to be PCOS though obviously she can't be sure, she didn't hesitate about booking the ultrasound etc.

I would be tempted to go and mention it if your periods are very light as well, I have read a lot about it all online as I think it helps to go in at least sounding like you know what you're talking about!

I know what you mean about feeling like you're doing something - I hope that things sort themselves out for you soon 😊 x