TTC 1st time- So many questions!!!!

[SalG93]

Hi everyone,
First post here so it's quite hard!

27 years old and have been trying to conceive for 10 months now for the first time.

I suffer with heavy painful periods and have been to so many doctors about it! US cannot identify any issues. They last 9 days, I spot brown for the first three days and last three and full flow for the middle three. I get sore breasts sometimes immediately after Ovulation until I start or about a week prior but the soreness is always present.

Had a fertility 'MOT' with my DH. AMH Levels are 20.1 and 8 Antral Follicle Count on the right side and 15 of the left side.

Partners sperm shows low count of 10.1 million but a total count of 50.6 million, progressive motility of 51 percent, normality of three percent. He's been given proxeed plus to take since December and still going.

Couple of questions, would you count the start of a period from spotting or when you have your full flow? My cycle ranges from 28-31 days. I sometimes use OPK but EWCM seems to be a clear indicator for me when I see it and I test it always seems to be positive.

All of this is so overwhelming and there's so much information. I've read about raspberry leaf tea to reduce my cramps during periods. Maybe my DH needs to go back for another test to see how things are going by our doctor was confident that his sperm still should suffice.

I feel like maybe it's me that's got some issues and I want to try everything I can to improve myself. I suffer with anxiety and panic attacks which maybe does impact me.

Not really sure what I'm asking but any help or guidance would be so appreciated.

Sorry for the rambling on!!

Sorry forgot to mention been taking vitamin D, folic acid, Iron and vitamin C.

Last time I took pregnacare I bled non stop for 2 weeks so I stopped immediately!

I've brought proceive and haven't heard too much bad things about it but also scared to take because of what happened before!

Hi 😊 I'm relatively new here too!
I was told always count the 'full flow' day of AF as Cycle Day 1 and therefore the start of your period. I've also heard if you spot a few days before it could be a hormonal imbalance.

Raspberry leaf tea is meant to be good for you in terms of fertility but I've not heard about it lessening cramps. I have PCOS and switching to a menstrual cup has really helped with how painful my periods are and they've also helped to shorten it. I was advised this could be due to the chemicals in sanitary pads and tampons causing cramps. Maybe something to consider but I'd be cautious about how heavy your periods are as you might end up emptying it more frequently. It also takes you to another level with getting familiar with your body 😂

Have they considered endometriosis as a cause of the painful and heavy periods?

Have you considered taking your basal body temperature as a way of confirming you're definitely ovulating when the OPK says you are? I'd only do this in your situation for peace of mind but it is good for me personally so I can see if I definitely O'd. It's help me know how long my luteal phase is as I was worried it was too short

Are you having sex every few days? Every other day seems to be recommended as a maximum but if sperm issues I'd probably do less.

I assume you're probably doing everything perfectly and unfortunately it's just a horrible horrid waiting game.

Thank you so much for your reply! My cousins have Endo and if I'm honest I don't want to go through the laparoscopy to find out. I've been referred to so many Gynaecologist's and each of them have said that everything looks normal and they have no reason for it to be concern and that i could just be a person that has painful periods!

We have sex every other day. I try to do it as soon as I stop spotting as one time my OPK was positive a day or two after this so it's really confusing to identify my cycle length if that makes sense?

I think I do have a Hormonal balance because of the breast pain and periods and this is something I do need to investigate.

There's so much to conceiving it can drive you crazy!

I never knew about the sanitary products! Thank you this is something I will look into. I'm glad the menstrual cup has helped you, definitely going to try this out

Basal Body temping confuses the hell out of me I'm not really sure where to start!

Getting diagnosed with endo sounds like such a massive pain! Hopefully it's 'just' painful heavy periods.

I don't really think you can go wrong with EOD sex as you're bound to catch the window with that! Do you do that for your whole cycle even after a positive OPK? Sometimes positive OPKs can be false surges, and your body actually ovulates later.

I personally wouldn't worry about breast pain as I often get that after I ovulate until my period comes but actually that doesn't meant it's normal as I DO have a hormonal imbalance 😆however I know lots of other people who have this pain as well so I'd assume it's not a bad thing.

Basal body temping isn't necessary if you're doing every other day sex but I just find it interesting 😊 just take my temperature with a basal thermometer every morning at the same time without getting out of bed or talking or anything... and log it on fertility friend app that tells me if it thinks I've ovulated. It's as complicated as you want to make it by knowing more about it etc. Just a thought - often adding these things in add stress rather than take it away! I love a graph and find it all very interesting but I'd probably stop if it was causing me stress!

Have you tried pre-seed or conceive plus? They're 'ferility' lubes which just apparently give sperm and extra hand if you don't produce much EWCM.
Sorry 🙄 not sure I'm actually being helpful or if I'm giving you even more to think about when you already said it's a bit overwhelming 🤦
It also makes me realise how much effort I've been putting into it 😂 I bet I sound a bit crazy.

You've been so so helpful!! Thank you!!!

I might give the BBT a try just so I can get to know my body a bit more.

I try to have sex EOD throughout the cycle up til I'm due on but it can be quite hard and tiring but I definitely do make extra effort before Ovulation.

Yeah we use conceive plus at the moment!

With your hormone imbalance, what do you take to help with that?

It is interesting but I'd just do a tiny bit of googling before doing it just in case 😊
Well I have PCOS so my whole body sometimes feels like a hormone imbalance!! The only thing I take it seven seas trying for a baby pills. Vitamin b6 is meant to be good for your luteal phase and vitamin d is meant to be good for people with pcos as far as I know and they're both in seven seas tfab 😊
Otherwise I just try to control it with diet - limiting sugar/carbs and dairy and not too much caffeine and no soy products, as these all impact on hormones especially with PCOS! Weight loss is what would really help me to be honest so it's a controllable hormone imbalance which is probably a lucky thing overall.
I hope you're feeling more confident and less dazzled today! This will be my cycle 8/9 (I've lost count 🙄) so I'm not too far off where you are now so I know it's frustrating x

Thank you so much for this its really has helped!! Got a lot of research to do.

Fingers crossed we get there soon!!