Post Pill TTC Party

[TheDaydreamBelievers]

Come one, come all ! A thread for those TTC after coming off hormonal contraceptive pills.

Discussions typically include:

• Baffling temp charts
• Absent or oddly timed EWCM
• Whacky cycle lengths
• AF gone AWOL (current high score is 141 days post pill)

@Juno231 that makes a lot of sense, very sensible of you! Oh gosh I can imagine. Hopefully after the weekend you'll have got to grips with where the essentials are and will have relaxed into staying at your FILs, fingers crossed everything goes smoothly with the last stage of the purchase. We've been trying to get an update about our sale/purchase for about two weeks now and just can't get hold of anyone!

Thanks, I just don't understand what my body is trying to do here. Why so much EWCM and no ovulation!? To be honest going private isn't really an option at the moment, but I think if I get a few more months down the line and I'm not making any progress it'll have to be an option. Haha I love that, and wish it could be that easy. I'll see what the GP has to say on Monday, stick to my new diet and taking Agnus Castus, and just pray something starts happening soon. Not sure how I've not had a complete breakdown about this yet. Honestly if you'd said to me I wouldn't be ovulating after 6 months off the pill when I first came off I think I would have felt like there would be no way I'd be able to cope with that if it did happen, and yet here I am plodding along hoping it gets better.

Sorry to hear about your temp drop this morn by the way. Still no sign of AF? Has your LP changed in length before? x

@Kay00 I’m laughing reading your response and how crazy this all is. And way more complicated than I ever thought it would be until I’m now in this place of looking at fixing my hormones
It’s been too late for me to start tracking BBT this cycle, so I’ll do that next time, and I’ll order some of your suggested vitamins. Do you think I should continue my normal ones for now since I’ve (hopefully) ovulated so I can extend my LP?

On the subject of LP, I’m a little bit confused by all that. Is the goal to have a longish one to give a higher chance of implantation? So if I had a short one, it could mean I’m due AF in a few days time, which meant the window between my ovulation and then was too short for implantation. Have I picked that up right?

@Juno231 helpful Thankyou! I have loaded the last couple of days back into FF and hope to make more sense of it. Although annoyingly although I have put in the positive reading today it hasn't moved my predicted fertile days which are still on around the 20th of last month.
Do you just use the standard version or do you pay?

@MintGreenLife that sounds really frustrating, I'm becoming obsessed with it after just a couple of months! The diet sounds like a sensible idea to see if it makes a difference - if quite a challenge! Fingers crossed for you x

@MintGreenLife gosh it's frustrating you can't get hold of anyone! What stage are you at now? How did it go with Halifax?

Re: your body post pill - tbh all we can do is take it one day at a time and trust that it will get better. There is a lot of truth in just giving it time to recover after the pill and it just looks like you need a bit longer maybe.

Other than temp drop to coverline there's no sign of AF (but then again I never get pre AF signs). My LP changes every cycle tbh - this is what FF has noted so far:

Jan: 11
Feb: 14
Mar: 12
Apr: 12
May: 13
Jun: 14
Jul: 14
Aug: 11

I was actually very happy on the pill! I had zero side effects for 15 years apart from positive ones (slightly better skin, more regular periods, less painful periods). I only began questioning it when at my HPV checkups the nurse mentioned the last two or three times (so over a 3+ year period!) 'oh I can see you have been on it for a long time'. I have no idea what that means, still (maybe thin uterine lining?) but it worried me to bits so I quit the pill!

@Juno231 Halifax has been the only OK part actually. I think because we are porting our existing mortgage though it made it more straightforward, although we still had to reapply, but that's all sorted.

Yeah you're totally right. Having a freak out about it wouldn't help! I remember when I first came off I spoke to someone that was getting AF every month but turned out she wasn't ovulating for the first 9 months off the pill. I suppose what I don't get about me is the fact that I did ovulate one cycle, and then not again since, or at least so I think!

Well it's great that your LP has always been a good length, not so helpful for you though that you never know when to expect AF and must get your hopes up a little when you get past 12 days with a no show! X

@AnonymousXXIX maybe she could just see it from your records? she wouldnt be able to see your lining during a check up! I've had one comment like that though to say she could see I used to have chronic UTIs because she could see scarring - I had no idea that was a thing or how she could see that so maybe they have some super powers we don't know about lol.

@CharWils it won't move the fertile days until BBT has confirmed it. and even then it will take into account things like opks and ewcm too. Just make sure it's set to the advanced setting! I pay but all the good stuff is free so no need to get the premium version really.

@MintGreenLife exactly that re: hopes up! at least I know my upper limit seems to be 14 so I'd get my hopes up if it's still absent tomorrow :)

@Juno231 yes that's the word, she said she saw scarring; like while doing the checkup, not while looking at records. I was like wtf...

@Trying4one My mind definitely plays tricks on me although I have got AF style cramps going on again maybe AF will be making an early appearance this month

@PumpkinEverything Yes, the goal is to get a LP between 10 and 16 days :) If your LP is 9 days or shorter than it can mean your cervix isn't thick enough or falls away for a fertilised egg to implant, although I have read lots of stories where women have got pregnant despite having a LP of 8, 9 or 10 days. My LP was 10 days then 8 days, then after using the B Vitamins went up to 14 days so they are pretty powerful things!

For the record I started using Pregnacare pre-pregnancy vitamins and they were fine but I wondered if they were contributing to my long follicular phase so I switched to Seven Seas which also seem fine. I take a break in the B-Vitamins to encourage an earlier ovulation (down from day 27 to day 17).

@AnonymousXXIX I was on the pill for approximately 15/16 years with no issues. It made my skin better and I was happy to take it to prevent pregnancy. My doctors never told that I should come off it. Just made me aware of other options that were out there. I came off in January to prepare for starting TTC, which we started in August. My periods are fine and cycle is 28 days to 30 days. I appear to be ovulating as well, though I have only used LH strips this set month. I tend to get ovulation pain some months ( which was new to me as never felt it before due to being on the pill). I am hoping I am ovulating every month. Everyone is different but I would ignore any comments nurses have made to you

@PumpkinEverything think @Kay00 meant your lining isn't thick enough, imagine if your cervix fell away 😂 Also a short LP doesn't allow the fertilised egg enough time to implant, as the lining starts to shed before it's had time x

I think I have a very almost positive OPK!! Don't want to get too excited as app is saying it isn't quite a positive, and I had this before in the first cycle I used OPKs - I tested again later and it was fainter again and then didn't ovulate. Really hope this is my LH surge and I ovulate in the next day or so 🤞🏼

@MintGreenLife oh yes, haha, thats what I meant!!

Ooh exciting!! Test again at 4pm and fingers crossed it will be positive and followed by a temperature rise!!!

Yay @MintGreenLife I got my peak a few hours later after a reading like that then a few hours after that it had gone back down again!

Hope you get a peak, keeping everything crossed for you!

@MintGreenLife ooohh fingers crossed check again in a few hours 😊

@MintGreenLife that looks super positive!!! 🤞🤞🤞

Thanks @AMS19 @Trying4one @Sarahp2308 @Kay00 I'm really thirsty now after not drinking much all morning, so not sure I'll manage as good a hold 😕 Ah well can only try! Really hope this is it. Feel so silly getting excited about an OPK but after hundreds of faint lines and possibly anovulatory cycles this feels like a real achievement. Now just got to hope my body keeps this momentum going! X

Hmm, I've just taken a photo of it in better light and app is now saying it's a positive - above 1.0 - what do you think? It's 40 mins since I did it, so maybe not valid now?! X

@MintGreenLife I sometimes forget to check until up to 3 hours later and it still tracked fine for me, so wouldn't worry about that!

(when I was doing them I did them at about 2pm, after not drinking much for about 2 hours; just once a day; and seem to have tracked ovulation just fine that way)

@AnonymousXXIX I think I'll take that this is a positive in that case! I'll test again around 3-4ish. I was wondering why I felt slightly hyper today 😂 Now I know why x

@MintGreenLife I'd say that's a peak! Fingers crossed your temps agree with the opk! I'm really excited for you now - come on little eggy!

@MintGreenLife that defo looks positive to me. Clear the diary and go DTD 😂😂

Thanks @Juno231 ☺️ Eeek I'm a bit nervous! Must remember that there's not much more I can do now apart front DTD and just hoping an egg makes an appearance 🤞🏼

@AMS19 luckily we have no plans for this evening, or this weekend really! We're both home all weekend, so plenty of time 😀 Will most certainly be DTD today, and may try and convince DH to try again tomorrow, although he prefers every other day 😂 X