TTC Irregular periods, advice and success stories?

[OliviaGrace1x]

All of a sudden my periods became irregular in January. After I took Northisterone to delay my period as I went on holiday. My cycle changes from 20-30-35day cycles. Any advice or success stories of conceiving with irregular periods? Been trying for 6 months now. No luck at all. Nothing wrong with me as I got pregnant in 2018 that I didn't go through with and have regretted ever since hence TTC. Advice pls!!! Thank you all x

Hi @OliviaGrace1x, unfortunately I'm in the same boat with you for the irregular periods. Came off my pill over a year ago and my cycles vary from 40-60 days. I was initially very chilled about ttc but now I'm getting panicky! Had a chat with a couple of doctors in august and they suggested tracking cervical mucous as many of the apps (I use flo) can't accurately predict your ovulation date when your periods are irregular. I started tracking for this cycle and it was hugely helpful! I tried ovulation test strips too but I found these trickier! I always had a faint line regardless of when I tested but I got a bit obsessed and would test 2 or 3 times a day hoping to see a change. Anyway, I hope this helps and you have better luck than me! 🙂

@Bb30 stressful isn't it! Just annoying as my periods were regular up until I took Northisterone 😫 and now because my periods are painful they're saying I could have endometriosis or something like that which I find unlikely as my periods were perfect if you'd like to say before I took Northisterone in January 😫 yeah the apps are way off seems as I can't predict when my periods going to come. How are you finding it tracking cervical mucous etc?

@OliviaGrace1x I was pretty grossed out initially and didn't know what I was meant to be checking for but you get used of it after a couple of days. It's actually quite helpful when you notice changes, makes me feel a bit more positive about ttc. Verywellfamily.com/checking-cervical-mucus-to-get-pregnant-faster-1960279 has brilliant information on it and a handy visual guide. 😂 i told my husband all about it and he was so grossed out! Men definitely have the easier job in ttc!!!

@Bb30 omg im constantly up there trying to check for changes 😂 my partners in the army so it's abit annoying also as he's sometimes away on (what I think) are my most fertile days lol. But because my periods are always late because they're irregular I get excited every month and then just get upset when my period comes!😫I haven't actually tried the ovulation tests can you tell me abit about them?😅

@OliviaGrace1x Aw that must be so tough! The pandemic was actually good for my husband and I as we were both sent to work from home for the rest of the year. We have so much time now for ttc but still no luck. My husband is actually getting sick of all the sex. Never thought I'd see the day! 😅 I tried ovulation test strips from amazon. They were 12 pound but apparently they're the ones the NHS use (if you trust the amazon advertising 😅). I didn't have much luck with them though and used nearly 40 strips in one cycle. I never got a full positive but the instructions say you need to test at the same time every day and limit your fluid intake for 3 hours before you test, It also says don't test first thing in the morning or at night so ideally between 10am and 8pm. I also read numerous articles on how you should test twice a day because the hormone surge could only last a few hours. Not sure how much I believe that but I'm giving up on the ovulation strips anyway. It was just too disappointing. I found that if I wasn't getting a positive on the test, I would feel less "in the mood" that day, almost like what's the point in having sex if I'm not ovulating. As I have been ttc for nearly a year now, my doctor is actually doing blood tests next month to assess if I'm ovulating. Not too sure what this will entail but hopefully it will be worthwhile. I think they do a blood test at day 6 in your cycle and then again later in the month to see if there is any change that could be linked to ovulation.

@Bb30 hope you don't mind me hopping on! I read your reply and realised I might be going the same way as you. I've been off the pill 6 months now and am having really irregular cycles, some of which have been anovulatory I believe. I'm charting BBT and using OPKs and everything just seems all over the place. Interesting that the doc suggested monitoring CM as I do this and it doesn't help me at all - last cycle I had two weeks of EWCM nonstop, so thinking surely that's got to be a sign something is going wrong.

Out of interest did you have any tests/what has the GP said about the fact that you were on the pill and now suffering very irregular cycles? I'm having bloods done on Wednesday and waiting for a referral for a scan at the mo x

@MintGreenLife don't mind at all! It's nice having other people to talk to about this stuff! I only started tracking CM this cycle and I had 2-3 days EWCM around the time my FLO app predicted ovulation (but got negative OPKs) and another 2-3 days EWCM 7-10 days past my predicted ovulation date (still got neg OPKs). It's confusing definitely but I took EWCM as a green light for TTC. Surely EWCM can only be a good sign! 🙂

The doctors that suggested tracking CM were both male and far from ovulation experts. They were the best I could get at short notice in my GP. I'm seeing a woman doctor who specializes in fertility in the coming weeks (if I'm not pregnant from this cycle) so hopefully she will be able to shed more light on this.

I was on the pill for ~7 years but I did have irregular cycles before this. I was also diagnosed with PCOS but I didn't actually have any cysts identified in the ultrasound. I just have 2/3 of the required symptoms to be diagnosed - irregular periods and hormone imbalance.

It's frustrating having longer/irregular cycles as you definitely have less chances in the year to get pregnant and it's harder to pin down ovulation but I've heard loads of very positive stories of woman getting pregnant when the odds were stacked against them. I think it's best to get as much tests done to highlight any issues as early as possible and then just try to stay positive (that's the hardest part).

What's tracking BBT like? It's next on my list to add into my daily routine 😅 could you give a bit more info on what's required?

Best of luck with your blood tests! Fingers crossed it will be all clear!

@Bb30 agreed, finding others going through similar makes me feel like I'm normal!

Your stop start EWCM sounds like your body is gearing up to ovulate but not quite making it. We get EWCM when oestrogen starts to rise, and then when it hits a certain point it triggers the LH surge, so perhaps your oestrogen isn't getting quite high enough to trigger LH. Have you been diagnosed with a specific hormonal imbalance?

I suspect I may have PCOS although I don't have any of the typical symptoms, apart from sudden on set acne with started about two weeks ago - 6 months after I stopped the pill. I never had acne as a teenager and I'm pretty sure my cycles were regular before the pill.

Yeah course - so you need to take your temperature using a thermometer to two decimal places every morning. If you wake up at the same time every day I would just do it then. I set an alarm for 4.30am to take it and go back to sleep, as you need to have been asleep for three hours minimum without getting up, or even sitting up really for it to be accurate, and without fail I have to get up to pee in the night, so I find I can last until about 4.30am, so take my temp then and then get up to pee. I use the Fertility Friend app to plot my temperatures on a graph and you should see low temps before ovulation and a shift with higher temps after. Hope that makes sense x

Clear blue ovulation tests, pricy but the only way I could pinpoint my ovulation, I got pregnant first cycle using then, ended in Mc then got pregnant again 4 cycles later. My ovulation could change from around 10dpo to 20dpo so you can get yo or bfp with irregular cycles x

@sarahc336 I think CB ovulation tests would get very expensive for me as I don't ovulate until CD25-45, so would get through a lot each cycle. That's great you got a BFP even with ovulation moving around though x

I have irregular/long cycles since coming off the pill in June 2019. They were getting longer and longer between and then 5 cycles ago I started using OPKs. I was getting a peak between cd16-cd26.
Last cycle was 52 days, longest ever and it was torture as negative tests but also no period.
Then this cycle I had ewcm CD13 and just made sure to have sex that day, got a peak opk the next evening and DTD the day after.
I'm now 13dpo and had bfp on frer since 11dpo, confirmed on digital today.
Couldn't predict when in the cycle I might start with ewcm, I just recommend having sex the day you start getting it xx fc

@SarahTTC2020 huge congrats on your BFP! So nice to hear from someone that had difficulty post-pill but went on to conceive eventually ☺️ I seem to get a lot of EWCM - last cycle it went on over two weeks and I don't think I ovulated in the end. Obviously still worth DTD when I have it anyway as you never know 🤞🏼 Mine started a few days ago, stopped for two days and is back again today!

@MintGreenLife probably also worth saying I kicked off tests with the Dr so had Day 3 bloods which were fine and had Day 21 on Friday (bfp sat) so I'll get those results on Friday.
I was worried irregular periods meant pcos

@MintGreenLife thanks a mil for the info! Popping straight on amazon to get myself a thermometer!!