Post Pill Party - The Ceilidh

[TheDaydreamBelievers]

As the Post Pill Party Mosh Pit dies down... sweaty and bewildered, the ladies head to the bar to freshen up. Suddenly, a fiddler bursts onto the stage, beginning a merry tune. Everybody swings into an energetic Ceilidh!

Our heads are spinning, our bodies are knackered but we arent giving up dancing when the music is this catchy!

This is the 8th post pill party thread for women whose bodies don't know the correct dance steps after hormonal contraception. Raise a dram to combating delayed ovulation, flabberghasting follicular phases, loopy luteal phases, bizzare temp charts and OPKs whiter than a Scotsman's bum!

@FlyingGiraffe yes I like it too!

So I’ve had my blood results back. My thyroid and female hormone levels are normal. Vitamins levels are fine. She mentioned a few others that were fine but my serum prolactin level was high.

So I’ve got to take another blood test tomorrow but do it in the evening because levels can be high in the morning.

Once that’s back, they will then decide if I need a referral to the gynaecologist for further investigation.

I did Google the prolactin level and got a little worried but then I don’t have any other symptoms. She did say it could be raised from stress or in the morning as she mentioned.

@Tillybabs did you get the numbers for your thyroid? My doctor said mine were normal at 4.43 which is obvs not normal 😂

Hi, I’m new to this and don’t know my way around so I’m sorry if this has already been discussed and I’ve missed it 😂 I came off the pill in November 2020, not actively trying until September this year (but we’re only using withdrawal so if it happens before then it’s not the end of the world we just want a little holiday before) but since being off the pill my periods have been a bit all over, I was just wondering how long it took people to get back to normal? One minute my cycle is 35 days then it’s 27 days, my last period was 1 day light, very light and only lasted 3 days (I’m normally 5 Atleast) but this period I was due on last Tuesday, still not come on.. did a pregnancy test this morning it’s negative so kinda thinking I have something wrong under the hood.. booked a doctors appointment for next Wednesday I’m hoping he does a blood test to check my hormone levels x

@tillybabs how high was your prolactin?

@Melissaq94 it takes up to a year for it to normalise and everyone is different. I'm surprised the GP will see you as normally they'd fob you off at this stage as it's considered normal! 27-35 days is also considered to be within the normal fluctuations of a regular cycle medically speaking. I'd suggest you start tracking your temperature if you can as that will give you invaluable info ahead of TTC!

@Melissaq94 welcome! I pretty much echo what @Juno231 said, don’t be surprised if your GP tells you to just relax that’s what mine said 🤣

@Juno231 thank you! I was quite surprised too, currently on a 35 day cycle and I can't see my period coming today (no symptoms) so could easily see it going towards the 40 mark so hopefully that helps me with whatever the doctor may say, I'm fully expecting to be fobbed off but I can't explain how much I obsess over the fact that something may be wrong, it's my absolute dream to be a mum and it scares me to death that there could be any problem conceiving so I'm just overthinking really, very glad I've found this place though! X

@ChinChilly oh really 😩 why is fertility such an a awful thing to be going through within the NHS?! Hopefully you've had nicer doctors appointments since! X

@Melissaq94 GPs generally won’t do anything unless you’ve been trying for a year or 6 months if you’re over 35. If I could afford to go private I probably would. The last doctor I spoke to about my thyroid levels being raised for TTC was much nicer but the NHS are bound by so much red tape they can’t really do anything.

@ChinChilly yeah, in an ideal world we wouldn't have to go through the 12 months of heartbreak before investigating 😩 I have other health issues which was the main factor of coming off the pill before we originally planned to & I very much don't have time or body clock on my side so I'm really hoping I get a lovely doctor who will atleast pretend to be interested in what's coming out of my mouth 😂 if you don't mind me asking, what sort of nhs things have you had access to whilst on your journey? Tests etc x

@Melissaq94 it’s always worth a call to your GP, some are more understanding than others!

I haven’t had much yet as I’m not 12 months in, I stopped taking the pill in June last year, I had a blood test for something other than ttc in November and it was only because of this chat that I knew my thyroid TSH was too high. I managed to blag my GP into another blood test last week, this GP was really nice and said she would just run a full MOT blood work so she checked my FSH and LH aswell everything seemed to be ok apart from my TSH is still to high but still in the nhs ‘normal’ and range and I had pretty much no Vitamin D so I’m on a super dosage of that for the next 7 weeks

@ChinChilly @Juno231

I didn’t get my thyroid count but I’m speaking to her again next week so will find out then.

So my prolactin was 817 and she said the normal range is up to 496.

@Tillybabs that's not too bad as prolactin goes! If you're worried about a pituitary tumour I'm pretty sure ladies that were on this thread at the start that had it had prolactin levels in the multiple thousands. Hopefully it's just a blip xx

@Juno231 thanks for the reassurance as I wasn’t sure as have nothing to compare it to.

Hopefully it is just a blip. She did say other factors like stress can raise it and also it can be raised in the morning.

@ChinChilly ahh I see! Glad they could give you a full MOT test, that's the dream! Haha x

@Melissaq94 welcome!

Don’t worry about your cycles too much because as others said, it can take a while for them to get back to normal.

For instance, I’ve gone from having 28 day cycles at the beginning of coming off the pill, to bow having 32 day ones with a later ovulation! And now my heavy periods have kicked in.

I’ve been off the pill since August and had my withdrawal bleed in September.

I think what your GP will do might be dependent on your age. I just turned 40 and so my GP has already referred me for blood tests etc.

Try not to worry too much. Everyone is different and you are still kind of at the early stages of trying and your body is still adapting and getting back to normal.

@Tillybabs thank you! Yeah, I'm trying to stay cool but it's the fear of not knowing isn't it! And how we really don't know what's going on inside and then when you get 1 thought in your head it's so easy to run away with all different feelings isn't it 😂 my last have been 27, 34, 29 and currently on day 35 of this cycle.. I suppose I'm lucky to be even be getting a period every month I'm told so trying to stay positive! Thank you for your message x

@Melissaq94 Welcome!

@TheDaydreamBelievers Yes, I'll be talking to my doctor in 2 weeks time about my inflammation anyway, so i'll bring up my unpredictable, very long (and possible an-ovulatory cycles).

I have about 1/2 a stone to looks (i'm 9st 10lb this morning), so normal BMI. I used to be very overweight (size 18 clothes... I never weighed myself back then) and lost in all in my late teens... and have luckily kept it off. But it left me with stretch marks and a saggy tum which I can't get rid of. An old 'friend' told me that I have the tummy of a woman who had had kids... but I had no kids. Which was just lovely.

So... My OPK today came back with 100% ... so a positive!! Hopefully i'll ovulate in next few days. Here I go, getting my hopes raised again lol... come on body, we can do it!!

*1/2 stone to loose... sorry!

@Kay00 congrats on the positive opk! All fingers crossed for you

That’s not a very nice thing that your old friend said, I guess that’s why they are no longer your friend!

@Tillybabs exactly. She was pregnant at the time and wanted to make herself feel better (I assume).

This +OPK has come as at a bad time as I'm having a small inflammatory flare and I feel absolutely rubbish, and not in the mood to DTD. But we DTD last night and the two nights before, so I might leave it tonight unless I start to feel a bit better.

@Kay00 yay for the positive!! So exciting. Sorry about the inflammation though. And the mouse lol. But it sounds like you’re pretty well covered.

@Melissaq94 welcome! I totally get the worrying that somethings wrong. I’m sure there’s not though and hopefully your blood tests give you that reassurance ☺️

@MissC07 I’m the same but I’ve just done my first OPK of the cycle so let the craziness commence 😂

@Tillybabs I think Agnus cast is is meant to help with prolactin but I could be wrong. Might be worth a Google

@FlyingGiraffe I’m hoping that spotting is nothing/ stays away/implantation 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻 As the queen of spotting I’ve everything been crossed for you.

@ChinChilly sorry about the temp drop but they’re still quite high! Your ability to resist testing is impressive. I hope AF stays away.

@kay00 ah how exciting about the positive opk! and your ex friend was a turd, who on earth says crap like that?! Well done on keeping the weight off all these years - mine has just been creeping up with every year. Each time I lose it I gain it back + another couple of kilos that then stay with me permanently.

@Melissaq94 I know how it feels though, I came off the pill in Sep 2019 but flipped in July last year when I had a random cycle as I was sick of the irregularities nearly a year on. Even though really it wasn't too bad compared to others and I was still ovulating each month with a decent length LP - it still messes with your head!

For some strange reason I decided to POAS I hadnt even been holding very long so I don’t know why i did it, but there is a squinter there and its 100% a pink squinter...I can’t even pick it up on the camera! Not getting my hopes up because I’ve had these faint lines before and its been nothing! Arghhhhh why do I do it 🤣

@ChinChilly omg!!!! That’s so exciting. Will you test again in the morning?

@Cams50 yeah ill test again in the morning 😬 I kind of wish I hadn’t of done it tbh 🤣