TTC 35+ Thread 7

[sickofthisyear]

New thread- apologies for the unimaginative title!

Ladies, I am back from the private dermatologist. I'm so glad I've been, been suffering with my skin for 18 months now and finally got to speak to someone who wants to help.

She spoke to me for some time and examined me under a light. It was a really good clinic and I would recommend it/her to anyone in the London area needing a derm. She was really shocked my GP hadn't referred or even seen me in person and is writing to them. I have an absolute ton of drugs now, and she was really nice and prescribed me as many as she could on one form with her NHS hat on and some with her private hat on which balanced the cost a bit.

Outcome is she thinks I have papular eczema, had to have a steroid injection in the rump then and there, followed by a course of oral steroids over the next six weeks where the dosage reduces weekly. Also prescribed a strong antibiotic, anti-inflammatories for after the antibiotics, as well as a whole host of creams and shampoo.

I spoke to her about ttc before hand and she said how she sees people like me often where the anxiety of ttc and the skin are a vicious circle so she's also prescribed me a low dose anti-anxiety drug to take. She offered to do a pregnancy test and I said no because I didn't feel I needed it. Since I've got home I have some brown tinged discharge which is 99% likely to be AF arriving, and in this case it's a good thing because I already felt bad getting the drugs and not knowing if I was pregnant or not.

On the way home I started to panic in case I was pregnant, but I really need to get on top of this, I can't see me ever getting pregnant while I'm battling this condition constantly. Going to message her secretary and see get booked in again in 4 weeks, but I guess that rules me out of ttc for six weeks.

Need to catch up on the thread now!

Oh and following on from my derm post the doc also said it was important I was taking vitamin D and I said I was, she asked how much and I said I have a 3000ug dose and she was happy with that. @Magnum99 the NHS recommend vit d for ttc so it must play a role like you said.

Sorry to hear your rough journey @Farfaraway1 but welcome to the thread!

@Twelvestars relatable, much regret here too. For me it was all about things being "the right time" etc which in hindsight was a bit stupid. I put it off because I was studying and working part time, then waited until I'd passed the first few months of my job to get the mat leave and here I am now still not upduffed and been in the job over two years

@KG1145 I'm glad you enjoyed meeting your friend, that's great to hear.

@thislittlebird glad you are getting some assistance. It must be demoralising to suffer with your skin. 😔

It sounds like she really listened to you and prescribed accordingly. Try not to worry.

Ladies, today I have had a little dark brown spotting - I'm only about 4/5 dpo!! What the hell? Am I being daft to think it could be implantation? Sounds silly even typing it!! 😳

@thislittlebird that sounds really positive with the dermatologist! Did she say you can't ttc when having steroids? Interesting to know if it is as I'm always given them straight away when I have any kind of cough or chest infection.

@selina37 it's certainly possible that it could be implantation bleeding!

@selina37 much too earlier for implantation. Might be ovulation spotting finding it’s way out. Sometimes I get this a few days after ovulation, are you certain you are 4/5dpo? I’m counting myself as 2dpo as pos opk was Friday then I had bad ov pains sat and Sunday I just calculate it that if ov Sunday then Monday would be 1dpo given an egg can survive a couple days.

@Loladoodle I think it's probably cervical, my trusty ol' erosion doing its bit 🙄

I've probably asked before but do you think you ovulate at the time you get the pains?

I get dull crampy pain and I think I ovulate the next day... 🤔

@selina37 super demoralising and I’ve really suffered with my mental health because of this, and the lack of help.

On the topic of implantation I think 4/5 dpo is a bit early, my understanding is it’s 6-12dpo usually.

@Marvellouslymadmum She didn’t say not to, I think it’s one of those benefits outweighs the risks thing and from a quick read it seems some people go on them to get pregnant with certain auto-immune diseases. But for me it’s one of those things where I’ll just worry I’ve harmed any potential baby and for my peace of mind I think it’s good to restart when the course is done. Thinking I could also start the anti/anxiety meds once the course is done and we’re ttc again.

What ones do you have to take? I’ve never been on them before until this.

I'm glad your appointment went well @thislittlebird

I'm only on CD11 and had a temp drop today . I got a little EWCM today (normally I have lots!) after yesterday's static smiley face but the cheapie OPKs I did yesterday and today are completely blank! I'm guessing CB is correct as the temp drop today will probably be followed by rise tomorrow...

As suggested, I have DD anyway we managed CD7,9,10 not sure I can face it tonight too...I'm so tired. Also used Pre-Seed each time. I'm not a fan but whatever helps I guess.

@selina37 it’s a bit of a mystery but at a guess I think I get pos opk, pains the next day or two so I take ovulation as the final day of pains. Who knows 🤷‍♀️

@thislittlebird ahh yes that makes sense, I think I actually wa s prescribed some when I was pregnant with my son or daughter but can't remember now! I usually have prednisolone 6 tablets a day

Oh I hit the ttc lottery in Tesco the other day 😂 walked passed the reduced isle and they had four boxes of Tesco conception gel at £2.80 each! Checked the date and it was July - so I bought them all 😂 had to go to the self serve checkout as I didn't want to look crazy at a normal till 👀

Yeah I’ve been given prednisolone too @Marvellouslymadmum. Start on six tomorrow and then one less per week for six weeks. I think I’ll ask about it again when I see her in 4 weeks which will be approaching my next period.

What’s a conception gel? 👀

@Marvellouslymadmum do Tesco do such a thing? I mean, is it their own brand? 🤔

@Loladoodle I would guess the egg pops out when I get the pains but it feels like the ovary stretching; the pain gets progressively worse until it disappears. I have read though that recent studies show the pain correlates with the LH surge, which is what grows the follicle and ovulation actually happens 24-36 hours after the pain (also in correlation to an OPK picking up the LH.

Like you say.. who knows 🤪

@selina sounds much more legit than my “it’s a mystery” ans “at a guess” statement 🤣🤣🤣

@thislittlebird good plan! The conception gel is just Tesco version of the conceive plus or proceed gel

@selina37 yes it's just Tesco version and normally about £6

Sounds like a great visit @thislittlebird - fingers crossed the treatments kick in quickly

total bargain score @Marvellouslymadmum! I’m nearly out of the pre-seed I bought 3 years ago... 😂

@Pamparam I do think I may have enough to last a fair while 😂

I think my body is broken? I’ve never had a stark white opk testing around presumed ovulation. it’s always had a hint of a line and I’m CD14 so should be either building or if I’ve just missed it, waning? Surely?

Yeah I hope they do kick in fast @Pamparam

Maybe the stick is just a bit shite?

Good evening everyone. I was just wondering about your cycle length. I spoke this evening to my doctor over text messages whom I will be seeing on Monday and she remarked that my cycle was too short. It’s 22 days. It hadn’t occurred to me that 22 days is short. Well it used to be 28 days but over the last few months got shorter and shorter. I don’t know if it’s the stress of ttc and my sleeplessness...

Hi everyone, just catching up! @Magnum99 thanks for the vit D info, that's really interesting. I might try and get mine tested at some point.

@thislittlebird so pleased to hear your dermatology appointment went well! It's so reassuring isn't it when you finally get to speak to an expert who knows that they are talking about :)

@Twelvestars my cycles are 25-28 days. 22 days does sound a bit short. Have you started tracking ovulation yet? The main thing to check is whether you have a luteal phase of at least 10 days. If it's less than 10 days then that would be too short to sustain a pregnancy, but there are supplements you can take to lengthen it.

Mine was 26 days this month (which might be the shortest cycle ever, but I ovulated earlier on day 14 after acupuncture), has been as long as 35 and is usually around 29.

Do you track your ovulation @Twelvestars? Would be useful to know how long each phase is.

I should add that the B6 dose may well have increased my progesterone this month based on my boobs being tender but it didn’t lengthen my luteal phase which I was concerned by, it was 12 days again. Have stopped now and will restart around ovulation (not that I’m ttc the next cycle)

Thanks @Kitekat81! Honestly so nice to finally speak to someone who knows what they’re doing and who wants to help.

@thislittlebird @Kitekat81 yes I’ve been tracking my cycles since September. They were 24/25 days and the last 3 have been 22 days. I ovulate around day 10/11. What medications could possibly be given for that? And what could I do to help lengthen it? I take all sorts of supplements from CoQ10 to Inositol, Selenium, Zinc, Vit D, Vit C. I guess maybe if I start some yoga and try to control my stress levels.