No periods after coming off the pill

[Serendopety]

Hello,

I'm 32 (33 in a few weeks) and this is our first time TTC.

I came off the pill at the start of January and have only had one period since then towards the end of April (incidentally the same week I had covid).

I've been doing OPKs and I've never had a positive, although there have been a couple of almost-positives.

I was just wondering if there was any point trying to talk to a GP about this now, or would they tell me to come back after I've been off the pill for 12 months? I understand it can take a good few months for cycles to return to normal, but I'm worried that being on the pill for over ten years has been masking a bigger problem.

I've quickly gone from 'seeing how it goes' and letting fate decide to getting extremely broody whenever I see a baby! I realise I might have a long road ahead with TTC but I'd really appreciate any experiences or advice, or anecdotes about what helped you get your cycle back on track.

Maybe you can get your hormones tested? While it's not unusual to have long cycles coming off the pill, O don't see any harm in testing ypir hormone levels either.

I agree with the previous poster re hormone testing - I had the same situation when coming off the pill 18 months ago and it turns out that I had PCOS which the pill was masking. However, it could just be the case that long term use of the pill means it's taking longer for your cycle to regulate, but having had a period is a good sign at least. Either way, information is power! If you have other post pill symptoms like acne/weight gain/hirsutism/tiredness your NHS GP may do blood tests and an ultrasound at this point (mine did) but otherwise you can get 'fertility checkup' packages privately often for around £300-400.

Hello,
I can totally feel you here, but try not to panic - no-one ever told me that my periods would take a while to come back after coming off the pill, so it was a worry for me as well.

I was on the pill for 8 years. I came off in October and I had my first period in MARCH. My cycle after that was 48 days long and I didn't ovulate. My current cycle is on day 35 and I ovulated on day 23. I'm confident my cycle is evening out, but it's taking ages and making it hard to calculate when we can try and make a baby each month. But it was a real relief when it eventually returned.

I wouldn't worry just yet as most advice I had was to wait 6 months before going to see a doctor, but you can always go see them anyway to double check everything is okay. It's such a sensitive/emotionally charged time and I often find myself stressing about it.

Sending my best wishes to you, I hope things improve for you soon :)

Thank you for your replies. You've put my mind at ease but also made me realise I'm not being silly in maybe wanting to get checked out soon.

My DSis and best friend have been TTC for far longer than I have, so I don't really feel I can vent to them.

It always astounds me that strangers on the internet take time out of their days to offer advice :)

I came off the combined pill last June…. took me until March to have a period. I went on the pill age 17 and now I’m 34 so a LONG time.
After 6 months I went to the GP and they sent me for tests - all fine. And a scan of ovaries, also fine so gave me peace of mind. But still waited 9 months for AF. I’m tracking BBT now and find it so helpful…. Im in a pretty regular cycle now but still very light period.

Same thing happened to a friend - took 11 months to see any period and then they were irregular. That friend is now pregnant from tracking cm and DTD at the right time during CM window.

sorry to say it can just take a LONG time to return to normal (despite blogs saying 3 months etc). I really recommend reading The Period Repair Manual - very helpful with lots of tip of what to look for.