Hello everyone, hoping to join you all on this board.
My story:
Fortunately I have two lovely sons aged 8/10 years
Last August my husband and I decided to try for our third having never thought that we would - I am now 35yrs.
I was on contraceptives for acne, stopped this and awaited my period.
It took 5 1/2 months to return.
Gp checked bloods which were normal.
we fell pregnant straight away on my first cycle back but sadly had a mmc at 6+weeks.
I noticed some pink ‘spotting’ from 7dpo .
It was really only pink streaks in mucus at any one time but it was very frequent. I had a feeling this pregnancy was different pretty much from conception.
I had some strong cramping one night but saw an fh at USS the next day.
it was even more of a blow to lose the baby after this.
6 weeks after this loss my cycle returned but they were longer then they used to be and I found out I was ovulating late day 20/21/22.
tracking my cycles I noticed that at 7dpo the pink streaky spotting would occur every month like clockwork.
again saw my gp who took a 7dpo progesterone test. This came back as very normal at 41 however this month I was pregnant and hadn’t found out yet.
sadly the pink spotting continued and my pregnancy tests lightened until I bled and lost the pregnancy at 4+6 wks
As I haven’t had 3 losses in a row my gp will not test again for anything and I am
not eligible for a referral to recurrent pregnancy loss clinic.
I was at a loss so have paid to go private.
During my long year of research into ovulation support and luteal phase defect i have tried:
sensitivity/intolerance testing
full blood panel including thyroid-private
abdominal massage
naturopathic doctor
vitamin b complex and other numerous vitamins
ashwaganda/stress reduction
dietary changes
my private consultant was very supportive and informative at my first appointment in September
it was a remote consultation but given my history he felt that I had a high follicle count.
he said that because of this my estrogen is high and my follicles ‘fight’ to receive FSH and this in turn causes a longer time for a dominant follicle to appear.
my lining becomes less effective as it’s taken a longer time to ovulate.
this weak ovulation produces a less effective corpus luteum and my progesterone is insufficient in the luteal phase thus causing this spotting before AF.
i used a progesterone urine test kit last month which checks the Progesterone in your urine from 7dpo-10dpo.
it proved more effective than a one off blood test and showed that my progesterone was too low to
start with and tailing off further by 10dpo
my plan this month was:
letrozole 5mg to bring ovulation forward
trigger shot of hcg to improve surge and ovulation
progesterone pessaries in luteal phase.
my day 13 USS showed two dominant follicles and lots of smaller follicles- proving the PCO theory.
sadly the dominant follicles were still slow growing so I only took my trigger shot around day 18.
my consultant wants to increase my Letrozole dosage next month.
this month is an expensive experiment to say the least!
really wish my gp was more clued up on luteal phase support.
she suggested as it occurred very month it normal!?
I would love to see how we all get on and I’m somewhat reassured I’m not alone in this issue.
although I wish we didn’t have to deal with it at all!
best wishes ladies