Letrozole first cycle

[Anon9899]

Today is day one of 5mg of letrozole for me. I have irregular cycles so really hoping this helps sort me out 🤞

Anyone else in the same boat or have happy stories to share?

@Anon9899 I don't know I guess everybody is different but my partner is as supportive as they get but isn't constantly asking about how my window works, he does believe what's meant to be will be even though I'm on meds. The hard part is he already has two daughters from a previous relationship so the need or desperation level for him is not the same as mine. I get so hung up on LH levels and peak tests and the constant waiting. I bought some at home progesterone checking strips so that I can see if I ovulate even if I don't have bloods. Going to take it on Saturday as it would be the time of cd12/15 was my peak.
@watchthebloodycat hey, if it's not too intrusive what was your journey on Letrozole like? Round 1 I had a huge LH peak on cd15 with a 45 day cycle roughly, this cycle it's cd21 and no huge peak result yet. I don't know if I did ovulate on cd12/15 this cycle they were just the darkest tests. I have put pictures in the chat before, we're they anything like yours while you were on Letrozole?

Just reading this and sending support and solidarity to everyone ❤️ am on my second cycle of letrozole (PCOS, age 30, ttc#1), was quite upset when I got my period last time but trying to stay positive x

@graceinc22 thanks hun, I'm in the same boat except I'm 28, 29 this year. Sending all the luck in the world to you x

@watchthebloodycat so lovely to hear positive stories of it working, thank you for sharing! Cycle 2 for me currently so hopefully your luck is contagious 😀

@graceinc22 welcome! We are second cycle buddies and seem to be in similar circumstances (TTC no 1 here with PCOS too) though I'm a bit older at 32. I have cried a lot when my period arrived at the start of the month but onwards and upwards, with each new cycle is new hope!!

@shoegirl36 it is tough if your partner already has kids. Maybe that's why he is able to be so relaxed. Hope the progesterone tests confirm ovulation for you!!

Sorry I can't remember in detail (although at the time it was very, very detailed!). Although ovulation tests were a definite line equally as dark as the other.

It was still a bit hectic in that I didn't ovulate on 'expected' days but I was consistent in testing twice per day - in the morning and in the evening - to ensure I didn't miss any potential peaks.

Thank goodness for the bulk buying of said tests!

Hey Ladies,
i've been reading your thread and I wanted to chime in and get / give some support!
I'm 33 & just been diagnosed with Lean PCOS after TTC for 1 year. I've been SO lucky & managed to get everything looked at privately so far... until now!

I've been given a private prescription of Provera & Letrazole, but my Doctor told me not to fill it yet, until we get the results back from my husband's sperm analysis. I'm SO impatient, and trying to work out dates..
We go away on 16th June to the 1st July, so I want to get our first round in before we go, so I know whether the first round worked with making me ovulate etc.
Do you think that's possible if we get the results back on Friday? I then need to take Provera, and then the letrazole and then she mentioned something about scanning on day 10 & day 12 or something. It was a lot to take it, she gave me a leaflet, but it doesn't really have a timeline and like the rest of us... i'm fed up waiting.
Any advise on timelines & if you felt ok on the Letrazole would be amazing. I haven't had a period since July 2022, and I had to take a 10 day course of Provera so they could check my levels etc - it wasn't great, I was super hormonal and crying and felt almost depressed, so I'm hoping that with the 5 day course that doesn't happen!

@Obione1 hello! I have lean PCOS too, it's a weird one because so much of the advice is on weight loss etc and doesn't apply - my clinic have told me on a couple of occasions to limit cardio and try to put on some weight because it might help regulate things so it all seems very conflicting.

I also went a year without period before I was diagnosed after coming off the pill. I was going to be given provera but then had a period just before I was about to take it so can't help with timescales on that front! I do know that on my first cycle of letrozole at 5mg I ovulated day 21 but only have a 10 day luteal phase. They scanned me on day 14 and saw I was responding but I think sometimes they want to scan you every couple of days to check how you are progressing/if the dose is right etc.

I have felt fine on it, very slight headache on day 2 of taking the tablets and at about 5dpo I was a bit sore down there for a few days but that may have been more related to lots of DTD!!

Hope it all goes well for you. I'm on cycle 2 atm and had a ridiculously thin lining on my cd11 scan last friday so being scanned again this friday to see if it's progressing at all.

Hey @Anon9899 @Obione1 - I also have lean PCOS and totally agree with lots of the advice not being relevant. All that stuff about ‘just lose x% of body weight and you’ll restart ovulation’… not an option.

I have had a pretty bad headache for a day or two each cycle of letrozole (took all the painkillers allowed and it was still there) but only around when I have actually taken the meds - nothing apart from that.

fingers crossed for your second cycle @Anon9899! I’m being unmonitored this cycle, cd11 and just hope it works x

Hey All.

Sorry I've been so quiet recently, it's been really difficult this past week at mine. Massive fight with my partner that we worked through and then his father (who lives with us) was taken I'll and has been admitted to hospital.

On the other side of that I've been trying to look after myself too, been tracking my BBT and LH with strips but second cycle on Letrozole (first on 5mg) no obvious peak and these last 3/4 days my BBT is slowly rising. I wondered what this could mean. Any ideas would be welcomed with open arms. I've googled and googled but could be a million different things.

I hope you're all well ladies x

@graceinc22 good luck for your cycle too!! Do you know when you ovulated roughly previous cycles? Day 16 for me and no peak LH yet which is actually a blessing for once as gives a bit of time for my lining to thicken.

@shoegirl36 sorry you've had a tough time of it. Did you do your progesterone test to try to confirm ovulation? Your charts do look very spiky. So hard to work it out if you arent being scanned or having blood tests!

@Anon9899

Success story here!
I had irregular cycles, ranging 35-45 days.
TTC for 6 months and every cycle I would start spotting 5 days post ovulation, then bleed at 12.

Letrozole first cycle I fell pregnant with my now 11 month old! And I'm pregnant again, by accident! Must have got things working x

@Anon9899 unfortunately I don't get scanned by doctors so all I have to go by is my LH test results and bbt. I did buy some proov confirm strips and did test on cd21 when I would usually have to have bloods and there was a very very very faint second line but I don't know if this is a good or bad thing.

@PhyllisVance23 ahhh congratulations that's amazing, what was your letrozole experience like? After my first Letrozole round my cycle was around 40 days and this is my 2nd round and am on cd27 roughly.

@shoegirl36 well because I got pregnant on my first cycle I guess it was no different to the cycles prior, other than I didn't start having pink stained CM so soon after ovulation like I did every other cycle. I always ovulated on day 19-22, except if I had random 45+ cycles.

The cycle I conceived on I ovulated day 21. They didn't think my follicle would be big enough but they do have rapid growth in the last 24h so that's obviously what happened with mines. I had copious amounts of brown spotting from 10DPO - turning pink. I was very surprised as I thought implantation bleeding was rare.

I had a few days of pink stained cm with this pregnancy too x

@PhyllisVance23 thanks for replying, atm I'm confused because I've had no obvious peak but a few sporadic high results, discharge a week or so ago but today my bbt dropped after a steady rise over 3/4 days and also a relatively high LH test. I will upload my pics to the reply maybe you could have a peak for me to see if you notice anything I've missed ☺️

@PhyllisVance23 thanks for the success story, always really love to hear! I ovulated day 21 last cycle too, day 16 now and think I'm gearing up to it so good to hear that ovulation on day 21 is viable for success! Just need my lining to sort itself out.

@shoegirl36 really sorry you are going through all the confusion with spikey charts and no confirmation of ovulation. Tbh PCOS makes my charts really spikey too 😔 my temperature was the most consistent it's ever been after ovulation last cycle though so maybe it still hasn't happened yet for you!

@Anon9899 I'll be honest I have absolutely no idea. I can never seem to find a pattern in my tracking. I take god knows how many tablets and supplements. Just feels all this effort for nothing happening at the moment. I'd be pleased even at the moment having Letrozole, a strong peak LH test and a regular 28/30 day cycle.

Hello Ladies,
sorry I’ve been quiet for a while, I’m still on holidays and trying not too think too much about TTC (with variable success). How’s everyone doing?
@Anon9899 how’s your lining this cycle?
i didn’t get monitored this month and only relied on bbt, but it’s been so spiky I have no idea if I ovulated or not. CD27 and I’ve just stopped taking Duphaston so I guess I’ll find out in a couple of days lol.
@shoegirl36 how are you doing hon?
Sending baby dust to everyone x

@WafflesNCream hey girl, how you been? Hope your enjoying the break from the TTC crazy train lol.. I'm okay, day by day you know how it is. So took a LH test yesterday afternoon and it's registered as a peak on my apps so I'm hoping this is a good sign and I'm actually ovulating. But going away next weekend for my partners birthday so again taking a weekend off from all this TTC stuff. I wish that today I ovulate and I can show him a bfp test for his birthday. We can all dream hey x

@shoegirl36 omg I’m totally the same, if I got pregnant this cycle, I could tell him on his birthday. I don’t want to get my hopes up, after 18 months of trying and 4 failed letrozole cycles it’s highly unlikely, but hey.

@WafflesNCream when is your partners birthday? It would be such a dream of mine and something that would cheer him up massively with his dad being in hospital at the moment. It's so difficult because I have seen a different side to his family because of this too and it's walking the fine line between saying my piece and upsetting my partner and staying quiet and letting it fester inside me. How's this cycle looking for you? I do wish you all the luck in the world honestly I do understand it x

@shoegirl36 It’s end of May. I’m not sure at all about this cycle. We’ll see in a few days, I’ll either get AF or not. If this cycle doesn’t work I have one more left and moving on to gonadotropins next, not looking forward to that.

@WafflesNCream sending you loads of luck and positive vibes for you, hoping that your bubba comes soon x

@WafflesNCream I am also not feeling hugely positive! Hopefully we are both wrong. I had another scan today (cd18) and lining is slightly thicker than it was last week, it's gone from 1.7mm to 3.3mm. The nurse said implantation can happen from 3mm but I am doubtful! Main thing though is my biggest follicle is still on 12 point something so ovulation is still at least a few days off annoyingly. Last time I had a 31 day cycle so got my hopes up that it was going to help regulate things to no avail it seems.
More time to build a lining anyway! They are scanning me again Tuesday.

How exciting that you got a peak @shoegirl36 finally!!! Was it much more obvious than your previous high readings?

@Anon9899 god I wished it was obvious, it was anything but. It's only my apps that told me it's a peak, the test itself wasn't particularly helpful. The peak is apparently on CD 28. I've actually had to write in the forums to see what others think because being on Letrozole I didn't know you could get a peak so late but also I thought that I've had a few tests that look similar to that the only difference is this one was picked up on the apps as a peak. Do you think it was peak or I'd peaked before now or not even ovulated yet? Your opinion is so welcome. Please and thank you

@shoegirl36 it is very confusing, you've had lots of high looking readings!! To be honest day 12 still looks the darkest to me, it looks as dark or darker than day 28. Have you had any EWCM?