TTC with irregular period after coming off the pill

[Mousse1990]

I came off the pill last September, which I had been on since I was 16 (now 32). I wanted to give my period time to sort itself out and have only been TTC for maybe 3 months but only really started looking at ovulation/cycle etc the past 2 months.
I didn't realise until looking back at them since September how my period has been quite all over the place. Shorter cycles, very light, sometimes 3 days up to 36 days for my last one. On day 37 now and still no period but had some very light spotting friday/Saturday that then stopped. I did a pregnancy test Saturday which was negative.

Has anyone else had very all over the place periods after stopping the pill, and if you did how long did it take to stabilise? I've got an ovulation kit but I have no idea when to start using it especially as my period hasn't started. 🤔

Just looking for posts on this topic for my own sanity too.

I came off the pill Sep 22 and didn’t get my first real period till Jan 23. Since then I’ve had a regular BUT 9 week long cycle!

The docs can’t seem to find any issues hormone/ovary wise but I’ve never heard anyone the same!

Waiting 2 months to ovulate when TTC is a nightmare.

i think they will regulate in time, they say to give it 1 year 🤞🏼 hope you come right soon!

Ive been using natural cycles app and thermometer which has really helped my peace of mind and confirms ovulation correctly!

How are you getting on @Mousse1990? Currently in same situation 👋

Same situation here too- came off the pill in January of this year and was on it for around 13 years. Started my cycles again in March and appeared to be pretty regular: 34 then 32 days. Then had a 55 day cycle out of nowhere and now I've since had 40 days, 38, 36 and currently on CD 36. Very irregular and very annoying. Being TTC since May and started tracking LH in July to very quickly realised I was ovulating very late- day 23 and day 31 in the past 2 months!

How annoying @glasshalffull0 but great you've identified that you are at least ovulating. Good luck for next few cycles.

I really hope I am too, even if irregularly, but now period has gone fully awol I'm concerned I'm not ☹️ What are you using to track?

@blgld I'm just using the premom app and their lh strips although I'm thinking of buying an Ovusense monitor which internally tracks core body temperature.

I had a 55 day cycle and it was torturous- I felt like I had no control of my body but it came back and I'm sure yours will too. I know it doesn't help at all when you're in the situation yourself but it does come back and it will get better x

@glasshalffull0 hope so, thank you, really appreciate it

Hey @Mousse1990 I was really similar to you in that I stopped the pill in April 2022 and didn’t get a period until August 2022. After that it would be between 5 and 6 weeks before I got a period. In April so about a year since I stopped the pill my cycle started getting more regular. But I got a BFP in July, on a cycle that was on track to be about 30 days long when the previous one had been almost 40!

I still found it helpful to track ovulation and usually started about 5 days after my period, I used the really cheap strips not the clearblue indicator and tested every day. Once I got more used to when I was ovulating I noticed changes in how I felt leading up to and during ovulation, getting really bloated and increased EWCM then getting sore boobs literally the day after ovulating. So then I just started using ovulation strips to confirm when I got these symptoms. Sorry that’s turned into a bit of a ramble but it did take over a year for my periods to even start stabilising so wanted to give a bit of reassurance!

Hey! I thought I’d post as just came across this and it really resonated! I stopped my pill in March this year after 13 years and instantly, irregular periods! My cycles varies from 28-38 days and sometimes the bleeds lasted 2/3 days where as they used to always be 5/7 and regular.

I personally did natural cycles and tracked my temp as well as doing ovulation sticks- nothing! I felt so anxious constantly as I never had the ‘peak temping’ rise and NC never confirmed ovulation for me. I genuinely convinced myself I was infertile. I did speak to my GP about it who said they couldn’t properly investigate until a year but would do bloods just to make sure I was ovulating- even they were a nightmare because they booked me in on each 1-7 and say 21 and I knew I wouldn’t have ovulated by then as I’m so irregular. Anyway I went in for another one day 31 and they had more of a rise- still not confirmed but enough to give me hope my body was doing something!

I got so overwhelmed and stressed with the temping that I stopped and just did the LH strips- I had a month in Canada and finally stopped worrying (I think holidays do that). I did keep tracking my LH and had a LOT of sex. I am now 9/10 weeks pregnant- never have had a confirmed ovulation and ovulated on about day 28 of my cycle. I know it’s different for everyone- bur for me it was the 6th month of trying and I genuinely think being more chilled about it and being on holiday had such an impact.

Dont lose faith- it’ll happen! ❤️ I hope this will reassure you somehow!

Thank you @LondonGirl1992, find it so helpful when people like you return with stories of positive outcomes. I do think while all the advanced insights are amazing, they must only add unnecessary stress in some cases (which we know has a big impact). Sounds like I need a month Canada 😄

Huge congratulations.

Thank you! I genuinely did lose hope and thought it would never happen to me- but the fact GP’s don’t even do anything until a year speaks volumes about how common that is.

It is so true that stress and worry has such an impact on your body- so if tracking everything is adding to that, I’d honestly say cut it back as much as you can. As long as you have a rough idea of when you’re ovulating through LH strips and time it so you’re TTC around those dates- that’s your best bet.

I really hope it happens for you soon! ❤️