Short luteal phase - Vitamin B6 and C experiences?

[spookybee]

Hi all! 👋🏻
I had an MMC in March with my first pregnancy at almost 10 weeks, miscarried naturally a few weeks later. Since then, my luteal phase has consistently only been 7 to 9 days. Blood tests have all come back normal and my GP isn't being particularly helpful, she just seems to act as if it isn't an issue and says it "may just get better in time".

I'm not really willing to keep waiting and hoping whilst doing nothing, so I've been reading about vitamin B6 and vitamin C and how they can possibly help to lengthen the luteal phase. I've bought some and started taking them yesterday, but I'm wondering if anyone has any experiences they'd be willing to share? Positive or negative experiences welcome, or any alternative suggestions! As my nurse (so kindly) said, I'm not getting any younger and I'm reluctant to keep waiting, despite my continuous asking for help. I tried another GP but they just said everything on the tests seemed fine and I'm probably getting my ovulation date wrong but I take OPKs and know I ovulate normally between day 14 and 17, and I start spotting 6 or 7 days later, with heavier bleeding starting approximately a day or two after the spotting begins.

Any help greatly appreciated! 🙏🏻

H Ladies I've been following this thread with interest as have a short LP, Tagging my friend @decafisnotthesame just for info. Congrats on all the BFPs 🙌

Just to add my experience, I also got my bfp a couple of weeks ago after taking 100mg b6 and 1000mg vit c for a month due to my short LP (8-9 days).

I had a MMC in august so I’ve decided to carry on taking b6 and vit c up to try and keep my progesterone high, although I have halved the dosage of both (50mg and 500mg) x

Congratulations @Bali200 🎊 Wishing you a happy and healthy pregnancy!

Thank you @Sez281 I do personally believe that vitamins B6, B12 and C did help my cycle length enough for implantation to occur but I definitely did implant early this cycle too (first VVVFL on 8dpo) - but normally I'd have got my period by 7dpo so I'm thankful it was extended enough for implantation to occur. I'm only 4+2 so early days but really hoping everything continues well xx

Thanks @spookybee, wishing all the best to you too! I’m 6+1 today, it’s very nerve wracking after loss though isn’t it. I also think I implanted early, I think mine was 7dpo as I had an implantation dip on my bbt and got a strong positive on 11dpo x

Congratulations @spookybee and @Bali200 🥳 I'll definitely be looking into those vitamins. AF just arrived on 10dpo as I expected. I'd love to be able to extend my LP by even a couple of days 🙏

I tried pretty much every supplement under the sun to lengthen my luteal phase. Not a single thing worked. I was very disheartened by it and thought I’d never get pregnant. After 6 months of ttc however I conceived ds1. The cycle before he was conceived my lutéal phase was 6 days!

I still have a short lutéal phase. Whenever I’ve tracked it it has been 6-9 days. But I’ve gone on to have 2 more children without any problems (ttc 2 months and 7 months) so it hasn’t been an issue for me. They must have implanted early. Good luck to you.

Oh wow that's so good to hear @WindTheMummyUpWindHerBackAgain I love hear in positive stories like yours! Thanks

Hello everyone. Glad to have stumbled upon an up to date thread. This is my first month TTC and from looking at my data on Flo app my luteal phase is consistently 10 days which Google tells me is on the high side of abnormal.

Please can someone explain to me really simply, what vitamins and quantities I need to take to help lengthen it? Links also appreciated!

thank you so much and sending baby dust!!

Hi @alh26 !
I can't say for sure that it helped, but I got my BFP the first cycle I tried taking vit B. Prior to that my luteal phase was 9/10 days usually.
I was taking these ones:
https://www.hollandandbarrett.com/shop/product/solgar-vitamin-b-complex-50-high-potency-vegi-capsules-60001395

I got the 50mg capsules and took 2 capsules a day. I had heard that people can have funny reactions like tingly fingers if they took too much so I wanted to have the option to reduce my dose if I needed. Symptoms like that were generally reversible if you then stopped them from what I read.
I think it's b6 that's meant to help luteal phase but they recommend taking all the B vitamins together so I took the B complex for this reason :) I think it's likely to be low in those with a veggie diet which I do so I figured vitamin b might be helpful in my situation but I think it's worth being prepared that it won't necessarily help, as I guess it depends why your luteal phase is short.
I also started taking the pregnacare conception vitamin on this cycle too so that might have helped! Prior to this I was just on folic acid.

Also are you testing to be sure when you're ovulating? As you might be ovulating earlier than flo typically predicts? Just worth confirming if there is an issue with the luteal phase I think :)

@Hotmalibu94 thank you so much!! I’m going to go to H&B tomorrow. What did your LP get to after taking the vitamins?

yes so I test with the clear blue digital ovulation sticks so the data is fairly accurate but I suppose it can never be 100%.

question if I may…. So on this cycle I did my ovulation test and got positive on 29th and 30th. On the 1st I then got negative. Flo was still predicting I ovulated on the 1st. Do you know if the actual day of ovulation if you’d get a positive ovulation test or would ovulation day infact show as negative?

I'm not sure what it would have been because I got my BFP on 13dpo 😁
Ah so I think you ovulate 24-48 hours after the tests are positive, so yeah I think it would be the day flo thinks? Or maybe the second day of the positive tests? I didn't use the tests much, I did body temp to confirm ovulation myself :)

@Hotmalibu94 i got a very faint positive test this morning (9dpo). At what point would you stop taking b complex and take a pregnancy multivitamin? I’d like to take pregnacare max but it has the 400ug folic acid which b complex also has? Unsure if I can take both?? What did you do?

@alh26 congratulations! I took both for a little while, then slowly dropped my b complex down. I mean, if you've only been taking it since the 8th (if I have that right?) I doubt it's made a huge difference to things, so you could probably stop it if you'd rather!

Congratulations @alh26 😀 I carried on taking my vitamins until I was about 5 weeks and then switched to Pregnacare Max which I've been taking since (currently 7+4)
Pregnacare still has vitamins B6, B12 and C (lower amounts but all that is required) so you can switch onto those instead. I wouldn't take both as the Pregnacare has all you need.
Wishing you a happy healthy 9 months!

Congratulations @alh26! I was taking 100mg of b6 and 1000mg of vit c the month before I got my bfp. I reduced these by half when I got my bfp so I now take 50mg of b6 and 500mg vit c daily as I want to keep my progesterone levels high, following my MMC last time, as well as taking pregnacare max.

B6 actually helps to reduce morning sickness 😊 I’m now 9+1 x

@Bali200 @spookybee @Hotmalibu94

thanks everyone! All was a bit of a shock as I really didn’t think I was pregnant. I don’t have any symptoms yet so I’m rather paranoid!! I am 10po today so I suppose it’s still early for some to experience symptoms?? Going to the GP today as well to hopefully find some reassurance. Hope everyone else’s journeys are going well

Don't worry about lack of symptoms - I'm now 7+5 and have only really started getting them over the last week. It's really common not to have many (or any at all) in the first few weeks.

I'm doing okay, just finding myself very nervous now as time goes on. I had an MMC at 9 weeks last time so I'm trying to remain positive and remember that this is a different pregnancy but it's difficult sometimes. I'm still waiting to hear about my first midwife appointment as well but I'm sure that will help when it comes through :) These first few weeks seem to drag!

Hey! How is everyone doing? I'm at 31 weeks now and exhausted 😂 I stopped taking pregnacare at 16 weeks as it was making me feel so unwell. Within a day of stopping, all my nausea went away and I've since just been taking vitamin D.
Feeling a little overwhelmed with how much I need to get done in just a few weeks but very excited to meet our little one 🩷 I'm still convinced that the vitamins made the difference after months of short luteal phases!

Hi I'm so glad I came across this thread! Trying to conceive baby #1 and I'm in a similar position you ladies were in and currently have an 8 day luteal phase. I have been taking the proceive supplements everyday for a week now and started omega 3's today too with the intention to take them everyday also.

Today I ordered 100mg of b6 to try. Did you take them everyday? I have seen other people say that they delay ovulation and they take them after ovulation has occurred, but after reading your success stories above I'd love to hear your thoughts! TIA

@sjwx - it might be good to start a new thread as you'll likely get more answers. I'm interested to hear too!

Hi how have you got on with b6?! Any decent threads or info you have found!?

Update?

Update is my Luteal phase stayed improved. I started trying in December 23 & fell pregnant in January 24 & I now have a beautiful 16 month old daughter