Where do I begin my research?

[iftheresaway]

I had my annual well-woman exam today (although it was actually my first one in two years), and my doctor told me that she thinks I am not ovulating. This doesn't exactly come as a surprise to me, but now I want to know what my options are from here.

A bit of background: I am 23 years old, and have always had very irregular periods. I went on bc at an early age (~15), and remained on it until Jan. '08, with a ~6 month interruption from late 2006 to May 2007 when I did not have health insurance. I went off bc in Jan. '08, and my husband and I used other methods of protection until August, when we decided we were ready to start trying. Since I went off the pill in January, I had periods in Feb, March, April, and May, and then nothing until December, and nothing since then.

So today the doctor told me that I am probably not ovulating. According to her, the top four reasons are thyroid issues and prolactin production issues (which she drew blood for), PCOS (which I have no symptoms of of), and endometriosis . At this point, I'm really not sure what to google. I'm not clear about what my options will be, where to go from here, etc. Any options/advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much!

[aprilmom]

Well your doctor will probably draw blood to determin if you are ovulating - and go from there depending on your levels. They will probably check other things at that time to rule out things like your Thyroid (sp). There might be some threads on here for you to read about someone who has probably been through the same thing. I think until you hear from the doctor and know what direction you are headed you might be overwhelmed by the posibilities.

GL - I hope it is an easy fix for you!

[Autumnlaughing]

I'm kind of going through the same thing - on BCP for over 10 years, had a few cycles after that were increasingly long + then.. stopped... my nursemidwife gave me provera to restart (which made me CRAZY!), and since then I've had two cycles (~43 and 37 days).

The bloodwork will probably give you hints about PCOS, too - I didn't think I could possibly have it, but now it looks like maybe I do. Though more likely it's something even weirder, because I have low cortisol levels, too.

The good news is that the most recent med they put me on really makes me feel SOOO much better - I'd been having awful "brain fog" issues that seemed to be cortisol related but we couldn't seem to fix them. So, maybe it'll help other aspects of your life, too!

But it's stressful and shocking - I thought I was just under a lot of stress + just off the pill - I knew TTC would take awhile because DH was 100 miles away most of the time. It really surprised me to be sent to the infertility folks after only 7 months!!!

Once you have the blood work results, you'll have a better idea of what to research.

[georgiep]

I agree witht the others - wait till you get all of the results and then begin the journey. I had a very long, hard journey but I was determined and never stopped reading and researching. I never took what the Drs told me at face value. Even my Dr told me when I got pregnant "thank God that you didn't just listen to me cause this proves that Dr's don't know everything". Have you ever heard of the book "The Infertility Cure"? May give you the hope you need right now. Good Luck!!!

[gemasita]

I would first look at the book "Taking Charge of your Fertility." Then second, "The Infertility Cure." I think they both help explain some basics. Might be a good place to start.

[brightonwoman]

the first thing I would do is start charting--that will tell you whether you are ovulating or not. ("taking charge of your fertility" by Toni Weschler has the best information about how to chart, plus a lot of good appendices with information about interpreting your charts)

[Victorian patch]

Most of the people that do their exams before start ttc with the help of the science find out their diagnosys, if not, we find out while we are ttc. Is much better and much cheaper if you do all the exams before, also at the beggining they will start using the basic medicines to check out how your body answer with those medicine, then they start changing.

At thought it was quick, sometimes it is, but in our situation it takes a bit longer, but don't put your arms down, you are pretty young so that is good coz I am around the 40's and the time is going out.

Good luck hun and enjoy : your DH doing your homework