Hello
I've been lurking on this forum on and off for the past year. I just wanted to share my experience *so far* in the hopes that it might help someone.
In April 2009 my DH and I decided it would be time to ttc. I was 29 and he 33. I had been on the Pill pretty consistently since I was around 18 due to irregular and painful cycles as well as mild acne. I knew that it would take time before I could get pregnant but i didn't think that it would be as bad as it was!
I had SUPER long cycles, ranging from 50 days to 4 months. I tried acupuncture through that summer but it didn't seem to help. Finally in the fall I decided that since ski season was starting we should just stop "trying" and maybe do some testing. I was on a long 5 month cycle I decided it was time to see an RE ( Febuary 2010). She started with Provera to induce a period and did all the regular fertility work up. All the tests came out normal and after taking the Provera my cycles actually seemed to start improving... I was having 30-50 day cycles with ovulation around day 20-25 (I had been consistent with charting).
Since all my testing was coming out normal and my cycles seemed better I decided to cancel my "re-group" appointment with the RE and wanted to give my body a chance to improve on it's own... I did not want to start fertility drugs just yet. I always go towards a more *natural* approach.
I continued to work on improving my diet, exercise and started Mayan Abdominal massage. I chose to start the massage because from what i read it could help regulate cycles and improve periods (at this time I was having light 2-3 day bleeds that had some clots and dried dark blood).
This summer in June we started "trying" again and we had perfect timing on that first ovulation.. however, on day 9 PO I started my period (I was having consistent 13-14 day luteal phases). This time my period was extremely painful with associated nausea and heavier bleed. I didn't think much of it except that next month the same thing happened (perfect intercourse timing as well).
So I decided to cancel my abdominal massages and make an appointment with the RE again. She went over all the tests I had taken and told me that it seemed I had a VERY mild case of PCOS. All my tests are normal (insulin resistance, cholesterol, weight (I'm 5'10 and weigh 135 lbs), skin, etc) however I did have about twice as many follicles as normal women. She said we could try Clomid or Femera if I didn't get pregnant while on a trial of Metformin for 6 months. she also wanted to test my 7 DPO progesterone levels (which i guess we missed the first time)
I also explained what had happened the 2 last months and if she thought I had had problems with implantation.. she said that it could have been the case, and since women with PCOS have progesterone problems this might be an easy fix.
This was last month and and felt I was about to ovulate. She recommended we do an US and look at my follicles and see if indeed it was about time. Turns out it was, so they gave me an HCG trigger shot and we had planned intercourse again.
My husband travels for work and I didn't want to wait another month to take a prescription Progesterone if my levels were indeed too low. And since my ovulation take so long, this could of take months before we had good timing like this again. So I made a decision and right after my Ovulation I started taking a Natural Progesterone cream that I bought at a vitamin shop in town.
7 days later I took the progesterone test and I had a 19- normal
14 days post ovulation (+) pregnancy test!!!
1 day later good HCG and progesterone levels
and this morning HCG 1,056 and progesterone 39
I guess I still can't believe that all I needed was a cream! of course it's hard to be 100% sure since I cheated and started it before they even tested a low number... also maybe I got pregnant because of the HCG trigger shot... who knows, but I'll have to ask my RE if i see her again... They want me to go in for a 6 week US and I'm sure I won't have to see them much more after that.
Sorry this was SO long, but thought this might help someone in a similar situation
The Mayan Abdominal Massage was very cool and taught me a lot about my body and normal tissue tension... I did have very tight fascia and abdominal muscle tightness around my Uterus that did loosen up with the months of self massage... and also a trip to a physical therapist to help with my injured left hip that I sustained while snowboarding last March.
Now I just have to keep my fingers crossed that everything continues to go smoothly for another 2 months and then I can relax!
Natalie
I've been lurking on this forum on and off for the past year. I just wanted to share my experience *so far* in the hopes that it might help someone.
In April 2009 my DH and I decided it would be time to ttc. I was 29 and he 33. I had been on the Pill pretty consistently since I was around 18 due to irregular and painful cycles as well as mild acne. I knew that it would take time before I could get pregnant but i didn't think that it would be as bad as it was!
I had SUPER long cycles, ranging from 50 days to 4 months. I tried acupuncture through that summer but it didn't seem to help. Finally in the fall I decided that since ski season was starting we should just stop "trying" and maybe do some testing. I was on a long 5 month cycle I decided it was time to see an RE ( Febuary 2010). She started with Provera to induce a period and did all the regular fertility work up. All the tests came out normal and after taking the Provera my cycles actually seemed to start improving... I was having 30-50 day cycles with ovulation around day 20-25 (I had been consistent with charting).
Since all my testing was coming out normal and my cycles seemed better I decided to cancel my "re-group" appointment with the RE and wanted to give my body a chance to improve on it's own... I did not want to start fertility drugs just yet. I always go towards a more *natural* approach.
I continued to work on improving my diet, exercise and started Mayan Abdominal massage. I chose to start the massage because from what i read it could help regulate cycles and improve periods (at this time I was having light 2-3 day bleeds that had some clots and dried dark blood).
This summer in June we started "trying" again and we had perfect timing on that first ovulation.. however, on day 9 PO I started my period (I was having consistent 13-14 day luteal phases). This time my period was extremely painful with associated nausea and heavier bleed. I didn't think much of it except that next month the same thing happened (perfect intercourse timing as well).
So I decided to cancel my abdominal massages and make an appointment with the RE again. She went over all the tests I had taken and told me that it seemed I had a VERY mild case of PCOS. All my tests are normal (insulin resistance, cholesterol, weight (I'm 5'10 and weigh 135 lbs), skin, etc) however I did have about twice as many follicles as normal women. She said we could try Clomid or Femera if I didn't get pregnant while on a trial of Metformin for 6 months. she also wanted to test my 7 DPO progesterone levels (which i guess we missed the first time)
I also explained what had happened the 2 last months and if she thought I had had problems with implantation.. she said that it could have been the case, and since women with PCOS have progesterone problems this might be an easy fix.
This was last month and and felt I was about to ovulate. She recommended we do an US and look at my follicles and see if indeed it was about time. Turns out it was, so they gave me an HCG trigger shot and we had planned intercourse again.
My husband travels for work and I didn't want to wait another month to take a prescription Progesterone if my levels were indeed too low. And since my ovulation take so long, this could of take months before we had good timing like this again. So I made a decision and right after my Ovulation I started taking a Natural Progesterone cream that I bought at a vitamin shop in town.
7 days later I took the progesterone test and I had a 19- normal
14 days post ovulation (+) pregnancy test!!!
1 day later good HCG and progesterone levels
and this morning HCG 1,056 and progesterone 39
I guess I still can't believe that all I needed was a cream! of course it's hard to be 100% sure since I cheated and started it before they even tested a low number... also maybe I got pregnant because of the HCG trigger shot... who knows, but I'll have to ask my RE if i see her again... They want me to go in for a 6 week US and I'm sure I won't have to see them much more after that.
Sorry this was SO long, but thought this might help someone in a similar situation
The Mayan Abdominal Massage was very cool and taught me a lot about my body and normal tissue tension... I did have very tight fascia and abdominal muscle tightness around my Uterus that did loosen up with the months of self massage... and also a trip to a physical therapist to help with my injured left hip that I sustained while snowboarding last March.
Now I just have to keep my fingers crossed that everything continues to go smoothly for another 2 months and then I can relax!
Natalie
