Long cycles

[Kleine Hexe]

Does anyone else here have long cycles? Mine are normally 45 days in length. This is still within the normal range, but just barely. 45 is the last CD to be in the textbook normal range. Anyway, the only time it bothers me is when I'm TTC of course. It's hard to wait so long to O when everyone else is already in their 2ww. I don't O until around cd28 or later. Anyone else there waiting with me? Sometimes I feel like I'm the only one even though I know I'm not. : Waiting and not being able to do anything is hard. I feel like I'm whining now. I'll pick myself up now, but I just wanted to vent.

Vanessa

[chrissy]

I hear ya Vanessa. Back when I used to have cycles (still nursing and no O or ppaf yet) they were 41 days long. Too long when ttc, that's for sure! Hang in there. It's just your eggs getting nice and fat and healthy!

[Boobiemama]

Right now I think I am on day 58.....

It sucks, I am still nursing and I thought was getting back to normal but I guess not.

[AdinaL]

Yep - I had very long cycles - unfortunately they were also really irregular. They varied between 30 and 54 days. I started Clomid last cycle. Much less waiting!!!
But yeah - I hear you!

[rubelin]

yeah, me too! Pre-baby, I averaged 35 days. TTC DS only took 3 cycles but it was more than 4 months, very frustrating. Even on the pill I had long cycles, AF wouldn't appear until almost a week after taking my placebo, so I started doing 2 packs at a time to get a little closer to my reg cycles.

I was on depo Provera for about 2 years and went off it in Nov. Had a normal period (35 day cycle)in Dec but now it's been about 100 days. I'm doing 10 days of Prog to find Af and then we'll see where I'm at. I was hoping for a spring babe and it's hard when I'll probably only get 2 chances for that.

[cielle]

Mine are long too. We conceived DS around CD 29. It was so much fun trying to convince the PA who saw me, that no, I didn't have 28 day cycles and no, there was nothing wrong with the baby measuring 8 instead of 10 weeks! Ended up with vaginal US to assure them all was okay. I know some are anti-US around here but for us seeing the babe and heartbeat after 8 months of trying was a great comfort.

Anyway, last cycle for me was 47 days. I think it's usually 35-40 but things have been stressful here. I got some CM yesterday on CD 12 so maybe this one will be shorter? Who knows? I often get several patches of fertile CM before I finally ovulate.

I've never talked to a doc about my long cycles. Are Clomid and Provera the main interventions? Anybody do anything else? Since I know I O, just late, I'm hesitant to do anything.

[Kleine Hexe]

I've only had two cycles since my ds was born 1-17-01. I was curious if my cycles would still be long and I guess they are. I'm hesitant to do anything about it too as long as I know that I'm O. I'd be afraid of clomid because I'd be afraid of having multiples and as a VBAC that would lessen my chances. I conceived my son after 10 months so I figure I'll be able to conceive again. I just have to wait longer between O times. It'll happen for all of us!

Vanessa

[rubelin]

I've never been especially bothered by my long cycles, just this time I had pregnancy symptoms for 2 weeks cause my estrogen kept going up and AF was nowhere to be found to stop it. I actually kind of liked my long cycles until I started TTC DS, then it was annoying!

Oh and when I do conceive #2, I'll be making up a LMP so that nobody worries that the baby is late

[karenpl]

My usual cycles are 30 to 35 days, so not extremely long, but still longer than average. But I have started doing 'light therapy', basically just walking for half an hour in the morning, and last cycle I ovulated on day 12! Curious to see what will happen this cycle. I have calculated that this shorter cycle length will give me 2.5 more chances per year to ttc :-)

Karen

[cielle]

Rubelin-
Making up the date's a good idea! Also, yeah, I remember being happy to have long cycles when I was younger. Esp. when it meant whole summer vacations with no period!

Karenpl-
Can you explain a bit more on the light therapy, or just a book or link if you don't have time to write it out?

Thanks!

[karenpl]

Here is what somebody on another ttc board shared about light therapy. It was a quote from a book I think, but not sure which book

""'As far back as the 1960s, researchers found that light therapy could normalize long menstrual cycles,' says Dr. George Brainard, PhD, professor of neurology and director of the light research program at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia. 'In recent years, a research team working with Daniel Kripke, M.D. at the University of California at San Diego repeated those studies with good results.'

"In Dr. Kripke's studies, it was shown that exposure to sunlight for three days during the beginning to the middle of the menstrual cycle significantly shortened and normalized long, irregular menstrual cycles.

"'Begin the day with a 30-minute walk or light-box session,' says Dr. Brenda Byrne, PhD, director of the Seasonal Affective Disorder Clinic affiliated with the light research program at Jefferson Medical College.

"A study done in Switzerland showed that a daily 30-minute walk in the morning--even on a cloudy morning--is as effective for treating depression disorders and menstrual cycle irregularities as using a special light-box."

End quote.

For me it worked amazingly well the last cycle. I just looked up my cycle length and found that they were up to 39 days. So ovulating on day 12 instead was a nice improvement! Curious to see what will happen this cycle.

There is another type of light therapy that I have never tried. Basically it requires that you sleep in total darkness for your cycle, apart from day 14, 15, and 16, when you leave some light on during the night. You are supposed to ovulate on one of those days. I don't have personal experience with it though, so can't tell how effective it would be. If anybody does try it, I would be interested in the results.

Karen