Luteal Phase Length and Vitamin B6

[BananaBreadGirl]

I am currently "charting to wait" and hope to try to concieve #1 a few months from now.
I have always had somewhat short luteal phases (rarely 14, and no 14s in the past year, lots of 12s). My last cycles had luteal phases of 11, 11, and 8 respectively. The 8 worried me a bit but I decided to just see if the next one was better. Well, AF started today, giving me a 14 day LP in my most recent cycle. I was surprised at the extreme change from 8 to 14; I thought it was supposed to be constant???
I googled some causes of luteal phase deficiency and found that vitamin B6 can help. Well, what do you know, a few weeks ago my bottle of multi-vitamins had run out and I started on a bottle of prenatals. They have 2.6 mg (104%) as opposed to .5 mg (25%).

I just thought it was interesting. Has anyone else successfully "treated" (on purpose or on accident like I did) short LPs with B6? Is there any other explanation for the strange jump in LP length?

[runner29]

That's really interesting. I've heard that B vitamins could improve LP length (I think I read that in 'Fertility, Cycles, and Nutrition' by Marilyn Shannon) but I have normal LP length and so never noticed a difference with my vitamins.

I hope they stay long! You could try reading that book and see if there's anything else nutrition-wise that might help in addition to B6.

thanks for sharing this experience,

[5terre]

I did a B vitamin 'experiment' twice - once when DD was conceived and then again in recent months. There was an increase in LP both times, however, both times have been confounded by stress. So I can't say for certain if it was the B deficiency or the stress that was influencing my cycles. Probably both! Mine are not always constant, either.

[fiandaca]

Yes, I have used B6 on two separate occasions. The first was in trying to conceive my son. At the time, I had barely 10 day luteal phases (which is the minimum you need). I can't remember how well it worked since it had been a long time since I had read info about B6 and I don't think I was taking a high enough dose. Obviously, I did conceive and carry to term my son, so something worked fine; whether or not it was the B6, I don't know.

And I am taking it now. My son is 2 and a quarter and still nurses a lot. I had to deliberately night wean him to get my cycle to return (because we wanted to ttc). So I finally got my period back at 25 months postpartum and in my first cycle, I ovulated on day 22 (!) and then started taking 200 mg of B6. I had an 8 day luteal phase. The next cycle (the one I am on now), I ovulated on day 16 and am currently on day 12 of my luteal phase; I have been taking B6 the throughout the cycle.

According to Taking Charge of Your Fertility by Toni Wechsler (which I would highly recommend reading if you haven't already done so), you need at least a 10 day luteal phase in order for a fertilized egg to have enough time to implant. If you've got a 12 day luteal phase, I wouldn't worry; that seems plenty long. Toni also says that research shows that between 200 and 600 mg of B6 can lengthen one's luteal phase.

There's also something called Vitex (or Chaste tree berry) that is said to do the same, but I don't know how/where you get it or what sorts of side effects it has. And Natural progestrene cream can also lengthen your LP, and again, I know nothing more about it.

Good luck!

[ann_of_loxley]

Well I have recently started on the EPO (evening primrose oil) and it seems to have made my whole cycle slightly shorter. I am currently on a 35 day cycle - which is LONG! lol...meaning I have a short LP - 11 days for the past 4 months I have been charting. For some reason, the EPO has changed things slightly...I was showing signs of fertility much sooner and ovulated much sooner than normal = longer LP! lol

(just recently started pregnancy mulitvitamin - so shall see if that changes things as well!)

[durafemina]

I've never had an LP over 10 days and they are usually 8. Not sure how dd exsists, but she does

I've heard some talk that if the egg implants quickly enough, a long LP isn't totally neccessary.