AF has landed!

Well, AF has finally come, after 5 or more days of leaving her calling card. It's kind of nice, I get a bit of a countdown to AF. This time at least her breadcrumbs weren't super big. The spotting still started about 5 days ago but was not very noticeable.

That's relieving. I forgot my night dose of progesterone and wonder if that was one reason AF battered through the front door.

BUT, I nearly didn't go in for work. If I didn't have the on-call pager with me, I probably would've stayed home. I was so NAUSEOUS when I was driving in, but it got better throughout the day. I think the Midol was really what helped.

So, cycle analysis time! Very early O (for me) at CD13....was CD14 but I reported Watery CM around my regular O-time and it shifted back because of that. Overall a pretty chart. My EWCM was weeeeiiird though. It was like sticky, but completely CLEAR! I guess like the feel of rubber cement but super clear. NO cloudiness whatsoever.

Well, I had really weird TWW symptoms. Totally Gassy the whole time. BB pain was strange. Started in armpits and at one point was so painful, almost as much when I was pregnant it made me wonder.

That's the worst part. I must have had nearly ZERO chance of pregnancy, but that didn't stop my brain from wondering hmmmm, what if?

So much that I took 3 of my new 10 mIU pregnancy tests, just cause. That's literally flushing money down the toilet! (but only .98 cents apiece, so not that pricey).

Well, hopefully I'll be able to improve my LPD. I fear though that my particular brand is from poor FSH stimulation in the Follicular phase instead of progesterone deficiency. Time will tell.

FF I loathe you sometimes...

So I wake up this morning and entered a new temp (98.4 at 7:15AM) and today FF decided to change my date AGAIN. I think it is because of the watery CM after O. I have no doubt based on temps that my O was either CD13 or CD14 (now FF moved it back to CD13). Still really early for me, and although I was having fertile CM after O (and around when I normally do) my temps would have to go up to around 99 to shift O to now.

Plus I've been having SUPER PMS since my "O" date of either CD13/14. It is interesting that my TCOYF still thinks I O'd on CD14. I did test it and if I take out the Watery CM on FF CD22 and CD23 it shifts back to CD13. Whatever, either way, my chance of pregnancy is around 10%...sounds like a lot, but most of that is generous. Plus, my BD before O was "protected" with spermicide. Not the most reliable protection but definitely brings chances down.

It just messes up my Countdown to Pregnancy - My Two Week Wait Symptoms because for some reason you can't change the O date unless you delete the cycle. And then I'd have to manually enter all of the signs and symptoms again. Too much work for 8 days or 9 days! Plus if my O date changed again I'd have to do it again! I might have to email them about this issue.

Ah, well, we'll see what the cycle brings. I'm happy to say with the B6 and Progesterone cream that my spotting is soooo light. Not as heavy as last time at all and almost seems non-existent. So, although it started around 6-7DPO it's not bothersome enough to worry me. Definite improvement from last cycle.

This is the house that Estrogen built

First off, when conceiving this post I was originally going to call it "This is the House that Progesterone built" because I assumed that high levels of progesterone were directly linked to PMS symptoms.

Then I decided to do a bit of research. I found a website based on the research of one Dr. John R Lee, who pioneered studies in the 1970's on how natural hormones (bio-identical hormones) affect women's hormonal balances compared to traditional Hormone Replacement Therapy (synthetic hormones or ones from other species). He coined the term "Estrogen Dominance" which he found responsible for many diseases and symptoms, including PMS.

From reading many of the articles on his site I learned that Dr. Lee found progesterone's role in hormonal balance was to help break up excess estrogen. So, estrogen dominance is usually caused by low progesterone.

So, what was I going to write about today? The fact that since day 3 of progesterone cream my PMS has skyrocketed. I've had increased bb tenderness since yesterday (feeling bruised), fatigue and constipation in addition to the gassiness I've had since around O (totally abnormal for me). Today I had the tiniest bit of spotting after work. Super anxiety, but that's more related to what has been going on with me lately.

Again, I assumed that it was a side-effect of using progesterone cream, but my initial research on progesterone symptoms was inconclusive....it seemed that the primary symptoms linked to high progesterone were fatigue and I think water retention but not ALL of the PMS symptoms were mentioned. I kept wanting to remind myself that this could not possibly be pregnancy so, it must just be the progesterone.

I only BD unprotected day after O and although it is included on FF's intercourse analyzer, actual estimated probability of conception on that day alone is nil. It's just included because you can't exclude the possibility. The 1995 study in NEJM by Allen J. Wilcox, M.D., Ph.D., Clarice R. Weinberg, Ph.D., and Donna D. Baird, Ph.D. that analyzed intercourse patterns by days around ovulation gave the day after 12% chance JUST because you can't exclude the probability.

So when I got home I did further research and found the information about estrogen dominance. Apparently Dr. Lee believes the majority of PMS symptoms, especially the mood ones, are caused by either estrogen dominance or deficiency. So do I have that? I dunno. I'd have to get tested to see. But I suspect since I have signs of LPD that I may have the estrogen dominance.
So now I'm attributing the increased symptoms to potential estrogen dominance....at least it's not progesterone.

For more information on Dr. John R Lee's research on hormone balance through natural means check out this book and others on Amazon.

Interesting Temp Spike

This morning, at 4DPO I had a humongous temp spike! Whoa! See below

Just waiting to see if I spot, when I spot, and how long till AF. ***fingerscrossed*** my LP gets longer, without FIVE days of spotting first!

Either bumping up the B6 to 200mg or adding progesterone will help. Shoot, need to take another dose. I keep forgetting the evening one.

Hyperprolactinemia and luteal phase defect

So I did some research because I was wondering if my short luteal phase this cycle had anything to do with my hyperprolactinemia (high levels of prolactin in the blood). I found this article that shows there can be some links to a luteal phase defect and hyperprolactinemia. Among irregular ovulation and menstruation (had it), absence of menstruation (definitely had that) and galactorrhea [breast milk production in non-nursing women] (had that a long time ago) there is also THIS side effect: inadequate progesterone production in the luteal phase after ovulation. I guess since I never ovulated prior to this I hadn't gotten to experience this but now I'm 4/4 on symptoms of hyperprolactinemia!

This actually cheers me, because if my doctor does a blood test on Friday and the levels of prolactin are back to normal, then it stands to reason that I was still experiencing slightly higher than normal levels of prolactin, enough to impair my progesterone production and shorten my luteal phase.  I am hoping that by the time I ovulate this cycle that this will no longer be a problem and I will go on to have a longer luteal phase (inshallah!)

In the meantime, there are several things that can be done to manage a luteal phase defect. One way is to take B6 throughout the cycle and supplement with progesterone cream after O.

There is some research also that because Vitex works to balance the cycle in favor of the hormone progesterone it could also be a good fix for a luteal phase defect. I have a the Fertility Blend vitamins and one of the primary ingredients is Vitex, so I'll likely finish those up this cycle to see if it helps.

Here's hoping!!! Inshallah our BFP cycle will come soon!

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