Luteal Phase Defect?

[bmccartney]

I have a suspicision that I have a LPD. After taking 3 months of birth control due to the complete absence of periods, I've had 2 cycles. Though it appears that I DO ovulate, I only had 7 and 9 day Luteal Phases before bleeding, and my post-ovulatory temps weren't that high. I've got an appointment set up with a Reproductive Endocrinologist on 9-18-09, so hopefully I'll get some answers then. I just don't want to be given Clomid and pushed out the door.

Has anyone been diagnosed with this? How was it treated? TIA!

[Susank41]

Hey Bethany!
I have had no experiecne with LFD, but I just wanted to offer my support. I know how long you have wanted another baby. Hang in there!!!

[Sweetpea1]

Hey Bethany! Glad to see you back but sorry you are going through this. I was on Depo for many many moons and when I came off, my LP was only 7-9 days and it worked itself out through a few more cycles of no BC. Even still it was only 11-12 days which is on the shorter side but obviously didn't matter this time. When I talked about it on another forum many women recommended B12 to help lengthen it. I strongly recommend coming off of every hormone and see what your body does own its own. I temped and charted for 6-7 months before getting pregnant this time and learned SOO much about my body and will definitely do it again. Big hugs and hope you get some good news soon!

[bmccartney]

Thanks Susan for your support! I'm really hoping to share some good news very soon!

Jen, it gives me some hope to hear that your luteal phases straightened themselves out on their own. I was wondering if my short phases were due to the birth control or not (like in your case), but I couldn't find much info on the subject. Thanks for the B12 recommendation. I read about B6 being good for this as well, so maybe a B complex might be helpful?

You two are getting SOO close! I can't wait to see pics of your little ones when they decide to make their grand entrances. Good luck and thanks again for the support.

[melmeadows]

Hey Bethany,

I've been thinking of you and Reena!

I don't have any more insight, but I wanted to be supportive and I will pray for you.

Hopefully, the repo. endocrinologist will be helpful.

Melanie

[melanalyus]

Bethany~

Just sending you a "thinking of you" post. TTC can be soooooo frustrating; I will love to hear about your pregnancy venture!!

Hang in there, girlie & keep us posted.

[jackiec]

Hi Bethany;

I too thought I had a LPD defect as mine was only 4-7 days long. That was after being on depo then the pill. When I went off the pill I didn't get a period for a long time and when I did it was with a short luteal phase. I bought a fertility monitor which said I was ovulating and I went on vitamin B12 and B6 and nothing worked. Then I saw a fertility specialist and she said I was ovulating but the egg wasn't mature so it couldn't be fertilized. I have a son who was born before I went on the depo shot and the fertility doctor said having my son messed up my hormones and my issues had nothing to do with the depo shot. Anyway, the doctor put me on hormone shots to ensure I ovulated a mature egg and I had a healthy baby girl in April 2009. The good thing is that you are seeing the right doctor to get things happening! Good Luck!

Jackie

[jackiec]

Hi again Bethany. I forgot to say that I went on Clomid for three months and it didn't work for me. The idea is that Clomid tricks your body into thinking that you aren't making any estrogen and so it makes more thereby increasing the hormones that make you ovulate. So in theory it could have worked for me but it didn't. The hormone shots are easy to take and I got an ultrasound every three days so I could see that an egg was developing. It was so nice to know something was happening and I didn't have to wait until I got my period to learn that I wasn't pregnant.

Good luck again;
Jackie

[bmccartney]

Jackie,

Congrats on the birth of your little girl!

Did they test certain hormone levels before putting you on the shots? How did they test to know that the eggs weren't mature enough to be fertilized? I ask because the Reproductive Endocrinologist (RE) wasn't going to test any of my hormone levels, I had to insist. All he wanted to do is a semen analysis for dh and the fallopian tube dye test to see if they're open. Insurance doesn't cover anything and so we're not sure we'll get those tests yet, especially since those things are most likely fine. And I called to get my results of the blood tests (thyroid, prolactin, testosterone, ect) and everything was PERFECT!

Now I'm more confused than ever. I do think the birth of DD messed my hormones up since I didn't have any cycles after her despite only nursing for 6 months. I've been taking B vitamins and charting my temps - I feel like that's something I have control over at least. And I'm not crazy about taking Clomid, I haven't heard of many success stories about it.

My gyno, family, and friends just say to stop exercising so much and eat more and that I'm nuts for going through all this. Maybe I am, who knows. Honestly I'm thinking about acupuncture...it couldn't hurt, right??

Sorry for the long post, I guess I just needed to vent.

[melanalyus]

Just wanted to add a Clomid comment. You're right, it doesn't work for everyone......but sometimes it DOES work......and well, sometimes it's worth a try. As a pharmacist, I've seen many successful Clomid patients who have delivered healthy babies. Femara seems to be more "gentle" on side effects and might be another option.

Good luck Bethany!!!