Delayed ovulation and wonky cycle

[LA_Girl]

So my cycle has been really wonky this month. (Warning TMI ahead!)

I took a pregnancy test (which was negative), before taking Clomid on CD3-7, then on CD9-11 I had some brown bleeding - not a heavy bleed, but more that spotting. I just assumed that as my previous period had been a little lighter than usual, that my body was just getting rid of any blood it hadn’t got rid of before.

Most of last week, when I expected to ovulate, I had lots of CM, but repeatedly had negative ovulation tests. I wondered if maybe my cycle day one would actually be when the brown bleed was. Anyway, I had a very faint line on an OPK, the next day it was negative and the day after the line was stronger, but not a full on positive (so we had an attempt). Today I expected a stronger line on my OPK, but it’s totally negative. I don’t think I’ve ovulated as I usually get cramps when I do.

I’ve started adding in some coconut oil into my diet this week, and wondered if there’s anything else I should be doing. Thanks.

[atomic sagebrush]

I would go to every 4 days and schedule a doc visit for blood work to tell you where you are in the cycle.

Drop fiber if you were taking it. If memory serves you're a vegan, right?? So that's why you're doing the coconut oil instead of dairy and eggs.

How many calories and grams of fat do you estimate you're getting?

[LA_Girl]

OK.

I don’t take fibre.

Yep, I’m vegan so taking coconut oil instead of eggs/dairy.

I’m getting around 50-60g fat and same for protein.

[atomic sagebrush]

Let's make sure you're getting in the ballpark of 60 g fat a day (even up to 65 if you need the wiggle room)

[LA_Girl]

Thanks for your quick response. I do feel it’s the lower fat that’s the problem for me. My fat intake was much higher before and I never had an issue with my ovulation.

I’ll make sure I’m at the top end for fat.

[LA_Girl]

So I’m 10 days after the faint positive OPK I had. I’ve tested daily since and not had a single positive. I did a pregnancy test this morning and the positive line came up before the control line! I’ve been feeling nauseous on and off for about 10 days so I actually think I fell pregnant last month. The thing is, I took Clomid as I had a negative pregnancy test followed by a period. My LP is always short (around 9 days - no matter how much fat I eat), so I guess it was too early to get a positive test, and I didn’t question it because I bled. The thing that was weird was that I had a brown bleed for a few days just over a week later.

I’m going to see if I can get a scan done on Monday to confirm how far along I am, and if I am more like 7/8 weeks rather than 3/4 (which I must be to get such a strong positive so “early”), then I feel I have to terminate the pregnancy as I don’t want to risk it. My first pregnancy ended in termination at 20 weeks because of foetal abnormalities and I don’t want to risk getting that far along and having that happen again. I’m gutted as I was desperate to fall this month.

[atomic sagebrush]

Please don't terminate a pregnancy without more to go on than that. The risks were in animal studies, not human, at a much higher dose and later in pregnancy, and while it's obvious we want to avoid taking it during pregnancy, it has happened to people and they continued their pregnancies and had normal healthy babies. Even the most dangerous things in pregnancy only cause issues a fraction of the time and I think you're jumping to a worst case scenario when it's not yet warranted.

In the future, and for others reading this, please take a pregnancy test the day you're due to take the first dose of Clomid even with a period. Don't take it early, then get a period, then assume. We want to wait as long as possible to take the pregnancy test to avoid stuff like this.

I don't think a strong positive means that it's necessarily that far along. Some pregnancies just make a lot of HCG early.

For now, don't be gutted/panicky till we have any actual reason to be.

[LA_Girl]

I took the pregnancy test and got my period the same day, so it wasn’t early, but my LP is short so I usually know I’m pregnant before I get a positive because my LP is never longer than 10 days. Obviously it was the bleed that threw me. It didn’t occur to me that I could be pregnant as I believed AF showed up.

The thing I’m scared of is of what can’t be detected - blindness, deafness etc, and I really don’t want to wait and see and have a late termination like before.

I’ll see what the doctors say on Monday, but when I looked it up, Clomid has the highest danger rating that a drug could have for pregnancy.

Thanks for your reply.

[atomic sagebrush]

From now on just please take the pregnancy test the day you're due to start the Clomid. I had what seemed to be a full on 5 day period and was pregnant the entire time.

I understand your anxiety but the truth is, you could have not taken Clomid and had a baby with any of those issues too (and I know that you know that, I'm so sorry you had to go through a medical termination already)

The reason why Clomid has that X rating is due to animal studies which are done at much higher dose, for much longer time, and further along in pregnancy than you took it. I hope your doctor is better able to explain this than I am.