Well, AF finally showed up yesterday at CD 40. Showing up late seems to be her pattern this year and it worries me. Two other cycles since January have been 40 and 43 days long.
I've had erratic cycles since I first started getting AF and this year I finally decided to speak with my doctor about it at my annual appointment. I even typed up a little sheet showing my cycle lengths since 2007 when I started keeping track. She glanced at my sheet, told me that cycles between 21 and 35 days are normal, mentioned that if my cycles continue to lengthen that I should let her know, and as an aside she casually threw in that it might take me longer to get pregnant because I might not be ovulating every cycle. And then she proceeded with my regular exam. Huh. She even handed back the copy of my cycles I had made her.
I guess I wasn't sure what I expected her to do. Perhaps I need to be a better advocate for my health and demand testing, or maybe I'm overreacting. She did mention that stress can be a factor in cycle lengths and I have been under a lot of stress. This could also explain why AF has shown up just in time for my last four vacations. (How does she do that?) But stress doesn't explain why my cycles have always been wonky. Why they seem to be lengthening this year. Why 22 of the last 54 cycles have fallen outside the 21-to-35-day range. For example here are my cycle lengths for 2009: 22, 39, 38, 22, 20, 33, 22, 27, 36, 44, 36, 44. See what I mean by wonky?
So what does it all mean?
Do I have PCOS? (I have some symptoms, but not all). Do I have some other hormonal problem? Or am I just extremely sensitive to stress? And most of all, should I get my hormones tested now or wait to have them tested until I'm actually trying to get pregnant?
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