Note: If I show up twice in your list of followers it is because I had to delete the old email address that this blog began under and transition over to a new email. Which meant recreating my profile and manually adding back all the blogs I was following before the beginning of April. I'm still working the kinks out, along with figuring out this new Blogger setup as well as a new internet navigator.
Well, I was able to go to my appointment on Wednesday. My doctor was concerned about the four periods in the last two months and has ordered some blood tests. I asked her about CD3 tests and she confirmed that the clinic does do them and she ordered them to be done too. So the next time CD3 rolls around I will have all the tests done at once. According the lab request it looks like I will have a Comprehensive Metabolic Panel, DHEA Sulfate, Estradiol, FSH, LH, Testosterone, T4 Free, TSH, and CBC. I think I need to Google a few of these as I don't know what some of them are for, though Dr. K did mention getting my thyroid retested as well as the possibility of PCOS so some of the tests must be for those.
I'm really hoping the next CD3 falls on a week day when I can just walk into the lab during their hours and have this done. Apparently if it falls on a weekend I have to go to the emergency room and tell them I need to have labs done. I'm not too excited by the prospect of going to the emergency room for a non-emergency.
Depending on the test results my doctor mentioned that I may have to go on progesterone for a while or a low-dose BCP for a few months to see if my cycle can get regulated.
In other news it was my birthday yesterday. We had been having unseasonably warm weather at the beginning of the week and I thought this was my chance to finally have an ice cream cake for my birthday. Well, the weather yesterday was very windy with a few flakes of snow and a high of about 49. I had the ice cream cake anyway.
Saturday, April 28, 2012
Friday, April 20, 2012
Again
~ Possible TMI ~
I started spotting on the 16th. AF officially showed up again on the 18th - this means the last cycle was 16 days. Four cycles in less than two months. 29 of the last 55 days spent in the company of everyone's favorite auntie (not including the spotting that has heralded her arrival each time). Now I'm starting to worry.
I have my annual appointment with Dr. K (the lady bits doctor) on the 25th. Hopefully AF will have mostly run its course and I will just be spotting by then because I really don't want to cancel the appointment. I need to know what is going on with my body. And I need to ask if the clinic does CD3 testing and whether they might recommend any other tests to figure this out.
One thing, though, that is different about this cycle - I was sick on the 15th with something akin to the flu. Nausea, chills and shaking, then fever, aches in my joints, pain in my head, neck and low back. I was not back to 100% on Monday the 16th but I made it through work. Then the spotting started Monday evening. Could being sick have brought it on? Or was it just weird timing and a coincidence of my now crazy cycles?
I started spotting on the 16th. AF officially showed up again on the 18th - this means the last cycle was 16 days. Four cycles in less than two months. 29 of the last 55 days spent in the company of everyone's favorite auntie (not including the spotting that has heralded her arrival each time). Now I'm starting to worry.
I have my annual appointment with Dr. K (the lady bits doctor) on the 25th. Hopefully AF will have mostly run its course and I will just be spotting by then because I really don't want to cancel the appointment. I need to know what is going on with my body. And I need to ask if the clinic does CD3 testing and whether they might recommend any other tests to figure this out.
One thing, though, that is different about this cycle - I was sick on the 15th with something akin to the flu. Nausea, chills and shaking, then fever, aches in my joints, pain in my head, neck and low back. I was not back to 100% on Monday the 16th but I made it through work. Then the spotting started Monday evening. Could being sick have brought it on? Or was it just weird timing and a coincidence of my now crazy cycles?
Saturday, April 7, 2012
BBT & TMI
Maybe I should title this post Should I Be Worried??
I started temping and charting with a BBT a year ago last May and at first it was great. I learned that sometimes I really do ovulate (at least the temps say I do). I also learned that my luteal phase is usually 11 or 12 (though once 14 and once 16) days long which made it a lot easier to predict when AF would come knocking - before temping it was always a guessing game.
Of course my temping isn't perfect, I tend to wake up too late on weekends. And some days I forget entirely, but for the most part it has worked.....at least it did until January of 2012.
My January to February cycle started on Jan. 12th. I didn't get another CD1 until Feb. 25th. That makes for a 44 day cycle. I have kept track of the arrival of AF (though not with charting) since at least 2007 and this makes the third 44 day cycle in that time period. Okay.....
AF showed up again on March 16th which makes for a 20 day cycle. According to my chart I didn't ovulate (not surprising). Then AF showed up again on April 2nd making this most recent cycle a 17 day one. (With, again, no ovulation).
I'm trying not to read too much into these short cycles. In 2010 I had a similar thing happen. AF came on August 16th, then September 3rd, then September 22nd, then October 13th.
I talked to a couple doctors (a family doctor and my gyno) a few months after the fact and they seemed to think it was caused by stress. (No testing was done.) Also, those cycles were much lighter than normal. (These recent cycles are full-on, minus the cramps I usually get).
Perhaps it is stress this time too. And it's not like my cycles have ever been regular anyway, they just usually don't come this close together.
All that just to ask you ladies this one question - Should I try to have some CD3 testing done? It's too late for this cycle of course, but maybe the next time I have a cycle where CD3 falls on a weekday??
I know Jendo mentioned these tests in a comment on one of my previous posts and I filed them away as something I should do when I turn 30. But perhaps I should do them now to get a lay of the land, so to speak? Or should I just chill and try to destress?
Here is a little more background and probably TMI:
AF usually lasts about 8-9 days. So for my most recent cycle AF started on Friday the 16th, lasted until about Saturday the 24th, I started spotting again on Saturday the 31st, then AF was officially back on Monday the 2nd. That's 14 of the last 22 days and it's not likely to be over until next Monday or Tuesday. Also, I haven't ovulated in four of the last 12 cycles.
To MN if you're reading: I saw that your blog is set to invitation only.....I hope things are going okay in your world. :(
I started temping and charting with a BBT a year ago last May and at first it was great. I learned that sometimes I really do ovulate (at least the temps say I do). I also learned that my luteal phase is usually 11 or 12 (though once 14 and once 16) days long which made it a lot easier to predict when AF would come knocking - before temping it was always a guessing game.
Of course my temping isn't perfect, I tend to wake up too late on weekends. And some days I forget entirely, but for the most part it has worked.....at least it did until January of 2012.
My January to February cycle started on Jan. 12th. I didn't get another CD1 until Feb. 25th. That makes for a 44 day cycle. I have kept track of the arrival of AF (though not with charting) since at least 2007 and this makes the third 44 day cycle in that time period. Okay.....
AF showed up again on March 16th which makes for a 20 day cycle. According to my chart I didn't ovulate (not surprising). Then AF showed up again on April 2nd making this most recent cycle a 17 day one. (With, again, no ovulation).
I'm trying not to read too much into these short cycles. In 2010 I had a similar thing happen. AF came on August 16th, then September 3rd, then September 22nd, then October 13th.
I talked to a couple doctors (a family doctor and my gyno) a few months after the fact and they seemed to think it was caused by stress. (No testing was done.) Also, those cycles were much lighter than normal. (These recent cycles are full-on, minus the cramps I usually get).
Perhaps it is stress this time too. And it's not like my cycles have ever been regular anyway, they just usually don't come this close together.
All that just to ask you ladies this one question - Should I try to have some CD3 testing done? It's too late for this cycle of course, but maybe the next time I have a cycle where CD3 falls on a weekday??
I know Jendo mentioned these tests in a comment on one of my previous posts and I filed them away as something I should do when I turn 30. But perhaps I should do them now to get a lay of the land, so to speak? Or should I just chill and try to destress?
Here is a little more background and probably TMI:
AF usually lasts about 8-9 days. So for my most recent cycle AF started on Friday the 16th, lasted until about Saturday the 24th, I started spotting again on Saturday the 31st, then AF was officially back on Monday the 2nd. That's 14 of the last 22 days and it's not likely to be over until next Monday or Tuesday. Also, I haven't ovulated in four of the last 12 cycles.
To MN if you're reading: I saw that your blog is set to invitation only.....I hope things are going okay in your world. :(
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Free To Be Me
I've been thinking a lot about the things I want to do before I have a baby and I have to say the list I've come up with is pretty boring.
Besides traveling and the remote possibility of graduate school the only thing I really want before becoming a parent is a little freedom.
The kind of freedom that comes from living on your own and not with your parents.
And I'm not talking about throwing wild parties or bringing random men home from bars. Those don't appeal to me at all. No, I am talking about the little things.
Like the freedom to do an exercise DVD in the living room where there is actual room to move without interrupting my parents' tv schedule. Or the freedom to have my bathroom be the one that is NOT right off the dining room. Or the freedom to watch HBO tv shows without worrying about my prudish parents coming into my room at the wrong moment. Or the freedom to visit a sperm bank website or to blog on here without having to make sure they can't see my computer screen.
I could go on and on with these "little" freedoms (I once made a list of them in my head and when it got over forty I lost count), but perhaps you get the point.
I want the freedom to grow and change, to get to know myself better without feeling the need to censor myself in my own home.
I want some time to truly feel like an adult before trying to raise a kid.
Besides traveling and the remote possibility of graduate school the only thing I really want before becoming a parent is a little freedom.
The kind of freedom that comes from living on your own and not with your parents.
And I'm not talking about throwing wild parties or bringing random men home from bars. Those don't appeal to me at all. No, I am talking about the little things.
Like the freedom to do an exercise DVD in the living room where there is actual room to move without interrupting my parents' tv schedule. Or the freedom to have my bathroom be the one that is NOT right off the dining room. Or the freedom to watch HBO tv shows without worrying about my prudish parents coming into my room at the wrong moment. Or the freedom to visit a sperm bank website or to blog on here without having to make sure they can't see my computer screen.
I could go on and on with these "little" freedoms (I once made a list of them in my head and when it got over forty I lost count), but perhaps you get the point.
I want the freedom to grow and change, to get to know myself better without feeling the need to censor myself in my own home.
I want some time to truly feel like an adult before trying to raise a kid.
Friday, March 9, 2012
A Compromise
First of all, thank you to those who commented on my last post - you gave me a lot of food for thought.
In fact I'm still mulling over your comments and will probably post more on them in other posts, but for now I think I have come up with a plan. I want to feel truly ready for a baby, but I don't want to wait too long so I have come up with a tentative compromise on when to start.
First I am going to try my hardest to complete the goals I call the Big Three (more on them later). If those are completed by age 30 then I will sit back and assess my emotional readiness. If I feel ready I will go for it. If I don't then I will give myself the time I need to get ready - with the idea that I will start no later than age 33. It's sort of a floating plan I guess, and it could easily change depending on a lot of things but I work best with a goal in mind.
So, the three goals I would like to accomplish by the time I turn 30:
In fact I'm still mulling over your comments and will probably post more on them in other posts, but for now I think I have come up with a plan. I want to feel truly ready for a baby, but I don't want to wait too long so I have come up with a tentative compromise on when to start.
First I am going to try my hardest to complete the goals I call the Big Three (more on them later). If those are completed by age 30 then I will sit back and assess my emotional readiness. If I feel ready I will go for it. If I don't then I will give myself the time I need to get ready - with the idea that I will start no later than age 33. It's sort of a floating plan I guess, and it could easily change depending on a lot of things but I work best with a goal in mind.
So, the three goals I would like to accomplish by the time I turn 30:
- Pay off my student loan
- Get a different job or an extra job
- Get a place of my own - whether it be a house, condo, or apartment
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)