Luteal Phase Length

[Livy]

Hi all :wave: I was just wondering how long everyone's luteal phase is? Since I have started taking Vitex I seem to have a 19-20 day luteal phase. This seems extremely long and I am not sure if I should be concerned or not.

[Little_Toad]

Hi Livy,

Mine was about 21 days, and I started taking vitex about two months ago,
I missed my last AF so will let you know if it's shortened it at all in a few weeks.

IF O ever *&%*@# occurs!!! grrrrrrrr

[~V&M~]

I thought the longer it was the better :confused: I know mine aren't long enough (averaging 10 days) which is bad so I just assume if it's extra long there's no harm in that- but don't quote me on it!

[little_fish]

I saw a post here (sorry I can't remember who by) from someone with a 9 day LP, and she had managed to conceive. So don't give up hope V&M!

[~V&M~]

I saw a post here (sorry I can't remember who by) from someone with a 9 day LP, and she had managed to conceive. So don't give up hope V&M!

Wow really?! Thank you so much for sharing that with me! There is still hope for me yet!

[Livy]

Thanks ladies .... I think I might go and see my Dr anyway - AF only lasted one day this month .... hmm now Iam getting very confused! :banghead:

[~J'dore~]

V & M - the short Luteal Phase was my biggest concern too. Mind was about 9-10 days most of the time sometimes as short as 7:eek: ... And as you can see this month I have got my BFP:smiliedance: It took 6 months. I didn't use anything this month either, previously I had tried vitex but It didn't seem to help me cycle.

I'm sure that 10days will be fine. I talked to a fertility specilist and she said that only less than 9 is a major problem. 10 should be plenty for you to conceive your little bubba:thumbsup:


Good luck at the doctors livy:fingerscrossed:

[Livy]

Thanks 2boyzmama. Can I ask what Vitex did for your cycle? I am thinking of stopping it all together this month too. I seem to have had much longer cycles since I started taking it.

[~V&M~]

Wow thanks for that! That's so good to know! The shortest LP I've had is 6 days :eek: and the longest is 13 but FF says my average length is 10 days.

Oh and congrats on your BFP :smiliedance:

Sorry to hijack your thread Livy!

To answer your question- I started taking vitex several moths ago and my cycles became shorter and I Oed each month so I've personally found it to be useful but I've heard of a few women having problems with it.

[Livy]

Thanks V&M maybe it's just not for me - but I have heard some really good stories about it's success. Sounds like good news if your average LP is 10 days! Here's hoping for some BFP's for us all soon! :)

[~J'dore~]

Hi Livy - normally without vitex I was Oing on CD13 or 14, on vitex I didn't O until CD20:rolleyes: and I also had my shortest luteal phase on vitex too, only 7 days. So I wasn't too happy about that. This was my second cycle not using vitex again. I was going to start taking vitamin B6 next cycle if I didn't get a BFP. That is meant to be really good for sorting out your luteal stage. You take between 50 -200 mg a day (i think its mgs or what ever the measurement they sell it in is:rolleyes: ).

Maybe you guys could look into using that. I just google searched it and lots of sites have info on it's benefits when TTC.

Good Luck:thumbsup:

[Livy]

Thanks 2boyzmama - Vitex has had exactly the same effect on me. After the pill I had 2 x 26 day cycles and the last 2 since taking vitex have been 36! I think I might have to give B6 a go - thanks for that info :) Sounds like going off vitex certainly worked for you :smiliedance:

[mim1]

I've done some reading up on short luteal lengths on the 'net tonight. Suddenly I realised that ovulating isn't everything. You need plenty of progesterone from the corpus luteum to support a pregnancy. If you don't produce much progesterone it can cause a short luteal phase and even if the sperm catches the egg you won't end up with a pregnancy. Short was defined as less than 11 days. It said that some women with short luteal lengths get pregnant just fine, but more people in the infertile/subfertile categories have short luteal lengths.

It can be fixed with progesterone (although that isn't the whole answer) or clomid (but that's ovary superstimulation with all it's issues).

For me, I think that I didn't have enough progesterone around in my first two cycles off the pill. Progesterone causes PMS symptoms and I had virtually none. So, what's depressing is that my normal luteal phase is probably not 10 days, so that fact that I'm now '2 days overdue' may mean this is my first month with my 'normal' luteal phase. I do have bad PMS btw (hence the pessimism). So, I could be pregnant, or this could be a normal cycle. All I remember from pre pill days was that my cycle length was closer to 35 days, than 28 and I've been closer to 28 days for the last few months.

So, don't worry about a long luteal phase, but see your GP about a short one.

[mim1]

mmm ... it seems someone with a short luteal phase can get pregnant after all! I got a BFP this morning! It's only our third month TTC. Suggestion ... don't stress about the luteal length, go off the vitex and see what happens!

[Livy]

Wow congrats Mim .... that's great news :smiliedance: Yep I think I might skip the vitex and see how I go. I am going to keep taking pregnancy vitamins, extra folate and EPO. So here's hoping I get back to normal soon :) Congrats again - that's so exciting!