Hello all, I only read most of the time here, rarely posting, but I feel I must share my lessons learned, and possibly too late for me TTC. I am 45 yrs old. I have been TTC w/DH for 13 yrs.thinking my Docs would figure it all out..no luck yet. I realize my age is a huge obsticle and it could be too late for me but as long as I have regular cycles..and I do, mostly, there is a glimmer of hope, and possibly complications. Through my own research both online and library books, I've come to learn why it has never happened...not with the help of my physician. I have no known health issues, have been tested for everything I am aware of, including v/ultrasounds, abdominal mri's, bloodwork...etc. My health care providers (team 0f 3) and gyn's all just shrug and throw the old "it must be menapause" trying to set in. That infuriates me so much. Menapause seems to be the answer for everything wrong with a female these days. I wasn't in menapause at 32 nor do I think it has happened yet (altho it could be knocking on the door).The things that never got done was them trying to decide if there was a problem with my monthly cycles like....luteal phase problem, estrogen dominance problem, CM problem....some things I feel are very important in concieving. I've been after this problem for 5 yrs. I've been treated like I was stupid for wanting a baby at my age (40 at that time)
All Docs involved have only been interested in the crazy notion of "WHY" would I want to put myself thru that at my age, never careing to get to the root of the prob. How silly I feel to learn at my age what that discharge was the week after my period! No one ever told me! I always thought every month after my period that I also had a yeast infection and I used a treatment OTC to flush it out and get rid of it! HA! Sad thing was, it returned every month....I thought I had the worst luck with yeast infections!
My dear mother is the one who told me as a teen to watch for yeast infections as they were a common issue with women...she meant well, I guess. I have always avoided sex with my hubby during that "discharge time" every month, not knowing that was my fertile time. Those were the days when it was plentiful. Now, not so much. I don't think I have enough now that I know what it is.
I have only recently learned the art of charting...what an abundance of info that provides!! I now believe I have a luteal phase defect, thanks to charting. My cycles have always been like clockwork, almost to the day of knowing when to expect AF. Trouble is, my luteal phase is only 10 days long...not sufficient for implantation! Total cycle=22 days..rarely, it extends to 24...not good. Can anyone say PROGESTERONE?
Cheap fixes if you ask me, considering they don't have any other explanations......I'd sure like to have known these things years ago. Ovulation, takes place 9th and 10 day of cycle.
So, ..... even tho I am 45, I still have my cycles every month, still ovulate and no known issues. It has been my ignorance to the facts all these years, and physicians who don't give a heap if it doesn't show up on bloodwork and I have to wonder if they don't lose interest on women over 35. I had no option of fertility specialist due to funds and my insurance (Military) does not allow to you take yourself on medical missions and then ask them to pay...no coverage for stuff like that. I personally think all Docs should first try giving women a blank chart and short info on how to get started with charting..some basics on fertility requirements, seems to me it could really speed up the diagnosis proceedure. So ladies, while it's prob too late for me to make up for lost time, you could still educate yourself and visit your Doc with stats in hand (charts for several cycles) and learn them something. Don't depend on labs and Docs to tell you everything, they wont. Good luck to all who are TTC!