Community post

the luteal phase insufficiency can be managed by vaginal progesterone from day after ovulation for 2 weeks - the dosage should be decided by your doctor
if you do not ovulate or ovulate too early and are ttc you need clomid or something else - talk to a fertility specialist - you might need help if you are ttc at 44yo

My doctor said to me she don't refer to fertility specialist until I've been TTC for 12 months and failing, I'm seeing her on the 28th of Feb and having routine bloods taken on the 20th Feb not sure if routine bloods include checking my LH or FSH levels but IL mention it to the nurse, I do ovulate by my charts standards at least, I O around cd10/cd11 (my last two cycles), just ain't been showing on the cheap OPK's any more not sure why, I go by checking CM and CP and temping only, the last two bleeds I have had are far from normal to me extra light like it's spotting not AF, and brown in colour like mud or very dark red blood when I wipe lasted 2 days (usually AF last for me from 4-5 days) on 30th Jan and today it's started same colour and with these shorter bleeds I'm getting alot of period pains I don't usually suffer from at all, is spotting seen as bad??

Hi PinkLady1972 - the blood test should provide you with some answers. If you do a 21 day blood test (taken on day 21 of your cycle or a week after ovulation if you don't ovulation on cycle day 14) then you will know whether or not you have a luteal phase defect. Usually this defect is caused by low progesterone. Your doctor will probably want to see a number that is 10 ng/mLor higher. A number that is between 5 and 9.99 ng/mL means that you ovulated but your progesterone levels are likely not high enough to sustain pregnancy.

Your doctor should be able to provide additional advice depending on the results of your blood test. And you don't need to go to a fertility specialist for this. My test was done by my OBGYN.

Also, I spot 4-5 days before AF and I do not have a luteal phase or progesterone deficiency so that could mean nothing for you as well. Good luck!

This is my first 2 times spotting and a proper AF don't follow it's just this strange bleeding and it stops after 2 days, I've started taking EPO again from cd1 to O day and hopefully 'routine bloods' include checking my hormone lvls if it's not then IL have to request one being done but she may refuse but soon find some answers hopefully, thank you for your advice x