u/Asellya

I am 28 and have been TTC for 8 cycles so far and by the looks of it heading into cycle 9. I’m sitting at 10 DPO with a BFN and wondering what am I doing wrong and if it’s time to start looking into fertility testing.

For context after a few months of TTC I noticed I had a short luteal phase, around 8 days, there was one outlier sitting at 12 days, but the most of them were 8 dpo. I also have spotting before my period for at least 2-3 days. This prompted me to make an appointment with my ob-gyn after 4 cycles because I’ve read that can be a sign of a luteal phase defect. My ob-gyn however didn’t seem to really think it’s a problem but she prescribed me progesterone 200 mg to take orally anyway just for peace of mind. Ultrasound looked otherwise normal but I’ve read that in most cases it is like that and it doesn’t mean anything.

Now I’ve been trying 4 months without progesterone and 4 months with and to be fair I didn’t manage to get pregnant in any of them. The progesterone lengthened my luteal phase to like 12 days but I was still spotting around 9 DPO. This month I increased the dose and went for a combo dose(200 oral evening 200 vaginal morning) and this has stopped completely the spotting and my temps look good for the first time. I have experienced intense progesterone symptoms which obviously I have mistaken for pregnancy symptoms but like I mentioned I am sitting at 10 DPO with a BFN.

Now I am starting to think if my problem is even progesterone to begin with. My ob-gyn didn’t go into any testing. I asked if we should do a hormone panel test but she said no. She just told me to keep trying until I reach 12 months and then come in and she’ll refer me to a fertility clinic.

Well now I’m getting close to those 12 months but to be fair I don’t see how another four months will bring me the positive if it hasn’t happened so far. I’m starting to think something is fundamentally wrong. As in perhaps endometriosis although I don’t have symptoms, my periods are not long around 3-4 days and my flow is heavy for one day and the rest either medium or light, I don’t have extreme cramping except for the first day where it’s a bit uncomfortable but it goes away with ibuprofen (I heard that’s not the case for endometriosis). Also don’t have pelvic pain during the month or during intercourse. But I’ve read about silent endo and it scares me. Otherwise I’m thinking blocked fallopian tubes or maybe thyroid problems ? I’ve read thyroid problems can also cause shorter luteal phases.

I know I’m still kind of early but I’m also kind of late. Like hey if 12 months is the finish line( for being considered for fertility issues) then I’m nearing on that really quickly.

Also it’s taking a huge toll on my mental health. Meaning I obsess so much over tracking, charting, symptom spotting, testing. It’s consuming every sort of me. I don’t feel like I want to do anything else if it doesn’t have to do with TTC. I am aware it’s completely unhealthy but I’ve gotten to the point where TWW is really unbearable - meaning I have trouble sleeping, I’m anxious all the time, the progesterone is making me feel like shit, and even at work I can’t focus because I’m extremely tired and I’m stuck looking symptoms during work. I know this is extremely bad but I can’t help it. After TWW passes I kind of calm down and slowly deal with the reality that I’m not pregnant and another cycle it’s coming. Then it gets back to normal for one or two weeks.

My husband has also had a semen analysis done. It looked really good except for the 2% morphology. But the doctor didn’t seem very interested in the morphology and said it looks good. The results are below if someone is interested.
Volume: 3.5 ml (Reference: 1.4 ml)
• Concentration: 47.5 Mio./ml (Reference: 16 Mio./ml)
• Total Sperm Count: 166.25 Mio. (Reference: 39 Mio.)
• Motility (Progressive A+B): 58% (Reference: 30%)
• Morphology (Normal Form): 2% (Reference: 4%)
• pH Value: 7.9 (Reference: 7.2 - 8.0)
• MAR-Test: 0% (Reference: < 50%)

Now I’m really sorry for the long post but I truly need advice on how to continue this process and actually make it less painful cause it feels I’m barely surviving at the moment. And also like stated in the title if I should push for more testing even though insurance doesn’t pay anything under 12 months.

Thanks to everyone who took time to read the whole post and to anyone who might answer.