Short luteal phase

arendiva

So as part of fertility awareness I’ve been tracking my fertility sign these past few months. I still have 57 pounds to lose before we intend to start trying to conceive but I figured there was no harm in getting in the habit of tracking data in advanced. I’ve never had any reason to assume I would have fertility problems. Fertility isn’t historically an issue in my family. But looking at the data I’ve collected my luteal phase is only like eight days which is concerning since it’s supposed to be 11-14 days. I’m trying not to read into it or become overly concerned prematurely but I can’t help feeling apprehensive that we may face issues next year when we start trying. I read online that obesity is one of the causes of short luteal phases so I’m hoping this will just resolve itself as I continue to lose weight. I guess I will just have to keep tracking and see what happens. Has anyone here faced this problem?

VeryKatie

I did a little research on this since my luteal phase was 9/10 days last time I checked. 100mg a day of vitamin B6 is supposed to help with this - though I encourage you to look into it yourself. While I wasn't sure if that's true, it seemed pretty harmless compared to the other home rememdies I was internet reading about. It might be something that really changes for you as you lose weight (and therefore you might not want to worry too much just yet). You could also talk to your doctor/get a referral to a registered dietician to help possibly. The one thing I want to add based on my own experience/reading (I'm not a doctor) is that eating enough fat in your diet is crucial to maintaining a good hormone balance, and hormones are everything to a luteal phase. So as you lose weight, I would encourage you not to cut out too much fat. Obviously focused more on the "healthy" fats.

I didn't end up using B6 since it turns out it decreases milk supply and I was still nursing my first born (cycles change a lot after you have a baby). But for the record, I did get pregnant again the first time I tried. 8 days is short but not impossible. An egg can implant after 5 or 6 days.

Alioth

I know this is an old post, but I got pregnant with a short luteal phase. I think mine was between 9 and 11 days. I tried taking supplements like evening primrose oil and using an estrogen cream to extend it. As I tracked more and more ovulations, I found that some were way shorter than others. But I generally found that the longer I was off of birth control (and the more weight I lost), the more it extended towards the normal range. If you've been on BC, it might take a while for your cycle to normalize. And the more you track cycles, the better idea you will have of your range. Hope this encourages you!

arendiva

@VeryKatie @Alioth thank you for your responses I feel encouraged that it is apparently not as dire as I was fearing. I still have a lot of weight to lose so I’m going to try not to worry about it unless it persists even after I’ve reached my goal weight. No use borrowing trouble.

pezhed

@arendiva I can give you similar encouragement to what @Alioth says. It honestly took exactly a year off of BC for my LP to get to over 10 days. Weirdly I had one monster 90-day cycle that had a 13-day LP a year after I was off. Then every cycle after that was a normal length but had 13- or 14-day LP. It was magic and I did nothing to make it happen but I conceived a few months later.