NFP: short luteal phase?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Feanaro_s_Wife
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
F

Feanaro_s_Wife

Guest
Any of you that has NFP knowledge should be able to help me out, I hope.

First, am I correct in thinking that the luteal phase is the time after ovulation but before menstruation?

I have heard that having a short luteal phase can be a problem (cause early miscarriages?) and think mine is short. What is the definition of short?

Malia
 
Hi. I don’t post much, but your thread caught my eye.

I was diagnosed with a luteal phase defect in June 2004. You are correct, it is possible that what causes a short luteal phase also can cause miscarriages. I was very blessed to carry both of my first two babies to term. Once my doctor diagnosed my luteal phase defect he said he realized what a miracle my two babies were (not that they aren’t anyway…but you get my meaning).

I had luteal phases of 6 or 8 days. My temps always jumped around and I couldn’t rely on my temperature to help me truly see if I ovulated. Additionally, I often had confusing mucous observations.

My luteal phase defect was due to low progesterone levels after ovulation. My doctor was able to diagnose the low progesterone because I had my blood drawn and tested for the hormone on 5 days after I ovulated (Peak Day plus 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11) and he was able to see that the progesterone levels were not enough to maintain a pregnancy or even to show me a decent phase III.

Needless to say, my husband and I were VERY relieved to find out it was treatable. My doctor prescribed Prometrium (300 mg) for ten days beginning on Peak Day + 3. Ever since I did that, I was able to have 12 day luteal phases (average…I’ve had as long as 14 and as short as 10). My doctor says a luteal phase should be at least 10 days long.

Sorry I wrote a book. I am very passionate about this disorder because diagnosing it made a huge difference for my husband and me for using the Sympto-Thermal Method of Natural Family Planning.

We are now expecting our third child and my doctor is monitoring my progesterone. I was able to decrease the dosage a few weeks ago to 200 mg per day, but I keep getting tested to be sure my levels are OK. Knowing about a progesterone deficiency can make so much of a difference.

God bless you.

Michelle
 
Yes, a short luteal phase indicates problems with progesterone and could cause miscarriage/inability to implant.

You can try taking vitamin B-6 to lengthen the luteal phase. If that does not work, then a natural progesterone like Prometrium would be the next step.

See a knowledgeable doctor. Contact the Pope Paul VI institute for consultation if you can’t find one locally. www.popepaulvi.com
 
My wife and I have been married for 13 years this September. We have never used NFP because we believe that it is up to God to decide how many children we should have. We traditionalists Catholics call this Catholic birth control when NFP is used. We have been taught before we got married by priests that there are various reasons for not having children such as eugenic, financial, etc but it is abstinence that is used. We know families that have 10-15 children but will not use NFP BECAUSE THEY HAVE NO REASON TO STOP. I think of St.Catherine of Sienna who came from a family of 21 children.
So if Catholics are not generous enough to sacrifice themselves in marriage to give life and bring these souls to heaven through the practice of the moral teachings of the Church then why did they become Catholics or why do they insist on not resisting the temptation to give in to the birth control mentality that has been promoted since Vatican II? Obviously there is something wrong with Vatican II just from this immoral practice of Catholic birth control.
Finally the temptation increases to implement condoms, interuterine devices, pills, etc. Joseph
 
I also was prescribed Progesterone, but my problem was unusually long cycles, but now that I think of it, I do have a short luteal phase, too, and have not been successful in having more kids the past 8 months.

I haven’t been on it long so I don’t know if it is working for me or not. We’ll see.

I would definately get your progesterone levels checked, but they will also check you for prolactin and other hormones at that time. If you are or have just stopped breastfeeding your hormones are going to be wacky for a while.
 
Here’s a good article to read, just for further info:
ccli.org/aboutccl/history/nutritionconnect.php

As another poster mentioned, vitamin B-6 is recommended (the author of this article specifically recommends optivite which is a brand of vitamin that has b-6 and some others in it.) I had a hard time locating optivite so have just used vitamin b-6 and almost immediately saw a significant lengthening in my luteal phase. It’s great that this kind of information is available, as my doctor wanted to try some progesterone and other options to treat this. Why? Taking vitamin b-6 is cheap, simple and natural.
 
Just so you know, B-6 does not work for everyone.

Prometrium has a few other benefits as well, such as preventing bone loss. However, some doctors are quick to prescribe the pill instead, which has progesterone and other unecessary estrogens, and that is totally unacceptable. Do not trust a doctor who would do this, as there is no reason for it.
 
RC Traditional:
My wife and I have been married for 13 years this September. We have never used NFP because we believe that it is up to God to decide how many children we should have.
Click to expand...
:confused: That’s nice for you and your wife, but I fail to see how this has anything to do with my original question.

NFP simply stands for Natural Family Planning. It is used to achieve pregnancy as well as to avoid it.

If I had not learned about how my body works and started to chart my cycles, I never would have learned that I have a potential problem.

So please keep your opinions about NFP to yourself, or at least take them to a thread that is actually discussing whether or not Catholics should ever try to postpone pregnancy…there are enough of them on these forums, no need to hijack my thread.

malia
 
Feanaro's Wife:
Any of you that has NFP knowledge should be able to help me out, I hope.

First, am I correct in thinking that the luteal phase is the time after ovulation but before menstruation?

I have heard that having a short luteal phase can be a problem (cause early miscarriages?) and think mine is short. What is the definition of short?

Malia
Click to expand...
Just to clarify for you, begin counting your luteal phase the first day your temperature starts to rise through the last day of your cycle.
 
40.png
goravens:
I had a hard time locating optivite so have just used vitamin b-6 and almost immediately saw a significant lengthening in my luteal phase. It’s great that this kind of information is available, as my doctor wanted to try some progesterone and other options to treat this. Why? Taking vitamin b-6 is cheap, simple and natural.
Click to expand...
I had to order Optivite PMT online. I shopped around for the best price. I have Marilyn Shannon’s book “Fertility, Cycles, & Nurtition”, and she lists American Pro Life Enterprises (www.kuhar.com) as a resource for Optivite. I didn’t have a short luteal phase, but it improved my PMS and FBC (fibrocystic breast changes results were amazing).

Autumn
 
40.png
NFPfamily:
Just to clarify for you, begin counting your luteal phase the first day your temperature starts to rise through the last day of your cycle.
Click to expand...
And the last day of the cycle is the day before actual bleeding (not spotting)?

I really appreciate all of the help and clarifications.

Malia
 
Feanaro's Wife:
And the last day of the cycle is the day before actual bleeding (not spotting)?

I really appreciate all of the help and clarifications.

Malia
Click to expand...
Yes, that is correct. The first day of menstruation is the first day of your next cycle, so the day before is the last day of your current cycle.
 
Feanaro's Wife:
And the last day of the cycle is the day before actual bleeding (not spotting)?

I really appreciate all of the help and clarifications.

Malia
Click to expand...
Hi there,
I just came in on this thread. I have been an IF patient for 4.5 years now. Do you have spotting at the end of your period? If so, is it brown? Brown spotting at the end can indicate low progesterone. That is one way Dr. Hilgers at The Pope Paul VI Institute diagnosed one of my problems. The tail end brown bleeding could also be a sign that you have endometrosis - which after a laproscopic surgery, was found true for me. Good luck.

Also, day 1 is the first day of bleeding, not spotting. Premenstraul spotting can also be a sign of problems.
PCR
 
40.png
PCR99:
Hi there, please bear with me while I make sure I understand…
I just came in on this thread. I have been an IF patient for 4.5 years now.

What does “IF” mean?

Do you have spotting at the end of your period? If so, is it brown? Brown spotting at the end can indicate low progesterone.

By “end of your period” do you mean at the end of the menstrual bleeding, or then end of the cycle before new menstrual bleeding begins?:confused:

That is one way Dr. Hilgers at The Pope Paul VI Institute diagnosed one of my problems. The tail end brown bleeding could also be a sign that you have endometrosis - which after a laproscopic surgery, was found true for me. Good luck.

I am glad to hear that you found proper help. I hope you are getting treatment and are doing well.

Also, day 1 is the first day of bleeding, not spotting.

Yes, this one I was pretty sure of.

Premenstraul spotting can also be a sign of problems.

Any type of spotting? Even right before menstruation begins?

PCR
Click to expand...
Thank you for your help…

Malia
 
My wife and I have been married for 13 years this September. We have never used NFP because we believe that it is up to God to decide how many children we should have. We traditionalists Catholics call this Catholic birth control when NFP is used. We have been taught before we got married by priests that there are various reasons for not having children such as eugenic, financial, etc but it is abstinence that is used. We know families that have 10-15 children but will not use NFP BECAUSE THEY HAVE NO REASON TO STOP. I think of St.Catherine of Sienna who came from a family of 21 children.
So if Catholics are not generous enough to sacrifice themselves in marriage to give life and bring these souls to heaven through the practice of the moral teachings of the Church then why did they become Catholics or why do they insist on not resisting the temptation to give in to the birth control mentality that has been promoted since Vatican II? Obviously there is something wrong with Vatican II just from this immoral practice of Catholic birth control.
Finally the temptation increases to implement condoms, interuterine devices, pills, etc. Joseph
Click to expand...
Congratulations. I am thrilled for you and your wife, and for all of those families that you know who have never struggled with infertility.

Please have compassion for those of us who desperately want children and are trying to discover medical reasons (no, I don’t mean IVF or other immoral things) explaining why we cannot have them. Many of us suffer from the hormonal deficiency mentioned in the thread, and sympto-thermal charting (similar to that used in NFP) is the easiest and most reliable way to know for sure.

Please read entire threads in the future (or at least entire first posts) before making snap judgements and lectures.

Thanks, and God bless.
 
40.png
goravens:
Here’s a good article to read, just for further info:
ccli.org/aboutccl/history/nutritionconnect.php

As another poster mentioned, vitamin B-6 is recommended (the author of this article specifically recommends optivite which is a brand of vitamin that has b-6 and some others in it.) I had a hard time locating optivite so have just used vitamin b-6 and almost immediately saw a significant lengthening in my luteal phase. It’s great that this kind of information is available, as my doctor wanted to try some progesterone and other options to treat this. Why? Taking vitamin b-6 is cheap, simple and natural.
Click to expand...
I’ve determined that I probably do have some problems with progesterone, after hoping, praying, and trying for a pregnancy for over a year with nothing but an early miscarriage, and based on my fertility signs. Last month I only took B6 during the luteal phase and increased it by a full day. I was so thrilled by it that I entirely avoided my usual “why am I not pregnant again? WAHHH” blues. I’ve taken it every day since so I’ll let everyone know what happens next weekend (monthly friend is due in another week if I keep my new 12-day luteal phase). Maybe I’ll get another day.
 
Michelle in KC:

Good Answers!! My but you were taught well…Great advice about getting proper medical help.

Feanaro’s Wife:

You have gotten very good advice. Indeed, luteal phases shorter than 10 days are problematic, but not unheard of, so don’t be disheartened by that piece of information only.

Michelle has had the benefit of VERY GOOD medical care from a family practice doctor who is well schooled in NFP, and has helped many we know with fertility issues with sound and appropriate help.

Seek a physician like this if you can…you can look for NFP only or NFP supportive physicians by looking at the website for One More Soul - www.omsoul.org

SJ:

The same advice for you, and we continue to pray for your patient and prayful cooperation with the will of God. I know you will be blessed, if not with a child, then with the knowledge that your search is still bearing great fruit…even here on these boards.
God Bless You!

RCCatholic:
Oh…you’ll get your own post…
 
RC Traditional:
My wife and I have been married for 13 years this September. We have never used NFP because we believe that it is up to God to decide how many children we should have. We traditionalists Catholics call this Catholic birth control when NFP is used. We have been taught before we got married by priests that there are various reasons for not having children such as eugenic, financial, etc but it is abstinence that is used. We know families that have 10-15 children but will not use NFP BECAUSE THEY HAVE NO REASON TO STOP. I think of St.Catherine of Sienna who came from a family of 21 children.
So if Catholics are not generous enough to sacrifice themselves in marriage to give life and bring these souls to heaven through the practice of the moral teachings of the Church then why did they become Catholics or why do they insist on not resisting the temptation to give in to the birth control mentality that has been promoted since Vatican II? Obviously there is something wrong with Vatican II just from this immoral practice of Catholic birth control.
Finally the temptation increases to implement condoms, interuterine devices, pills, etc. Joseph
Click to expand...
Ah, you Trads have all the answers. The first error you make is to distrust the Authority of the Church. Then again, you question the Authority of the Church…that is central fact of your calling your self a “traditionalist”. See, it is the Church that has made NFP the best way for a couple to balance Generosity in the service of LIFE, and Prudence needed to care for the lives given to a couple. You separated yourself from that authority when you made yourself Pope in Judgement on this matter.

Second, Children are not a badge of honor for your fidelity - they are not a sign that you are more pious than those without children, or more pious than those with fewer children. All practioners of NFP practice Abstinence when they determine, with the help of a spiritual advisor, that they have a Serious Reason to postpone pregnancy for a time. Trads don’t have a corner on the virtue of abstinence.

God gave us these fertility signs as part of His Will to allow us to cooperate with Him in the fertility of this planet. He allowed us to be Co-Creators…indeed it is an act of great generosity, and those who experience fertility difficulties know that most accutely. Those fortunate to have fertility systems that cooperate with God easier than others tend NOT to appreciate what a gift that cooperative generosity from God really is.

You, like many trads I know, suffer mostly from a triumphilistic attitude about your piety that is diametrically opposed to what God calls us to be…humble before His power, and gracious with the Grace He has given us.

Now, you may never read this post…Trads tend to straf threads rather than engage in them…but at least you can read a response from someone who has had to talk to your type before…and who teaches NFP.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top