A Medical Lesson

on April 17th 2012, I had a doctors appointment with Dr. Ralph Magnusson.  I didn't realize when I made the appointment that my doctor was a guy! But he has turned out to be amazing! I am so blessed to have him as my doctor.

I brought my little planner to show him my basel temperature readings.  He looked at the trends and realized that my 4th week in the cycle, my basal temperature was low (like the first two weeks) and it should have continued to be 98.0 or higher.  He concluded that I must not be producing enough if any Progestorene. 

Here is a diagram of the lovely uterus. 

What happens in a normal 4 week cycle is the brain tells the ovaries on the first week of the cycle to produce Estrogen, produce Estrogen! And then around day 8 the ovary sends a message to the brain saying, okay here is the estrogen you asked for! At this point, the brain sends an LH Surge to your ovaries.  This is when "ovulation starts" around day 10-12.  So the ovary releases an egg and sends another message to the brain saying, got all this estrogen now what? And the brain tells the ovaries to convert the estrogen into progesterone, this is during the end of the 3rd week and beginning of the 4th week in the cycle.  The progestorene coats the uterine wall and the fertilized egg sticks to it. and Boom!! Baby!!


Well, when MY ovary sends a message to MY brain that they have all this estrogen now what? That estrogen is either not being converted, or I didn't have enough to begin with.  So when I had a positive pregnancy test it was because I had a fertile egg but no progesterene to hold the egg.  So I was "emptying out" fertilized eggs.

So my doctor prescribed me with Clomiphene (Clomid) which is a very common infertility medication. What it does is blocks the messages from the ovaries saying they made enough Estrogen and sends twice as many requests to produce it. 

So I walked out of the office with a smile on my face and tears in my eyes.  I had a doctor who listened to me and actually wants to do something besides take my temperature! But I was frustrated.

To take the Clomid you must take it day 5 to 9 of your cycle.  Well your cycle doesn't start until the first day of your period, and I had just had my period the beginning of April! Meaning I was going to have to wait 3 months! I am not a patient person!  Thankfully my chiropractor, who I had giving me special adjustments that boost fertility, told me about a Progesterene cream you can get.  It was not as affective as clomid but it was a natural solution.  If nothing else, it might make me get a period faster.  And it worked! I got my period in May!

And my journey continues...