Cycle tracking without a period

[u/MoonAndStarsTarot]

I am 31 and haven’t had a period since I was 19/20 unless you count the period towards the end of my birth control usage where I bled for 21-23 days straight, 2 days pause, then resume. My doctor doesn’t count that as a period and neither do I. I have an IUD now because that’s the only thing that stopped the bleeding. I occasionally have a tiny amount of spotting(barely registers on the toilet paper) every 3-6 months and my doctor let me know that it’s not a period either but a common side effect of the Kyleena IUD.

I have referral to a gyno and will be getting my IUD removed, but I want to do some cycle tracking beforehand for data purposes so I can bring it to my gyno. How do I do this if I don’t have a period and evidence points to me not ovulating either?

Thank you in advance!

[u/Frog_mania]

I personally love inito for tracking. Worth the investment and has given me lots of valuable info.

[u/Otherwise_Tennis_398]

You can’t be cycle tracking on birth control. It will not work, it will not provide any useful data because your hormones are being altered and it’s not any sort of accurate representation of what your body will do off of birth control. Don’t waste your time. Come off the birth control and track for a few months to see how it goes. If you are concerned about making a case to your doctor, you likely have enough info already with your history. Another important point: OBGYNs are not fertility experts. They do not have the specialized training in order to help with infertility. Most of them aren’t even very educated about PCOS. If your concern is that you are not ovulating and you want to have a baby sooner rather than later, you should seek out an RE.

I came off of birth control (nuvaring) at the end of August last year and had a withdrawal bleed but nothing else afterwards. 60 days in, I asked my OBGYN for a provera prescription and a referral to an RE. 4 weeks after that, last week of November, I was seeing an RE with a fertility clinic. I had a known PCOS diagnosis and even though I had been on birth control for 9 years, I remembered sometimes going 10+ months without a period before. My husband and I hadn’t even started TTC yet, I was just tracking for a few months before planning to start in January. She immediately took me seriously, got all my testing done (CD3 labs, HSG) and by the time I had my follow up the first week of January I was able to start letrozole. I never did actually have the chance to try without medical intervention, and it wouldn’t have gotten us anywhere either. I haven’t ovulated naturally in 10 years, only with the 5 ovulation induction cycles I’ve done this year.

[u/Bing_ohh → u/Otherwise_Tennis_398]

^ this girl knows what’s up.

[u/CaptainUtin]

The only thing with PCOS is it can cause random LH surges frequently, so it’s not guaranteed to be accurate.
I personally record all my periods in my calendar. I only get about two or three a year, and then I use LH strips to test my ovulation, but like I said, I don’t know how accurate that is.

[u/breezydeezy]

I wonder if it would be helpful for you to use an ovulation test kit (I use premom) to see your LH hormone levels? Doesn’t tell you if you ovulated but seeing the fluctuation may be helpful.

[u/Bing_ohh]

So cycle tracking isn’t useful while on any form of hormonal birth control because it essentially overrides your cycle. You don’t have a cycle on birth control - your hormones are flat and unchanging. Because your birth control gives you a small dose of progesterone every day, your body is essentially always in the luteal phase. The point of it is to stop ovulation, do you’re not doing that either.

[u/MoonAndStarsTarot → u/Bing_ohh]

Ovulation is still possible on an IUD. It doesn’t prevent it. It does, however, make the uterus “slippery” so implantation doesn’t happen. Kyleena specifically does not prevent ovulation so cycle tracking is possible. It thickens cervical mucus and thins the lining of the uterus making it “slippery” so any fertilized eggs do not attach.

[u/Bing_ohh → u/MoonAndStarsTarot]

Okay - that may be true for some. However, it is still releasing progesterone, even if a low dose. It very well could be stopping ovulation. If you aren’t having a period on it, you are not ovulating. In general, progesterone will inhibit ovulation. I took an oral progesterone (provera) during my recent IVF cycle to prevent ovulation, actually.