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Does stress really delay AF?? *warning* long!
Flowergirl
Posts: 2,040
This may not be the most popular answer to this constant question but personally, I think it might help clear up some misunderstandings about this subject and also keep some from holding on to false hope for so long, when they could instead be moving on to their next cycle, and be that much closer to their BFP, so I am going out on a limb to share what I've learned.
My Dr. has always told me that stress can only delay ovulation and will never delay menstruation, no matter how stressed out you actually are. The hormones that are affected by stress, keep you from ovulating but once you actually ovulate, menstruation is then inevitable within the normal range of days, which of course may vary slightly by person but never for weeks, etc. I am a huge 'technical' person, meaning I love to research the facts about things I am interested in and it truly bothers me when I see/hear people giving out information that is clearly inaccurate. Now, I also would be happy to hear any facts that would prove this research wrong also! In all the research I have done about this, every credible source, ie. Dr's, Fertility Specialists, etc. have all said this same thing. Yes, your AF may be delayed by stress but only because it's delayed your ovulation. If, at this point, you are saying "but I got a positive opk!" or "I even got a smiley!", there is also plenty of evidence that says you may very well gear up to Ovulate but your body doesn't actually go through with it. A blood hormone test or ultrasound at the Dr.'s (or a confirmed pregnancy about 2 weeks later) is the only way to know you actually ovulated. There are women who get a positive opk every month but after not getting pregnant after so many tries, testing reveals they were never actually ovulating. There are also women who test every day from CD1 with opks and have gotten surges as early as CD2 or that test several times a day and catch a surge that only lasts a couple hours and when they keep testing, they find that they do not actually ovulate until later in their cycle. The easy explanation for this is because levels of LH fluctuate and is always present in your body, no matter what CD you are on. I myself have had this happen - it was my very first time using DS and I was doing IUI at the Dr.'s. I was soo incredibly nervous that I was almost sick. Finally, almost a week late, I got a positive OPK and I went ahead and did the IUI. 2 weeks later, when I didn't get AF, of course I tested and BFN. Upon going to the Dr. it was confirmed that I had indeed, not ovulated. Even though I had gotten a nice looking surge, (presumably) my stress had caused me not to actually ovulate. It was a very expensive learning experience for me and after a yucky round of Provera, several weeks later, I could finally try again.
For those of you who are arguing that you have googled it and soooo many women have gotten their BFP's on 20, 30, 40+ DPO, you have to realize that most of these women assume they are ovulating around 14ish days into their cycle and are counting from that time. The most important thing to think of here though, is that 99.9% of the women who are sharing their experiences with this are not doing AI at home and are having regular intercourse which means that no matter when they ovulated, they have the possibility of getting pregnant because there is a (near) constant supply of sperm available. The hormones that accompany ovulation, also usually make us feel more 'in the mood', which makes it very likely that they 'did the deed' at the right time to get pregnant. I first learned this from my Dr. when I first went on birth control at 16 for heavy periods. She said that is the reason that girls who have random sex (as in not a regular boyfriend) have such a high pregnancy rate. They tend to do more when the urge hits and that's usually the perfect time to get pregnant! Anyway, back to the original story - these women then claim to have not gotten a BFP until 20+DPO, when in reality, they probably just didn't ovulate until much later in their cycle.
Now, if you are late for your AF, there is the small possibility that you are indeed pregnant and it's just not showing up on the HPT (uncommon but does happen), which a blood test or ultrasound would normally be able to determine. Personally, I would always wait at least a week after you thought AF should have arrived, before taking anything to start AF. The reason for that is that if you indeed did ovulate when you thought you did, once AF is a week late, a blood test should certainly not be negative and an ultrasound (if you opted for one) should definitely show a little sac there already! But this part is only personal opinion - some just choose to wait it out no matter how long it takes and that is fine if that's what they choose. I'm not that patient! ;-)
Now, I didn't post this to start any arguments or offend anyone! If it can just help one person not have to go through those days and days of ill advised hope because they are late for AF, like I have... then this post is worth it! All this is so much harder when using DS because of the timing, having to order it for a specific 7 day period, etc. but we just have to keep trying... knowledge is our best weapon during this journey!! Here's to lots of quick and stress free BFP's!!!
My Dr. has always told me that stress can only delay ovulation and will never delay menstruation, no matter how stressed out you actually are. The hormones that are affected by stress, keep you from ovulating but once you actually ovulate, menstruation is then inevitable within the normal range of days, which of course may vary slightly by person but never for weeks, etc. I am a huge 'technical' person, meaning I love to research the facts about things I am interested in and it truly bothers me when I see/hear people giving out information that is clearly inaccurate. Now, I also would be happy to hear any facts that would prove this research wrong also! In all the research I have done about this, every credible source, ie. Dr's, Fertility Specialists, etc. have all said this same thing. Yes, your AF may be delayed by stress but only because it's delayed your ovulation. If, at this point, you are saying "but I got a positive opk!" or "I even got a smiley!", there is also plenty of evidence that says you may very well gear up to Ovulate but your body doesn't actually go through with it. A blood hormone test or ultrasound at the Dr.'s (or a confirmed pregnancy about 2 weeks later) is the only way to know you actually ovulated. There are women who get a positive opk every month but after not getting pregnant after so many tries, testing reveals they were never actually ovulating. There are also women who test every day from CD1 with opks and have gotten surges as early as CD2 or that test several times a day and catch a surge that only lasts a couple hours and when they keep testing, they find that they do not actually ovulate until later in their cycle. The easy explanation for this is because levels of LH fluctuate and is always present in your body, no matter what CD you are on. I myself have had this happen - it was my very first time using DS and I was doing IUI at the Dr.'s. I was soo incredibly nervous that I was almost sick. Finally, almost a week late, I got a positive OPK and I went ahead and did the IUI. 2 weeks later, when I didn't get AF, of course I tested and BFN. Upon going to the Dr. it was confirmed that I had indeed, not ovulated. Even though I had gotten a nice looking surge, (presumably) my stress had caused me not to actually ovulate. It was a very expensive learning experience for me and after a yucky round of Provera, several weeks later, I could finally try again.
For those of you who are arguing that you have googled it and soooo many women have gotten their BFP's on 20, 30, 40+ DPO, you have to realize that most of these women assume they are ovulating around 14ish days into their cycle and are counting from that time. The most important thing to think of here though, is that 99.9% of the women who are sharing their experiences with this are not doing AI at home and are having regular intercourse which means that no matter when they ovulated, they have the possibility of getting pregnant because there is a (near) constant supply of sperm available. The hormones that accompany ovulation, also usually make us feel more 'in the mood', which makes it very likely that they 'did the deed' at the right time to get pregnant. I first learned this from my Dr. when I first went on birth control at 16 for heavy periods. She said that is the reason that girls who have random sex (as in not a regular boyfriend) have such a high pregnancy rate. They tend to do more when the urge hits and that's usually the perfect time to get pregnant! Anyway, back to the original story - these women then claim to have not gotten a BFP until 20+DPO, when in reality, they probably just didn't ovulate until much later in their cycle.
Now, if you are late for your AF, there is the small possibility that you are indeed pregnant and it's just not showing up on the HPT (uncommon but does happen), which a blood test or ultrasound would normally be able to determine. Personally, I would always wait at least a week after you thought AF should have arrived, before taking anything to start AF. The reason for that is that if you indeed did ovulate when you thought you did, once AF is a week late, a blood test should certainly not be negative and an ultrasound (if you opted for one) should definitely show a little sac there already! But this part is only personal opinion - some just choose to wait it out no matter how long it takes and that is fine if that's what they choose. I'm not that patient! ;-)
Now, I didn't post this to start any arguments or offend anyone! If it can just help one person not have to go through those days and days of ill advised hope because they are late for AF, like I have... then this post is worth it! All this is so much harder when using DS because of the timing, having to order it for a specific 7 day period, etc. but we just have to keep trying... knowledge is our best weapon during this journey!! Here's to lots of quick and stress free BFP's!!!
After 9 yrs & 1 devastating loss, we got our BFP at 9DPO ~ and welcomed our beautiful son on Halloween! Best treat ever!!
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6/28/09=BFP=Ectopic Pregnancy 7/09/09
1/7/2011 found Endo
Anybody else have a monitored cycle with delayed AF that wants to share?
Cocobay, was she on meds?
I had thought 11-14 days was "normal" for an LP... According to my RE, meds can/do lengthen an LP - Clomid, Femara, etc. I was triggering on days 11 or 12 to ovulate on days 13 or 14 and would not get a period until anywhere from 17 - 20 days later. My unmedicated cycles were always 30-31 days long, and my medicated cycles were a wee bit longer - and it was definitely the LP phase that was lengthened.
i agree that stress does not delay af, it can only delay ovulation. cocobay was ovulation determined by u/s or by bloodwork?
g
I wonder if someone took other things in the tww that their body wasn't accustomed to, if it would also delay AF even though they ovulated? My progesterone levels said yes, but AF was 4 days late. I was shocked and very disappointed bc I knew that things were lining up and no AF.
http://breast-cancer.emedtv.com/femara/clomid-vs.-femara.html
Good luck to her!
Good luck to your friend, Cocobay! Maybe they could ask their Dr. about Femara? It usually seems to have just as good, if not better, results and the side effects are so much less. They could even go online for that coupon and get a month's supply for $10 if their Dr. would agree to switch them to it!
And as far as length of LP, some of you brought up a very excellent point that I hadn't thought to include. There are definitely medications, hormonal things, etc. that can/will lengthen it. Progesterone supplements, creams, for example, can do this, and depending on how much it affects you, AF might not even start until you stop taking/using them. The thing to note here would be that a slight lengthening of the LP because of meds would not technically be considered a delay of AF, as I was referring to, but is a very good thing to take into consideration for anyone experiencing an AF that's MIA. For example, a woman who has a normal 10 day LP, starts fertility meds, progesterone, B6, etc. and suddenly she has a cycle where AF is a week "late". Technically, her AF is late to her, but still well within the 'normal' range and not really 'delayed' per say. This could definitely be the meds, progesterone and not necessarily that she ovulated late. My Dr. will not prescribe progesterone unless there is a definite documented problem for this very reason. He said if it's not needed, it only mimics pregnancy symptoms and lengthens your LP, so it gets your hopes up even when you're really not pregnant and just causes bigger disappointments...