5DP3DT IVF9: Musings on Progesterone
Progesterone used to make me feel intense uterine cramps, make breasts hurt, and just cause me a lot of physical discomfort. Most of my cycles, I was on 200mg/day and maybe even 100mg/day on one cycle. All these symptoms on 100-200mg/day.
In this cycle I'm on 800mg/day of P4 supplements.
And I feel ... well ... nothing. My breasts are normal, smallish actually. I'm not feeling any cramps from the P4. Nothing to really make me think, "Is that the progesterone or am I maybe getting implantation twinges."
It's just rather quiet. Disturbingly quiet.
My last IVF cycle, I believe I had STABBING cramps at the time of implantation. That was the cycle I saw a very faint BFP that appeared for one day and then disappeared before beta day.
I have to wonder if the pain I was feeling in IVF8 was more a symptom of one hell of an immune reaction happening...or of typical implantation. The more I read of other women's experiences before getting a BFP, the more I think I had a major immune reaction. So many women state that they felt little around implantation, were pessimistic about the cycle, and then went on to a BFP.
One thing that comes to mind is that this is the first cycle I've done since my endo surgery at the end of June. Could it be that the cramping was co-correlated to the presence of endometriosis (stage 4) with progesterone levels? I know that endo can cause the body to produce progesterone at random times in the cycle and can cause the lining to be out of sync. Can progesterone conversely affect endometriosis?
Lastly, I wonder if it's age, and my body's lack of response to the progesterone, or something else. There's nothing special about my progesterone suppositories save that they're 400mg each. I should be recoiling in pain, but I'm not.
I wonder.
Anyone else notice a chance in how you feel with progesterone as you age?
I'm baffled.
In this cycle I'm on 800mg/day of P4 supplements.
And I feel ... well ... nothing. My breasts are normal, smallish actually. I'm not feeling any cramps from the P4. Nothing to really make me think, "Is that the progesterone or am I maybe getting implantation twinges."
It's just rather quiet. Disturbingly quiet.
My last IVF cycle, I believe I had STABBING cramps at the time of implantation. That was the cycle I saw a very faint BFP that appeared for one day and then disappeared before beta day.
I have to wonder if the pain I was feeling in IVF8 was more a symptom of one hell of an immune reaction happening...or of typical implantation. The more I read of other women's experiences before getting a BFP, the more I think I had a major immune reaction. So many women state that they felt little around implantation, were pessimistic about the cycle, and then went on to a BFP.
One thing that comes to mind is that this is the first cycle I've done since my endo surgery at the end of June. Could it be that the cramping was co-correlated to the presence of endometriosis (stage 4) with progesterone levels? I know that endo can cause the body to produce progesterone at random times in the cycle and can cause the lining to be out of sync. Can progesterone conversely affect endometriosis?
Lastly, I wonder if it's age, and my body's lack of response to the progesterone, or something else. There's nothing special about my progesterone suppositories save that they're 400mg each. I should be recoiling in pain, but I'm not.
I wonder.
Anyone else notice a chance in how you feel with progesterone as you age?
I'm baffled.
posted by linda at 2:13 PM
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