so confused!

hi everyone,
i'm new to this so you'll have to bear with me a little bit!
i have absolutely no idea whats going on with my body. i recently stopped taking the pill after 5 months (took the last pill on 15th march) and AF came on 17th march straight after. ive been told its really unlikely to get pregnant in the month after taking the pill because your body is still adjusting and getting the pill out of your system, but for the last 2 weeks ive had symptoms that seem to be common with pregnancy (it'd be a first time for me) and im so confused as to whether its just all in my head because i think i might be or if they are actually true symptoms. AF is not due til the 17th so im guessing its too early for a HPT??
the symptoms ive had are: bloating, lower back pain, stomach cramps, a more frequent need to urinate, white discharge(sorry to be graphic), fatigue and more recently nausea and a change in appetite.
is it worth taking a test or should i wait til after the 17th? could it just all be in my head??

any response would really be appreciated cos i'm so confused right now!! thanks in advance!

im just wondering whether or not you know when or if you ovulated. It is possible to test for pregnancy with some home pregnancy tests as soon as 10 days past ovulation, however they dont work that soon for everyone. I do know it is possible to fall pregnant that soon after coming off the pill as my friend fell pregnanct the month after she stopped taking hers.
I however am still trying to conceive baby no.1 and have absolutely no luck with home pregnancy tests LOL. however this might not be the case for you. it is normally best to wait for your period due date, but with how cheap tests are now it is easy to fall into the test addict category LOL.
Best of luck for you
georgette

Carrie - I'm in 2 minds about this, could very easily be detox symptoms, normal hormones or pg. IMO, I would personally wait until AF is due and then test, as it will help maybe rule out if it is anything other than pg and then you'll hopefully get a good HPT line if you are. Good luck with it all.

Carrie,

Firstly, yes it is possible for you to fall pregnant within 5 months of coming off the pill. But I would agree and suggest that you wait until AF is due before you test, just to avoid any unnecessary disappointment as it could be too early to detect a pregnancy. It can be a trying time though, the TWW so good luck to you and hopefully you get that BFP at the end.

just an update- took a Crystal Clear HPT this morning (says you can test up to 4 days before your period is due) and got a FAINT neg.? does that mean anything or is it the same as getting a stronger line for negative?
the pack says if you test before your period is due its less likely to be accurate so im not taking the next test until the day my period is due, but that BFN has lowered my spirits.. not to mention i had a dream where AF came!! lol!
still getting symptoms- this morning not just feeling nauseous but actually feeling like im going to throw up.. it hasnt been that bad before.
what do people think?

hi hunny,

Im just wondering what you mean by a faint negative, is the hpt one of those tests that say - or + , if so then yes a faint neg would still be a negative,(however you may be testing far to early, im nearly 3 weeks late and still not getting a definate BFP). if however it is just one of those tests that say one line for no and two line for yes, then if you have another line it is positive. Sorry its just there are so many types of htp's, it hard to tell.
let me know
georgette

yeah it was a HPT that has + or - and it was a faint - line.. i hope its just inaccurate cos i tested early... really, really wanting a BFP soon!! i dont think i could handle waiting to get a BFP on HPTs if i didnt even after my period was late, so if next time it's another BFN, i might make an appt with the doc and just get a blood test to find out! waiting is agony! DP has been anxious about it all and hoping i'm not (while i've secretly been hoping i am! lol), but tonight we started talking about what names we both like and he got all excited and now he's happy either way! it's made me want that BFP even more!

hey everyone,
sorry if some of this is TMI or if its a stupid question. i'm still very new to this whole thing.
ive just realised i put the wrong dates here. i took my last BCP on the 14th of march (would have been up to the inactive tablets), and AF came on the 15th/16th- i wrote down the 17th but i know it came either the day after stopping the pills or maybe a day later than that. i've worked out that if i hadnt gone off the pill, i would have started my inactive pills on Thursday 12th april. my question is- do i consider this the date AF should be due? or still March 17th?? AF was fairly irregular before i went on the pill (usually came at least 2 days early) and my last cycle on the pill was very irregular, as i purposely skipped AF in late feb by going straight to the next pack and skipping the inactive pills, and it didnt work as i ended up "spotting" for the entire month (was basically a constant light flow period). now i'm confused about which date to go by when waiting for AF to come and knowing when to test and when to make a doc's appt!
sorry for the confusion!! should have checked more carefully.

hi ya,
well this can be difficult for you, as coming of the pill and cause this cycle to be a bit irregular, however, just a personal oppinion, when i took the pill several years ago now, it didnt affect my period at all. i was still getting a normal 30-32 day cycle. so i would go with what you think best, however long your cycle is normally, go with that and see how things go.
obviously your not late yet, sorry if i read it right you due around 15th, 16th, 17th of this month.
So wait till then and see what happens, if you are concerned hunny go chat to your Doctor, wish you all the luck with ttc.
georgette

Regardless of when you came off the pill you count the first day of your current cycle as the first day of full flow. Test again when your period is actually overdue.

okay sounds like it's best if i wait til the 17th to be completely sure then.. cos AF is usually irregular my cycle is always a different length so i'll go with that date and see what happens. thanks so much for the help! :)

Why do you think you need to wait till the 17th April? Working on the standard 28 day cycle (and remembering that lots of us don't have those!) I would think you could expect AF any time from today, as it's 4 weeks from your LMP, even though you say your cycles are irregular (I presume you mean they were before you were on bcp?). I would test again in a couple of days, try to get a test that has the 2 lines like Confirm or the standard Crystal Clear, and don't forget to use first morning urine.

The BCP could well have mucked up your hormones - especially as you skipped the last "period" - my first cycle coming off BCP was 56 days! and it took 6 cycles before I got pg, despite charting all that time, with cycles that were 44 days, 32, basically all over the place. And I have 28-29 day cycles naturally. So dont' despair if you are not pg, if you want to be, although you might take heart when I tell you that a good friend got pg first cycle off bcp.

i'm just really confused about the whole thing. part of me is thinking this whole thing is just a combination of stopping BCP and a stomach bug or something.. but it's a different feeling than when i've previously been sick with a stomach bug. it's complicated because i've just come off the pill as well... thanks so much for your post though SallyJ, that's helped me understand a bit more what might be going on with dates, etc. I'll test again on Monday and see what happens. thanks everyone for your advice.. i'll keep you updated on what's happening over the next few days. :)

Carrie glad I could help and I hope you can work out what's happening one way or another. To get a better understanding of your natural cycle, check out Fertility Friend or a book called "Taking Charge of Your Fertility" by Toni Wechsler. Both of these are great resources for finding out exactly how your body works, and have all the information they didn't teach you in PDHPE!

hi everyone

i had a look at Fertility Friend but had a bit of trouble understand how to use it since my last few cycles have been pretty irregular. i did manage to work out that today would be CD 31 for me, and since AF has always come early- the irregularity was always in how early it came (it's varied from 1-12 days early), and yesterday was 4 weeks from my LMP, i'm assuming AF MAY be late already... mind you, the fact that i've just stopped BCP and my last cycle on them was really irregular i guess AF could just as easily take another week or two to arrive!
i'm beginning to think this whole thing may just be a coincidence... maybe a combination of a few symptoms from stopping BCP and a stomach bug or something. DP had an off stomach for about 2-3 weeks that sorted itself out about a week ago, but i was fine last week (stomach/nausea wise) and still experiencing some other symptoms (tender bb, sore back, mood swings, etc).
my most recent symptoms have been nausea, constipation (sorry TMI), and loss of appetite. i still have tender and sore bb, very sore back, mood swings and EWCM(though not as much as before) as well.
the day after BD, i had a lot of EWCM and that continued for about a week til it lessened and i originally thought it might be semen(sorry again for TMI) but then realised it was CM (because of different consistency etc). does this mean i probably started O the day after BD?
sorry for ALL the questions.. it's such a confusing time, especially because we are young. we're not scared if i am pregnant, because we were hoping to start a family in the next few years anyway, it's just obviously difficult trying to concentrate on every day things when you have something like this on your mind.
does anyone have any new thoughts on the whole thing? could i just have a stomach bug?

also sorry that post was so long! as you can tell i'm really confused.

i can't stop thinking about it!

hi ya hunny,
With all the symptoms you are expressing it sounds like you could well be pregnant. If i was you i would do some pregnancy tests, or go see you gp if you are feeling that unwell. let us know what you deside to do. I will be following your progress.
I am 3 weeks latre atleast now, have all you symptoms apart from nausia. The tests i have done have either come up bfn or very faint bfp. So i am also going out of my mind with curiosity..
Im hopefully getting checked out properly this week, as it is common for some women not to get nfp on urine tests.
Wish me luck for tmrw. I will also let you know how i get on...
good luck
georgette

Hi Carrie,
Starting out TTC, or even going with the no conception when it happends can be so consuming and confusing. Well done for checking out fertility friend. At first it may seem a little daunting but it does get easier and it will make sense. My advice would be to take the free course that fertility friend offers, it provides lots of information which I believe is always good.
Reading back to your first post, your acknowledge that sometimes it takes a while to get your body back into some rountine after coming off the bcp. Each woman has their own experience and what is normal for others but not be normal for you.
Some symptoms of pregnancy are ones which can just be for AF arriving too! Just to make us all more frustrated.

Have you tested again since you last HPT?

Hi Carrie

As Summer says, read the free course on FF. It will help you understand your body.

I would test again every few days, or you could see your dr for a blood test. It does sounds like you might have BDd at the right time to get pg.

I can understand a baby would be quite daunting at your age, even if children are in your plans.

Good luck and keep us updated!

hi everyone,
AF arrived yesterday :( and really badly too- have been feeling really sick with it. im taking a guess that the symptoms i was feeling were probably my body responding to stopping BCP but also maybe signs that AF was on her way. i wanna say thank you SO much to everyone who posted on this thread cos you all really helped me out. i know where i'll be coming when TTC!! i love this site, i think its so great that so many women can get together and discuss anything and everything to do with TTC, falling pregnant and having a baby. its such a great support network and ive really appreciated it and i cant wait to be back properly when TTC! until then im still going to use fertility friend because i think it will be really good to learn more about my body and what everything means etc. mind you, even though im not actively TTC ill still be checking in on this site now and then cos like i said- i think its wonderful!!
good luck to all of you on TTC, your pregnancies and enjoying your little bundles of joy. ill be thinking of you all and i really hope that you all get those BFP's you're waiting for!! i just really wanted to express my appreciation to all of you. THANK YOU!