Fertility Issues?

[911908]

I have been having unprotected sex for around 4 years. It hasn't really crossed my mind before as I've not been ready, but has recently starting to play on my mind as my partner and I have been talking about children the past few weeks.

I started my period when I was 11, for the first couple of years I was irregular. Went on the contraceptive pill when I was around 15 still having irregular periods. Changed to the contraceptive injection when I was around 17. But as far as I remember I stopped after several month as I was bleeding continuously for a long period of time. Had enough of putting my body through different cycles so just used condoms now and then - still suffering with irregular periods.

My periods started to get regular around 18 months ago at the age of 22, which was a shock to the body. Have suffered with very heavy periods but nothing out of the ordinary. I'm aware I have a period every month but to be honest I don't keep track of persist dates. We have sexual intercourse on a regular basis. I just don't understand how I've not been caught pregnant? Especially after all this time of unprotected sex.

Do you think I should worry? Seek medical advice?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

[cielo34]

Hi I know you say you haven't been ready before but it sounds like you are now?? I think there's no harm in going along to your GP (you and your OH), and say you've been having unprotected sex for 4 years without pregnancy. They should be willing to run a few tests for you... Sperm assessment for your OH, and then for you I'd ask for day 1-3 blood test (day 1 being the first day of your period) for FSH, LH, E2, AMH. You also need to know if you're ovulating, for which you need a blood test around 7 days before your period's due again. So it would be helpful to know how long your cycle is. This would be another blood test, testing Progesterone levels. It's often called the 'day 21 test' but this only works if the cycle is 28 days long.

There are other tests that can be undertaken, like ensuring your tubes aren't blocked.

If this all sounds a bit scary you may want to just monitor your own cycle first and ensure you're DTD on your fertile days.

Good luck!

[Hopeful15 in reply to cielo34]

10 years for me (very long story). Did all the tests mentioned by cielo. Worth doing. I think NHS guidelines are to go to GP after 2 years unprotected sex. You're still v young though, so don't panic. I came off contraception at 29 and fell pregnant finally this summer at 39!! My irregular and heavy periods were caused by fybroids which were only detected 2 years ago by MRI, everything else was A OK. Don't worry. That's just a wasted emotion. If you're really ready to be parents go see GP asap. It can take several months to get a referral to a fertility consultant and the tests take a while as they have to be done in line with your monthly cycles - so it could take a further 6 months to do them all and find out if there is an issue and as you're still considered young, they probably won't fast track you. If they don't find anything, they may offer exploratory surgery by laproscopy but I discovered I could have an MRI instead. I ended up having to have surgery, but usually if they don't find anything you'd be offered 3 lots of IUI and then 1 IVF. So relax. There are no rules to getting pregnant, some people take longer than others but stressing yourself out about it will defo prolong matters. Good luck