I got my P+7 blood work results yesterday. Of course our doctor is on vacation this week, so I have yet to hear his interpretation, but I can't say that I'm thrilled. For my own reference, I decided to compare them to the last couple of months, where he has been happy with the results. If anyone has any wisdom to share, I'm eager to hear it (for reference, this was on 25 mg Clomid and 2,000 IU HCG P+3,5,7 and 9). I was told to do the blood work on P+6 if P+7 is a Saturday and Monday if P+7 is a Sunday. I'm suspecting that there will be messing around with dosages either for next cycle or after surgery. Granted, I was a bit of a stressed out mess this past cycle, but that estradiol level looks low to my untrained eyes.
5/1 5/30 6/30
Estradiol 15.20 21.03 9.52
Progesterone 37.9 23.1 20.8
Actual CD P+7 P+6 P+8
Is this the same thing as a CD21 blood draw? If it is, I would say that your progesterone numbers look strong for a Clomid cycle and definitely suggest ovulation...they liked to see anything over a 13 for me (one cycle I was at a 3, cue meltdown). I can't say that I'm an expert on estradiol, I know I always had it checked but it was never the number we focused on. Anyway, sorry if this was no help at all. I'm sure you know all of this, anyway! But I am praying for good news for you, either way.
ReplyDeleteCD21 labs are aimed at trying to look at your hormones 7 days after ovulation. The problem is that not everyone ovulates on day 14, as we all know. With Creighton, they have scientifically proven that ovulation is REALLY strongly correlated to the sudden dry-up of that eggwhite mucus. Ovulation usually happens either a couple days before or after it. That last day of eggwhite consistency mucus is considered the peak (super-simplifying-here). If you count 7 days after that, you are more likely to be able to compare apples to apples each month. Does that make sense? I might not be explaining well...
DeleteIf I'm the example - I sometimes don't ovulate until like CD26 or CD33 - so labwork done on CD21 would look like I had super low estradiol and super low progesterone every cycle, because we'd never catch my hormones after ovulation!
For a reference point, I often pull a 6-10 on P+7 progesterone - and we are firebombing the daylights out of my ovaries to get those numbers. My doctor wants me to eventually get to over 16. So I would definitely say you are doing really well on progesterone. Not just in comparison either! :)
ReplyDeleteFor estradiol - your May numbers were obviously better. I often pull an 8 or lower. I had the same issue with the clomid/hcg regimen you are on - I had low estradiol. That said - 5/1 numbers are in range for what they look for and 5/30 numbers definitely are. For me, we ended up getting rid of the HCG and switching to post peak estradiol (oral Estrace - 2 mg) and oral compounded progestereone (my dose is being raised above 600 mg at this point because my numbers are still so low). The benefit of this treatment (I'm told) is that it allows the doctor to hone in on treating the individual hormone that is low. Another approach would have been to stay on the HCG and add estradiol support post peak. I didn't do that because clomid/HCG gave me 2 panic attacks and I'd never had those before the drugs were combined.
I do think the P+8 numbers you are looking at this month show the estradiol already being subdued by the progesterone, so they had to be better on P+7. The doctor has a way to calculate what they likely were on P+7.
All of this is to say that it looks like you had a strong ovulation to me. Wanna switch labs??? No??? :)
Sorry to hear your doctor is out of town. So is mine this week. So annoying they don't schedule those vacations with us, isn't it? LOL ;)