Confused

[GetDownYouWillFall]

Can someone help me understand my crazy body?

Am new to this bit of MN, so please bear with me

Have been BBT charting since January. Only now in a place where we can start TTC (complicated).

My cycles have been ridiculously long, sometimes over 40 days, although the chart always shows a temp increase 14 days before AF, so am reasonably reassured I am ovulating.

Last cycle was very different - temp increase on day 13 then AF arrived on day 27. This is unheard of for me.

So this is the cycle we want to TTC. Am now on CD 16. Have been having crampy pains since sunday. There was some stretchy mucus (sorry ) but it was creamy not clear.

Now I am still having crampy pains but am dry as a bone .

Temp chart showed a slight increase today but was only 36.67 and I had a bit of a disturbed night so maybe due to that. Normally temp is 36.7 at least after OV.

I don't understand what's going on it's so confusing

[Prinpo]

Hello, can't shed much light on it for you, I'm afraid. It sounds like you do ovulate 14 days before each period (temp increase on day 13, AF on day 27), just that your cycles are irregular.

Have you tried agnus castus? It's meant to be very good at regulating cycles and promoting ovulation. I'm on my second month of using it and the way I'm doing it is to start taking it on day 1 of cycle and use it for the first week and a half, ie making sure I stop before ovulation so that there's no chance I'll be taking it if I'm pregnant (not suitable for use in pregnancy).

I know that if your cycles are irregular it might be harder to predict when you ovulate but there might still be benefits in taking it for a couple of weeks at the start of each cycle. Alternatively, someone suggested taking a few months off ttc and taking it constantly to get the full benefits. However, if you're anything like me the thought of taking a few months off ttc is just not a go-er!

Oh, and it is all very, very and and . No need to , though - we've all described our cervical mucus here .

[GetDownYouWillFall]

thanks for replying prinpo I was beginning to think nobody loved me

I did try Agnus Castus when I was trying to conceive first time round, to try and regulate my cycle, I fell pregnant within a month of using it! Don't know if it helped or if it was just coincidence.

Perhaps I should try it again.

Thanks for your thoughts x

[AttilaTheMeerkat]

Getdown

You can have a rise in temp in the second half of the cycle when an egg has not been shed so charting is not infallible. It is also of no real benefit if cycles are consistently irregular because the chart is very difficult to interpret with accuracy.

Cycles of consistently over 35 days may well be anovulatory; I would seriously consider now having blood tests done to see what your hormone levels are like. Blood tests can be done to see if there are polycystic ovaries (a common problem affecting ovulation) or a problem with the thyroid gland.

Self medicating with AC is not advised as it can make any underlying hormonal problem worse. If you do decide to use this I would seek out a properly qualified medical herbalist beforehand.

[GetDownYouWillFall]

thanks AttilaTheMeerkat I've often wondered that thing about seeing the temp increase but not having ovulated, wondering if this could be true for me?

However, I conceived DD on a ridiculously long cycle - ovulation was on day 32, so it is at least theoretically possible.

However, the fact last cycle was just 27 days in total, gives me hope that I am not annovulatory, not all the time anyway.

It's so confusing. If I got the EWCM, the crampy feeling AND the temp increase, could I still not be ovulating?