What sort of things can mess with your ovulation?

[BettyPerske]

Just wondering, because I always do, well I think I do going on the NFP signs and so on.

This month I don't know if I did. I'm in a fairly new (and very happy, so far) relationship and obviously my hormones are going bonkers, so can this actually stop you ovulating or make it late, or early perhaps?

I've started using OPK sticks but only started testing on day 12, where the line was fairly dark though not positive, and since then it had just dwindled and got really faint.

Normally I'd ovulate between CD 11 and 14, it's CD14 today. No cm, nothing - just some crampy pains which I usually get around this time (I think).

Could I have missed the surge or did I just not ovulate this time?

I'm 38 so maybe this is my decline in fertility starting, or maybe I'm being punished for having too much hanky panky

but I always have fertile cm. Every single month. Where's it gone?

[eurochick]

Well if you know you sometimes ovulate as early as day 11 and didn't start testing until day 12 and the line faded, I'd say you picked up the tail end of your surge and missed the peak. You can get a positive on an OPK a couple of days before you ovulate, so you should really start testing around day 8-9 to be sure of catching it with your cycles.

BTW, quite a lot of us on here have found that fertile CM seems to have disappeared as we are ttc. It's very annoying.

[BettyPerske]

Really? How weird that it just b*ggers off as soon as we need it!!!

Thanks very much for your thoughts, I kind of assumed the same thing about day 11, though my cycles lately have been more towards 28 days, they used to be about 24-25 when I was still bfing ds2. They've got longer the last few months. So I'm a bit stuck between early and late!

I should have started testing sooner but it didn't occur to me - I will next month I think.
I've put day 11 as positive into my FF chart (dustily resurrected from many years ago) for the time being and I think I may have had a temp shift this morning (only been temping, again, for two days so it's no way reliable) so that would fit.

Just the CM disappearing act has got me baffled. I think it's DP's fault, I don't know what he's done to me!

[PandaWatch]

The first month we ttc I wasn't using ov sticks but made sure we dtd at expected day of ov and several days either side. In the end I had the longest cycle I have ever had which meant (a) we didn't dtd when I would have ov'd and (b) I was six days late so thought I was pg and that the BFNs I was getting would eventually turn into a BFP . I also got quite spotting pretty much from CD7 to AF, which I had never had before.

Things have gone back to normal (touch wood) now but I wonder if the stress and excitement of the first month ttc messed me up a bit or if AF just decided to play a cruel joke on me in my first cycle :(

[BettyPerske]

Oh gosh Panda that's really unfair

See I'm sort of thinking the same...the excitement and stress of it all might be somehow making my hormones act differently, like sometimes you can make your period late by worrying too much, etc etc. (well maybe anyway!)

I just had a slightly darker OPK which has thrown me completely again...if this is going to be a weirdly long cycle then I will be cross!

I hope you have more luck nowthings have settled down x