Charters please help! LH surge but no BBT rise- did I ovulate?

[Bluebell1403]

Hi all,

I'm new to all of this- Mumsnet, TTC and charting, and am finding it all a bit baffling and frustrating. Any theories on what's going on would be greatly appreciated!

Just for background, I'm 26. Came off the pill last month, had a 40 day cycle and used some Boots OPKs, but a bit half-heartedly, and never pin-pointed ovulation. Decided to step things up a gear this month. Bought some Clearblue dual hormone OPKs and some Conceive Plus (it probably sounds like I'm going overboard considering it's only our second cycle TTC, but I'm convinced we're going to struggle, on the basis of a weird feeling, no actual evidence...).

So I started testing on CD6, just in case, as I had no idea how long my cycles were going to be (I had an eating disorder as a teenager so have never really had periods other than the artificial bleeds induced by the pill). I had low fertility on CDs 6-10, then high fertility (flashing smiley face) on CDs 11&12 and peak (static smiley face) on CDs 13&14. DTD on days 11, 13 and 14. Tried last night (day 15) but DH couldn't get there, we're not really enjoying this daily sex malarkey and had been doing it really often in the previous week just in case, won't make that mistake again (sorry, TMI).

Anyway, I expected to see a BBT rise but I don't think I have- everything I've read says it will be half a degree or more, and sustained. My temps have been as follows (can't work out how to share my FF chart)

CD7: 97.7
CD8: 97.6
CD9: 97.6
CD10: 97.5
CD11: 97.9
CD12: 97.7
CD13: 97.9
CD14: 98.1
CD15: 97.9
CD16: 97.9

I'm thinking maybe I geared up to ovulate but didn't. But why would that have happened? I had a bit of an upset stomach on my peak fertility days- could that have had an impact? I'm so afraid something's wrong, and I'm not one for feelings of foreboding so it's making me really anxious! Even without a BFP this month just knowing that I'd ovulated and that that side of things was working as normal would have been comforting.

Any input would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks so much,

Bella

[willitbe]

Try to just aim for every other day dtd, but try to keep it as fun and not functional as possible. Dh's have a tendancy not to do well under pressure!

You did not ovulate with the last surge, but this may be normal for you, and you may have another surge in a few days and ovulate with that one, or you might have a cycle without ovulating, that is still considered normal too. It is only after a couple of clearly not ovulating cycles that you should start to think about ovulation being an issue or not.

I personally find opk's very misleading. I have temped for years and that lets me know when I have ov'd. I work in celsius though so not sure about if your numbers are fluctuating too much or not.

Try to take the pressure off yourself and your dh, if you can. If you are going to have issues, then you need to be able to cope with the stress long-term, and starting so soon will not help you. Try to remember normal time for conception at your age is 6-9 months of trying, and it is not unusual for it to take a year (hence why doctors will not investigate before a year).

Keep sex as fun as possible, many women find it useful for partners not to know when you are ovulating, as they often have performance issues with this. Aim for 2 or 3 times a week if possible throughout your cycle, but less if it is stressing out your dh, or more if you both feel like it! Aim at keeping your relationship good, rather than just ttc right now.

Coming off the pill will affect your cycle, and you will need to be patient and have 3 or 4 more cycles of temping before you get a clear picture of what is happening, and if your cycles are settling into a pattern, or if you are not ovulating. (don't rely on opk's to say if you are ovulating or not, they can not tell you either way). HTH

[Bluebell1403]

Thanks so much for your reply! I really appreciate it, and will try to stop stressing! I'm just confused though! My body doesn't seem to be doing anything to conform to any of the textbook stuff and I want to understand what's going on. I've had a huge dip in temperature today- to 96.8, and a high fertility smiley on the OPKs. Seems like my body's gearing up to try to ov again, but can you throw any light on the massive dip? I know that some women experience a dip on the day of ovulation, but I've had low fertility OPKs since my second peak day on Sunday so I can't see how I can have ovulated today- surely the LH surge would have been too early for ovulation to have been recent. Sorry to take advantage of your kindness but could I get your opinion on the latest?

Also, do you know if a GP would do anything before a year if you're not ovulating? I know this is a bit premature, I'm just wondering!

Thanks again!!

[MrsPCR]

Can't offer any advice as just as new as you Bluebell; however also been unwell for second month mid-cycle and the nurse said that will make no difference to chances of conceiving as body will carry on as normal. Unfortunately my temperatures have been ruined by said illness so this month's chart is a mess!

Thank you willitbe for your advice though, particularly with regards to OPKs which somehow I never knew existed until 4 months ago!

[loopylou1984]

As said before a positive opk does not mean you have ovd, just that your body tried to. It's completely normal not to start OVing right away after coming off the pill so please don't worry yet.
I find my rise in temp usually happens 2/3 days after a positive opk because remember you don't ov on the day of the positive, rather it's 24 hours aprox later. Look out for a temp rise tomorrow. I too work in Celsius so not sure how much of a dip that was?
I seriously recommend the fertility friend app as it works everything out for you.

As for gp, mine did the basic blood tests at 10 months of trying, but they can't refer you till at least 1 year depending on your area (6 months if over 35). Also they HATE charting and opks so don't try to sway them with that! Xx

[willitbe]

I would say look up fertilityfriend.com (not the uk site), it has fantastic wealth of information. It is free to use (you can pay for membership for the message boards).

OPK's never worked for me as I ovulated fairly soon after getting the positive opk. Normally I would get a temp rise the day after, but frequently I got the temp rise the same day as the positive opk, obviously just the way my body metabolises the LH into the urine.

[Bluebell1403]

Hi all,

Thanks so much for your responses! I thought I'd get a notification or something so missed them- need to get more savvy about all this!

On the subject of which, I am using Fertility Friend but can't work out how to share my chart- can anyone enlighten me please?

I'd love to be able to share my chart as I'm still so confused! I clearly didn't ovulate when I thought I was going to as I got another positive OPK 8 days later, but still no thermal shift...i don't think, definitely not a very clear one as no crosshairs yet. This is so so frustrating!!

Thanks again!

[Bluebell1403]

I think I might have worked it out, though maybe not!



My Ovulation Chart