Clearblue Fertility Monitor Support Group Buddies Vol 5!!

[boba82]

Ladies from Vol4 - welcome to our new home.

Just butting in to say......she's bloody good is our KC - like an Oracle!

and...... Keziah sorry about your bleeding and BFN hun. Its positive that you are considering TTC yr 3 with gusto. I will be constantly watching and hoping for your news.

Always Lurking
Storm

KC Umm guess I should start temping again then. It's all such a who har first thing in the morning (especially as i'm far from a morning person)!
Mind you, I guess all this "might" be interesting to my GP if I have to go and see him... (body has this month, and next to get itself up the duff, or i'm off to the doc's!) xx

Karbea - how long have you been ttc? I found out lots from using the CBFM and am also too lazy to temp but think it is good. In fact the real reason temping will not work is due to another physical condition I have (Immune problem - no IgA) my temperature runs lower than normal, have frequent infections and my top temperature EVER when I had septacaemia was 38.8 (thankfully Gp knows my temperature being low doesn't mean I have an infection but when in hospital they take it as Gospel as I am ok, grrrr... ) - so can't reliably use temp and have no ECWM.

storm - bless you. Looking into one more cycle of ICSI too, but that takes time to get a review, 7 weeks, get another appointment to see about 2nd cycle and also re-do all those tests (privately this time unless gp is nice, sigh!!) x

Hi Ladies and welcome Karbea just wanted to say hello to all. Cd 16 and got a peak - still gives me a thrill even after all these months! (sigh!)

Keziah - sorry to hear your news. when we had our 2nd IVF (private) we did have to pay for the tests but they seemed to test for a hell of lot more than the NHS 'standard' tests and that was sort of relief as I imagined I had something they hadn't yet found! The 2nd time round I produced more eggs, (7 in total) and they were abetter quality. i wish i could say why that was but I m afraid i can't. My end result ultimately was the same as the first time round but at 10 weeks. Saving desperatly like you for another go and b'ding for all im worth in the meantime!

Much love too all

Tilly xx

Good luck with the SWI tilly

Hello, I got my peak today CD15 but any idea what my chart is doing? www.fertilityfriend.com/home/332dc0 I got a + OPK last night as well (I could feel I was ov'ing), so have I actual ov'd or am I just getting all the hormones and no egg (due to no temp increase)???

Thanks Tilly - encouraging to hear you got more eggs second time round, but sorry about your result. If you have 3 miscarriages - natural or from IVF you can get some NHS tests done (ie no pay!) to see if any reason for this.
My problem is conceiving naturally though!

But - am going to give natural bfp a real go the next few months. Really going to look at my diet, choccie has inspired me there after she made massive changes and got a bfp after 19mths ttc naturally.

Karbea - peak sounds great, shows that you are able to use the CB monitor and it is helping. And you too Tilly - but sorry know nothing about charts.... KC is the expert oracle here I think , so hope she comes along.

KC - how is work going for you?

Keziah What are you going to do diet wise? I'm trying hard, but we eat out a lot i've cut down A LOT on alcohol though.

hi - I will try and find choccie's thread and post in it what she did having seen a dietician. No caffeine in drinks, no alcohol for definite - and low fat dairy is a no no bizarrely!!

Yep I've tried to stop caffeine - but chocolate...

Keziah gad to see you are staying positive. Just remember too that our bfp came in the last month possible before IVF, and we'd been told there was a chance we may have to go for ICSI as well due to my DH's anti-sperm antibodies. We think we were unbelievably lucky, and also think we'd have stood no chance if we hadn't done what we needed to to improve the odds as much as we can.

karbea The gist of the changes are this. Cut out alcohol. I did allow myself the occassional glass of wine (like when AF arrived), but generally switched to zero alcohol beer. This was the hardest change for me because I loved my booze, but once done, you'll wonder why it was ever an issue

Cut out caffiene - I switched to decaf coffee and tea.

If you or your DH smoke, stop straight away.

Eat three meals a day. I previously only ever ate dinner and thought I'd get fat doing this, but my weight didn't change.

Aim for seven - SEVEN - fruit and veg a day. Smoothies can help you get a lot of fruit in one go in the morning. Add a handful of oats to your smoothies, and some yoghurt because protein apparently slows down the absorption of sugar.

Of your fruit and veg, one of them, every day, should be a leafy green veg.

I also recommend you consider cutting down on tuna if you eat it regularly. I had a hair analyses test that showed I had higher levels of mercury than I should have (and so did DH) and the only possible source was occasional tuna steaks and tins of tuna. We were given revolting sea weed capsules to help us shift the mercury from our systems because apparently its slow to leave your body once there.

Your Dh should do all of the above too.

We also went on a vitamin regime - DH and I. I recommend you see a nutritionist who specialises in fertility issues to get your own guide of what you need, but I am happy to post up my list again if you like. We saw a big jump in DH's sperm stats after he started on vitamins.

My DH is still taking all his vits now even though we got a bfp because he wants to keep as healthy as possible in case things go wrong. He stopped drinking when I did, and is still not drinking.

Finally, it takes three months before any of these changes start having an effect.

Very good luck.

chocciedrip where did you find the nutritionist?

I had my 2nd peak day this morning.

Karbea - sounds good to me - peaks at the right time of the cycle!

Am still waiting for my peak - day 15 now, so here's hoping!

I gave up the booze months ago - don't really miss it - don't have time for a hangover anyway!

Hope everyone is enjoying the sunshine! x

Karbea - thankfully Choccie popped on!! Yes, all decaf now (apart from some chocolate!), no alcohol - that is for both of us. Increased vegetables etc etc.

kez I'm pretty sure decaff is bad as they put a lot of chemicals in to remove the caffeine, so check that out.

I've ended up drinking quite a lot this weekend, so feeling a bit guilty if anything did happen this month, but I think after 6 months I now kinda think it won't - do you know what I mean ?

Well onto 2ww for me now, hope af holds off till at least cd 24/5 as my lf can be as short as 9 days which is a whole other problem, thinking about agnus cast us - anyone a user? Xx

Hi Ladies

Keziah Work is going well thanks. I am really enjoying it, although having to make some tough choices. Working for a charity and we're badly in deficit. , but it's a good challenge. Work life balance is good too. It's always hard starting a new job, but feeling so much better about myself.

Karbea Just looked at your chart. Obviously you posted on 7 April - has taken me a while to get on here - but looks like the CBFM and ov predictor kit was spot on. It was warning you you were about to ov. Your temps certainly seem to indicate you do ovulate. But can you see how the temp doesn't really rise until after ovulation and so that's why CBFM is more useful in terms of telling you when to SWI! Keaiah makes a good point though. You aren't looking for exact temps, you're looking for a trend. All our bodies run at different baselines.

Keziah Years ago I used to sell clinical thermometers to hospitals. Used to drive me absolutely crazy that nurses assumed a temp about 37.5 was an infection. We used to provide training sessions and we always taught that it is a sustained temperature above a patient's normal baseline was what they ought to be looking for, not an absolute temp.

I saw the Consultant this week and am pretty shocked. The old timers on here may remember that I saw a nurse consultant early in the year, who thought the fact I'd had peritonitis as a child wasn't relevant. When I said I thought a laparoscopy might be a better option as an HSG doesn't show adhesions she said that it was unlikely that I had adhesions. So I had an HSG done, which was normal so was expecting a diagnoisis of unexplained infertility. Got the shock of my life when the first thing the Consultant said was, I'm not happy about your surgical history. He said the HSG basically confirmed that there were no fibroids and that I didn't have severe endometriosis of hadn't had chlamydia, BUT it doesn't confirm that there isn't scar tissue present stopping the egg getting from the ovary to the fallopian tube. He also said it's possible that scar tissue may be present causing my ovaries to stick to my bowel, meaning they are in the wrong place. As all our blood tests were so normal, and DH has really good sperm count, he suspects I do have peritubal adhesions. So he gave me two options. Laparoscopy to see if I have adhesions, and if I do he will attempt adhesiolysis (sp?) or straight to IVF. DH and I have opted for the laparscopy first as we think it would be useful to get a diagnosis. If I do have adhesions, which can be treated then we may be able to get a natural BFP. This appeals to me as ideally we'd eventually like more than one child. If we go straight to IVF, and thee are adhesions present then should it work, it would mean we'd need IVF for a subsequent pregnancy. In interim period Consultant has me booked in for a transvaginal ultrasound to see whether my ovaries are where they should be. If they are, adhesions are less likely. If they are not then it's a good indicator that there's a problem. He's also not going to enter through my navel, but start on my side as he's worried that my bowel may be stuck to my abdominal wall and he doesn't want to risk perforating it (my head went quite woozy at this point.) He then said he can move the ports around once he's had a look and has established where my bowel is. I think I'll end up looking like a pincushion!

Anyway - sorry for mega long me me me post. Just feel so exasperated that we've been trying for so long now. Although, that said at least I feel we're moving forward now and actually getting somewhere.

Karbea - yes, I should have said I drink redbush or fruit teas now!

KC glad work is going well. Gosh, that is a shock. But it is good that they are looking at why no bfp naturally and have a plan of action. Likewise we were assured by many dr's that a problem my dh had as a child, plus surgery would not be an issue - yet we find out it is and hence need ICSI. Strange you never had a transvaginal scan before HSG - the nhs made us have that and results before we had the HSG. But having the laparoscopy, to me, makes total sense - knowing what may be wrong and knowing also if you will have any further health problems from it sounds eminently sensible. Also if you went for IVF and it didn't work and no frozen ones etc that would be the end of your NHS funding and it seems strange to pay for lots of ivf cycles etc if you could spend some time sorting out getting a natural bfp. As someone who now has to rely on private ivf cycles and aware of the huge costs involved I would do anything and wait any time to sort out problems with natural fertility. So do you have a timeframe for this procedure? Sounds a good dr! I saw junior nhs dr after junior nhs dr, so was never convinced what they were saying was right as they were only on 6mth rotations of training - whereas this dr sounds very helpful!!!

Keziah Surgeon offered me early June, but we've had to delay as got a holiday booked. Surgeon wasn't happy with me travelling so soon after procedure. If they find nothing wrong, then recovery could be as quick as three days, but if they attempt adhesiolysis it could be two weeks of discomfort. I'll be issued with a sick certificate for two weeks, but I can decide to go back to work earlier if I feel ready. So taking that into account, I've opted to delay surgery until early August.

Yeah, the chap we saw is a Consultant and my DH (for the newbies here my DH is a doctor, which is the relevance of his opinion on other drs) thought he was an excellent clinician. He gave me all the options, told me all the risks and respected my views and opinion. I think where I am all patients are Consultant lead at the FC once they reach "treatment stage". Must be a different set-up here.

TV scan only done where I am at Consultant's discretion. Also he wasn't initially going to order one, but as there's a delay until surgery he thought it could be a useful indicator of whether there are adhesions.

Hmm,

Opinions needed ladies!!

CBFM started asking for sticks on day 9, also started using the clinic OPKs at same time - at this time i was getting two lines on ther CBFM and the OPKS, but no peak just highs on CBFM and not quite dark enough ((I think)) on the OPKS. However the lines have faded down to nothing on OPKS, CBFM still just high with the line still strong on the oestrogen side on the CBFM stick and giving high reading still - now day 17.

Last weekend on the day 9-12 I had definite EWCM.

So what, do we think - OV early or looking like not at all??!! Either way no IUI for me this cycle (secretly hoping that I am already a week through the 2WW and a natural BFP on it's way!)

Karbea I would steer well clear of agnust castus in your case as you are clearly ovulating at the right time in the month - it absolutely nothing to help me - I took it for a couple of years with no reduction in PMS or pain or help with ovulation regularity.

Slightly I "think" and we will see in the next week that my lutual phase is borderline too short, I want to add a couple of days onto it. I though Agnus Castus might help with that?

When do you normally ov? It sounds like you wither ov'd early, not yet, or not at all [nohelpatall]

Hi Karbea

I used to ovulate around day 21, but had prolactin issues due to PCOS and since being on cabergoline to reduce it (now down to 256- acceptable level) my ov last cycle was on day 18, so will either get a peak tomorrow, or I did in fact OV way earlier this month - my AF was only 3 1/2 days this month so would seem more likely to get an early OV. Such dilemmas! I guess I will have to sit it out and find out in a couple of weeks. Have been ridiculously tired for past couple of days - so obviously have been spending time looking at every possible symptom and linking it to the earliest pregnancy symptoms!! (It can't have anything to do with hayfever that I suffer from chronically every year!! )

I guess we are both in the 2WW - FX!

karbea forgot to answer the agnus castus bit - it is a pretty powerful herb and is more used for regulating ovulation. I have read a lot about vit B helping with luteal phase. A visit to a homeopathic/herbalist is best as they can give you the right levels at the right time. I have found that reflexology has helped me - I seem to ovulate within 2 days of going.

Apologies if mis-placed but - if I was you, I would go to GP if this month is not successful, 6 months TTC after 35 should be enough for them to run the basic tests on you and DH/P. I know a lot of people slate the GPs but you may find they help.

SBC X

Slightly Yes I will get to the GP as soon as we are back from Honeymoon. It'll be 7 months then, and we will obviously have the wedding out of the way etc.

It should all be soooo much easier should't it!

Hi there :) I have been reading your board and love the support that you show for eachother. I would love to participate in your discussions.

My stats: TTC#2, Cycle 7, UCL 32 days, CD 24

I have been trying to conceive my 2nd child since september 2010. My 1st child was not planned, so I did not have to go through the stress of trying. This is the first cycle since september that I am using the CBFM. I am on CD24 and have been showing "high" since CD21. I understand that the first cycle on CDFM can show no peaks and I am getting anxious.

Is it true that the monitor can miss the LH surge? I am wondering if I already ovulated and it didnt show. On CD 21 and 22 I had what I am pretty sure is the cervical mucus that comes with ovulation. it disappeared after CD22 and I am still testing high. Do you think its possible that I could have ovulated and it wasnt picked up by the machine? I am getting so desperate. My sister and all of my closest friends are expecting and most of them werent even planning on having a child any time soon. I am happy for them, but pitying myself. (envy) I hope you all have a great day :)

Welcome Jayebird. Am far from an expert on cbfm as only on second cycle of using it, but it missed my peak this month but I got a positive opk during the afternoon around time I thought I was ovulating. Apparently the lh surge can be only 12 hours in which case you'd easily miss it on the cbfm. I still find it useful as cbfm shows me when getting close and then use opk to confirm. It is a good machine but it's not perfect!