The Elderberry Pavlovas who will graduate (thread 12)

[CharmingCats]

Roll up, roll up for the best discussions of ewcm, opk, ic and double dying you'll ever have. Probably.

The smallprint - Berries have a strict entrance criteria (TTC #1, over 30, TTC for 3+months, NO instadiffers, must have a special pot) and def no mention of baby dust or baby dancing UGH !!! Ooh we are strict...please note your house may be at risk if you do not keep up repayments lol

merk well I've now had 8 days of high on the cbfm, previously only had 4 then 2 days of peak, so the clomid seems to be doing something, just not enough. Not even a faint line on opks yet, usually I can see a faint line before I get a +. If the clomid is not going to bring forward Ov then that's just shit all over my yellow brick road disappointing as it won't affect my LP so won't make any difference to chances of upduffment. Bollocks
Bunny I'm now on the RoR. Please warn the cleaner to disturb me at her peril.

Ok, then I am confused. I thought your AF due date was O + average LP therefore if your Lp is on average 10 days then if you O on day 14 your AF will be day 25 and if you O on day 7 your AF would be day 18 etc etc
So even if clomid brought your O forward surely your LP would change? I thought Clomid was to induce O and i didn't think it had any effect on LP???
Either way I am certain the only reason you haven't O'd yet is because you are going to release lots of perfect eggs resulting in quadruplets or something

Also, I don't think your CBFM will work properly on Clomid for 2 reasons. 1 because Clomid is similar to Estrogen (which may trick your CBFM) and secondly because Clomid increases Estrogen production (which a CBFM stick measures) so you are bound to keep getting high as the Clomid is working. I think (not having used one) that the CBFM gives a high reading based on Estogen and a Peak based on LH. Therefore expect high all the time post clomid until your LH surge (and not sure if it will give peak due to being confused!!) Your OPK's only measure LH and therefore they will show your true surge

End of Prof Merk's lecture

I was told by the fc clinic (on both visits) that clomid would regulate my cycles, ie Ov nearer cd14 and AF around c28. Another of my potential problems is irregular cycles and the clinic said that clomid would regulate them. So that's why I was hopelessly optimistic about it. I don't think it's going to have any effect on my LP if I'm still going to Ov late in my cycle though. But then if the date of ov isn't going to change then I can't see how the rest of the cycle will change.
I need to forget about it now ha ha. Flying out tomorrow and will be leaving everything behind otherwise I'll obsess and spoil the holiday.

Barking I would give them the raised eyebrow. They seem to be suggesting (gently) that it will lengthen your LP as you will O earlier and still get AF on the same day. I smell bullshit. As far as I understand Clomid will stabilise your O day (as your will O X days after stopping taking it) but it will have NO effect on your LP.
Hence I get fucked off with them handing out Clomid as a delaying tactic magic solution to people who are already O-ing but likely have other issues ie LP. Grr.
However like i said you are going to have so many big fat eggs this cycle that you're bound to get a sticky one that can grow fast fact
Enjoy your hol. How long are you away for?

I know Clomid is a delaying tactic/jump through a hoop when you already O, the consultant said it probably wouldn't help me but then he said an 8 day LP isn't a problem. My concern is that clomid doesn't seem to have made me O within the number of days that it should. There were people on those threads that you linked to who were ovulating cd20+ but some people don't take the clomid until later in the cycle so it could still be within 10 days of their last tablet.
I'm going to stop thinking about it now, nothing I can do about it, just slightly miffed really pissed off that it didn't have the desired effect. We have to take it for 6 cycles before we can be referred on to the assisted conception unit and wait for ivf so just taking it is one step closer to 'doing something'.

Away for 4 weeks .

Don't give up yet barking. Your body prob just needs chance to figure out what all these new hormones are doing! Sure you will come home with a holiday BFP (ps are you taking tests with you? Nothing worse than being late and not having a test while away. And remember taking a test with you won't change the outcome )

I may have 3 cheapo sticks in my bag, just in case..... .

good lass!

barking that sounds very annoying and stressful, but it may just be something you have to tick off at the clinic? Hope you do manage to unwind on your hols.
Welcome back sid ! Done that laundry yet? I'm working my way through mine now. Why is it that if you leave it for a day, there's mountains? There's only two of us!
Still in pjs, but am being productive, honest. Will have to go out in a bit, but until then am enjoying the decadence of the first proper day of the holiday.
bunny had a sneaky peak at your food diary and was so glad to see that it looks very similar to mine. Was worried that you'd be very virtuous with kale shakes etc, and I'd look like a right oaf with my beans on toast and dairy milk!

Professor merk do you think it's worth me using my cbfm again? I have the dreaded pcos, but cycles are regulating with metformin. Could be that my estrogen levels are more normal....

Charming catch me up. You are on Metformin for PCOS? Have you had Clomid already? Were you ovulating beforehand? Why was your CBFM not working? My vague understanding is that Metformin can effect estrogen, but not to the levels that Clomid would. Your best bet is cheapy OPK's as these won't be affected by either. However your CBFM would be able to tell you if your estrogen was high (ie by lots of 'high' days in a row) which would at least indicate the Metformin was working

Aha! Yes, I'm just on metformin at the moment, but clomid is the next step. I don't temp, but think I ov as I get ewcm and have had positive cheapie OPKs, then af 12-14 days later But, I know that this is not a guarantee of ov, only suggestive. I used the cbfm when I was still having the crazy long cycles, so it wasn't appropriate. I just got lots of highs, which would indicate high estrogen? I thought that now my cycles are getting shorter and within the normal range, I might give the monitor a go, but I don't have any sticks and am loathe to go and buy some if the stash of cheapie OPKs would serve me better. Not sure if it makes any difference, but I have pco rather than pcos...am not fat or hairy, basically. Just quite spotty and with mad cycles and many follicles.
Think I'll stick to the OPKs this cycle and if it's a nice short one again, I'll try the monitor next time.
How are you feeling, yourself merk ? Hoping the heat isn't too bad for you. Didn't want to say that as there's a thread about annoying pg questions and that's one of them, apparently. I ask it all the time!

Stick to the OPK's - i've yet to see anyone with a really good reason to use expensive CBFM sticks over v cheap ebay specials! I would say use 3 or 4 a day for the 3 days before you expect to O, and keep using 3 times a day until they are totally negative. Then you know how long your surge is. Did they explain why they gave you that over Clomid? nosy question - i'm just interested in how Metformin is more suited to your specific situation
I'm fine, not far along enough for the heat to be any problem. Panicking on an hourly basis about symptoms / lack of symptoms (depending on which hour of the day). Have booked an early scan on Thursday eve my first ever dildocam and am now panicking that there will be nothing there or that i have 2 cervixes or something Am mostly worried about being in Thailand for 2 weeks if anything does go wrong so trying to reassure myself before i get on a plane to an island with no hospitals!

The only reason is convenience charming. It's poas first thing in the morning and no thinking vs pimping with opks up to 4 times a day and knowing when to start. If you're happy pimping then the opks are probably more accurate, they also don't have to 'learn' your cycle and potentially not show you peak for a couple of cycles when you are actually ovulating. I've been using both (and temping) this cycle so I could obsess work out exactly what the clomid was doing ha ha look how that worked out for me

Someone wiser than me one said that if you have got to the stage in TTCing where you are considering spending out on a CBFM then you know your cycle well enough to not use one.

I'd agree with that pipbin! I'd already been temping for 6 months when I tried the cbfm and it didn't really tell me anything I didn't know. I wouldn't have bothered with it again if it hadn't been my assumption that the clomid would drastically change my cycle....

I got down to once a poas with fmu on opk's after 2 cycles once i had learnt how long my surge was. However saying that i've also had cycles where my surge was much shorter/longer so wonder if i should have kept it up rather than assuming it was the same each cycle?

Ps it's been playing on my mind that somebody mentioned on fb that they always take dtd more seriously after the first +ive opk. I'm not sure this is a good idea based on the fact that unless using them multiple times a day the first +ive opk could theoretically be post ovulation. (Im stretching it here just to give an example)
Eg negative opk mon morn, pos opk tue morn. You can ovulate as early as 12 hours after LH surge, so imagine LH surge was at lunchtime Monday, you could ovulate midnight Monday, leaving only until midnight Tuesday while the egg was still viable. If you don't focus on dtd until after the positive OPK (Tue morn) and have sex Tue eve you are tight on getting sperm to hit the egg while it is still viable. Especially if the studies that suggest sperm need time to 'charge up' post ejaculation and before fertilisation are correct.

Aaah but pip, that was probably said by someone who had cycles that had some sort of sense, I suspect Charming is in the same boat as me in that cycles can do pretty much anything at any time. My shortest cycle was 10 days, my longest was 104 Mind you, CBFM still useless!

Incidentally charming, you probably still have PCOS. PCO is having cysts on your ovaries which don't cause problems. PCOS is a syndrome which has symptoms including anovulation and infertility, long cycles/missing periods, raised testosterone and the aforementioned cysts. Excess hair and raised body fat are also symptoms but you don't have to have them to have PCOS. However I realise I'm probably teaching my grandmother to suck eggs now so I'll shut up.

Barking counting on you for an exotic holiday BFP!

Merk ooh hope you don't have two cervixes, how would MiniMerk choose which to come out of?? Glad you're ok and keeping everything crossed for a successful scan not jealous at all that you avoided dildocam until now When is Thailand?

Charming, bunny, can I elbow into the MFP action? Am so far off track on the food front that it's ridiculous. Yesterday I had two chocolate croissants for breakfast, fish and chips for lunch (mushy peas = vegetables), ice cream for pudding, and then more ice cream for dinner! UUURFF and today I feel sick. I need someone to monitor me 24/7 the fact that Mr Boom is a personal trainer doesn't seem to help

Oooh and forgot to say Bunny looking forward to the parTAY tonight! I've brought a badly painted banner and some fun-size sausage rolls. Oh, and a WHAM CD to get the party started..

I did the clinical trials for CBFM about a year ago, and had my own one on the go at the same time. When I was signing up for the trial Boom they did say that the CBFM only works if your cycles are 42 days or less.

I found that it worked for me, but I realised that I was using a IC OPK to double check it so what was the point.
That said I do have a 28 day cycle and ov on day 14 like no one else in the world does. I could get up the stick easily if my tubes weren't fooked.

Boom chips are vegetables too!! Fly a week on Sunday to Thailand

Whassup?!?

barking hope the cleaner hoovered round you on the RoR! How you feeling Hun?

cats yep I'm not a virtuous healthy berry lol are we friends on MFP now?
boom come join the fun lol, kitty is on there too! Just think we can judge each other on what we eat

boom nearly parTAY time

URRRGH DISASTER

Just took the dogs for a walk, saw the big evil clouds building up so turned round to go home...when a big mean German Shepherd decided to savage Boomdog II, chased him across the field and I lost sight of him, then couldn't find him. Just started looking for him when the heavens opened, so got utterly drenched in a white vest top (classy) while shouting for him. Then Mr Boom phoned to ask why Boomdog II was outside the house, poor thing got so scared he'd run all the way home across several roads. He's now lying next to me absolutely stressed out of his mind, Boomdog and I are soaked through and German Shepherd owner didn't so much as stop to apologise!

Anyway. Enough drama. Is it party time yet?

Pip wow, a 28 day regular cycle? It's like the Moby Dick of ttc!

Merk hooray for chips being vegetables! And ice cream is full of calcium! Where are you going in Thailand? (If you've already said all this and I've missed it, just direct me upthread..!)