Ovulation Corner

[EvelineUK]

Ask away, whether it's OPK's, LH, Temping (BBT), Surges, lines, DPO's, ask away, I have worked for the big boys of fertility and some of the smaller ones....

@EvelineUK it is strange.. but on other threads a lot of women have said that when pregnant ovulation tests comes back positive too.. does that make sense? I dont get why I'd still be ovulating now if I'm not pregnant.. so weird!

@Hewiw30

Unless you're on Clomid I would be suspicious of undiagnosed POCS, but those tests also tend to be oversensitive, so I would rather see results from a premium test personally..

@Naibear89
What specifically do you need to know?

@HarperJess
It's not unheard of for some LH antibodies to crossreact with HCG, but not the ones I've worked with.

I would love some advice! Breastfed till May, didn’t get my period back, was on the pill for 2 weeks before doing a stimulated cycle trying to donate eggs to a family member.

They told me that two weeks after the egg collection I should have a heavy period. I don’t though - it was three days and not that heavy.

I wanted to ttc right away so tried opks and tracking cm. I did have 2 days of EWCM but never got anything on the opks. Which is not surprising as I only got a couple of faint lines in months of trying before I got pregnant with DC1 - I think I drink too much and my urine us too diluted?

However this period when it came wasn’t proper, 4 days of light spotting from day 28. I’ve always had irregular periods, I tracked for a year and they varied from 22 to 41 days with an average of 31 days.

Do you think I’m actually ovulating or could ovulation still be suppressed from breastfeeding? Or is this leftover hormone weirdness from the stimulated cycle?

I’d temp to be sure but wake a few times in the early morning to a baby crying so don’t think I can.

Any help appreciated!

@pjani
Wow, that's a lot going on right there.... where to start..

Breastfeeding shouldn't affect your ovulation in any way as far as I know.
The stimulated cycle is guaranteed to throw you out of whack for a month or two, added to your irregular cycles this is going to make ovulation prediction by anything other than an app led OPK difficult. What you are looking for now is cycle length, testing with OPK on maybe your second urine of the day, try not to drink too much before testing, but enough that you can go ;)
I think you will need to be patient for a cycle or two and as soon as you get a raised LH level DTD. It's all a bit mechanical, but without a regular cycle with clear ovulation you will struggle to get into a routine.

Hope this helps?

@Evelineuk I had a progesterone blood test 7 days before my period to see if I am ovulating and it came back as 35 nmol/L. Is this a good result?

I'm not sure if this will have been asked before.
When taking an ovulation test (ic one step) it says a positive can show after one min but may take 10 mins and says results may be invalid after 30 mins. Does this mean they MAY be invalid or they ARE invalid? I know you cant read a pg test out with time limit, just wondered if they are the same. My tests have been going - practically nothing at 1 min, very faint line at 10 mins but the last 2 have gotten really dark when left an hour or so xx

@Naibear89
Glad I checked the units, because at first that seemed really high.. but that's around 12ng/ml which is a good healthy level of progesterone. Normal range is 1-20 depending on time of ovulation. Unless your consultant has concernes on your leutial phase I would say progesterone is not your issue.

@MrsSkr
In simple terms the stuff used to darken the line takes around 5 mins yo 'stick' to the line if you have LH present.
After 10 mins any line you see will get darker as this solution dries over the place where the line should be.
If you can't see a clear line inside 10mins, throw the test away and test the next day.

It's all gone a bit quiet, surely I haven't answered everything? :)

Great thread! I have a couple of questions, if I may...

1. Is it true we are more fertile after miscarriage? If so, why? I had a stillbirth at 40 weeks early this year and then a v early miscarriage the cycle before last. I’ve read that we are more fertile after MC and hoping that’s true but interested to know why that would be.

1. What are our chances of conceiving each month? Obviously it varies from person to person but it seems to vary a lot depending on the source. I’m mid-thirties but got pregnant within about four months both times. Trying for a third and hoping it will be third time lucky for us.

1. What days are we most fertile - is it two days before ov?

1. Also (you may have answered this further up) if I get a flashing smiley on CB with FMU would you assume ov was the following day?

1. Does stress and sleep really impact conception?

1. What are the benefits of higher does folic acid.

TIA

@ReeRi
Well, you got me having to do some research here, so thank you....

1. From what I can see this is more anecdotal than science, what does seem to be true is that after MC the body is more 'ready' for the implantation process and so chances of implantation may well increase in the first six months.

1. This does vary from person to person, what we do know is that with good diet and conception habits such as ovulation testing/ BBT testing you can double your chances of getting pregnant.

1. The SMEP technique says to BD at CD10, 12, 14 and then on Peak day and the day after if possible. Once you get to know your cycle and ovulation Day, I would go with day before, day of and day after to be on the safe side.

1. Depends which CB kit you are using, but most tell you not to use FMU, but yes if you have a flashy smiley, that is the day to start.

1. Does stress and sleep really impact conception? This is an interesting one, I was only talking about this last night. What we do know is that stress causes and increase in adrenalin release, which in turn supercharges your immune system (ready for attack) this can then cause all foreign objects such as partner sperm and then fertilised eggs to be labelled as attacking agents. So in short, yes stress doesn't help

1. What are the benefits of higher dose folic acid. 5mg daily is the recommended level unless you have absorption issues such as Crohn's/ Collitis, I would stick to the recommended dosage to be on the safe side.

Thanks for your questions...

Thanks so much for your quick and thorough response @Eveline The GP recently prescribed me higher does FA (I had actually gone to see her about something else) in view of my stillbirth and MC, although I don’t think the two are at all related. She said the body gets rid of extra FA so no harm in taking it 😬

But then I’m taking pregnacare conception which has FA in it too - is that ok? I assumed it would be since she said you can’t have too much...

Sorry, more questions there!

@EvelineUK

Do u think using a menstral cup after sex helps ?

@ReeRi
I honestly don't know about the dangers of taking too much FA, but be sure to tell your GP how much you're actually taking...

@jesse70
I wouldn't have thought it's a good idea more likely to kill off the sperm than hold it in place? I'll have a search to see if it's been tried...

@EvelineUK I was wondering if you could help, I got a positive OPK on an IC, confirmed with my last CB digital (the standard 2 day one). Later on my new CB Advanced OPK's arrived in the post and I tested to see if it would show high or peak, but to my surprise it was negative.. is there any reason I'd get a positive on an IC & CB but negative on the CB Advanced? Thanks

@lunamoon1
When you say 'positive' what do you mean precisely, also do you mean later on the same day or later in the week?

@EvelineUK the CB had a smiley face but the CB advanced had a blank circle. The same day, a few hours apart, I'm thinking I maybe didn't have a long enough hold for the second test

@lunamoon1 I’m no expert but I understood the CB advanced may work on a sort of baseline so you wouldn’t usually get a positive the first day as that’s almost a benchmark reading. So if that was your first day using it, may explain why that one was negative.

Hi there @EvelineUK, you are so kind answering all these questions. I am currently 8dpo and got this on an ovulation test this morning. Is this normal? I got a solid smiley on cb digital, a negative on cheapie the day after ie no second line at all and then this today.

Forgot to say, Af due on Tuesday.

Why are you doing ovulation tests if you think you ovulated a week ago @Loula82?

@ReeRi good question haha. I'm obsessed about my cycle. This is the first month I've used opks and it fascinates me. I think I got a very faint positive on a cheap pregnancy test yesterday although I really had to squint. Only had opks in the house this morning.