Feb Bus Pt 3

[Juno231]

@MimiArm
@paintfairy
@MrsTwentyEight

Figured I'm not ready to let you ladies go ☺️

@paintfairy hang on - you had a cd2/3 test done though? She probably got a bit confused lol.

@Juno231 well I've had both so surely she's looking at both? God knows in all honestly because they aren't the brightest. But I'll go fetch the form. And see what the dr says on Tuesday. I was even worried they didn't take the blood right so I wouldn't be surprised. However even if they got muddled- if both show progesterone then one should be higher? I'll see if I can get my results when I talk to her.

@paintfairy some places run progesterone as part of the day 3 test (eg if you look at lucyrp's results in the Nov bus) and based on how dumb everyone seems to be in the GP practices around you I wouldn't put it past her to have looked at it wrong! If so then def complain cause that's quite a big faux pas on their end.

@Juno231 🤣 have to laugh.
Went to collect form. Its a question form for hospital referral. Doesn't say on it what I'm to do once I fill it in? Honestly.

Asked if I can see results. I have to fill in a gdpr form and go back with ID. Then it takes up to 28 days but she said usually it's a day or 2. So I might as well wait to speak to Dr tues and see if she'll tell me?

When you had blood done- what do they test on what day? Do they test progesterone on both of them or just the day 21? Because she definitely mentioned progesterone on my day 2 one which is why I queried if she was doing the right one? I suppose none of it matters though if I get a referral. Maybe someone somewhere will bloody know what they are doing when I get there! 🙄

@Juno231 🤣 OK. Well I'll see. Eventually.

@paintfairy I went to check my NHS app for you but as I registered with a new GP today... all my info is gone lol and I think I have to go through the whole shabang again of getting access to my online records.

Anyway, I'm 80% sure I didn't have progesterone looked at on day 3, just a bunch of other stuff. But I've definitely seen others that had it included - and that's not just lucy!

@Juno231 ffs. Well I hope you have better luck than me accessing anything. 🤣

I'll probably know if I had both in front of me. But when I last went I did query they were doing the right one then. And I'm still not sure they did! So anything could happen. Let's just hope they refer me to someone that does know what they are doing.

@paintfairy ha well at least this gp has a referral request process online so I just put one in for a fertility clinic 👏

@Juno231 has the gp said you can then? Makes sense though, go to people that know what they are doing? It's painful otherwise.

@paintfairy Gosh. How bizarre. I know my CD3 tests deffo didn't check progesterone levels - that was only the day21 one. Though, really not to alarm, I had positive OPKs every single month but I wasn't ovulating. The OPKs certainly pick up the body trying to ovulate - but that's all. The only way to know for sure is pregnancy (so my consultant said).

@MimiArm although paintfairy has been temping as well so less likely to be false positives for ovulation.

@paintfairy yeah my gp said all along that my OH's SA was the last thing to check and then it was referral time. Glad I started all this back in July as by the time I get to a fertility clinic I reckon it'll have been 7-8 months of waiting.

@MimiArm yeah I know opks can be wrong. I thought temping shouldn't be though? I have read it can be unreliable with pcos but otherwise it should be ok? And as far as I know - no one has mentioned pcos to me so I'm assuming I don't have that? Doesn't it show on scans?

@Juno231 its hard isn't it? Like they say don't rush to go to the dr but then when you do it takes ages so realistically it means you've been trying 2 years before anything happens at all! And if you aren't ovulating or there's whatever other issue then you've wasted a year? I also wasted a lot of money on condoms apparently. 🤣

CD11 for me. I did an opk earlier- blank. Didn't do any before though. Just did it to see if there was a sign this month! Usually ovulate (Or not as it may be) day 12 but the way things fell, could be 13. I'll see if there's anything tomorrow. Maybe my body has given up?! Ran out of steam. 🤣 Kaput.....

@paintfairy exactly - in the end I figured I've got nothing to lose and I'd be kicking myself if I'd insisted on plodding along only to realise down the line that something was wrong.

Fingers crossed your OPK comes to life tomorrow. I should hopefully have my third high temp confirming ovulation tomorrow.

@paintfairy I don't know much about temping. Scans can potentially show, but only if a pre ovulation scan was also done as the post scan would show collapsed follicle whereas pre scan would show follicle.

I just know the OPKs only show that you get the surge that you get before you ovulate - doesn't mean everyone will ovulate though. On that basis, the term "positive OPK" is grossly misleading IMO (which is usually rubbish!)

@MimiArm when I had the scans there was a follicle on the 2nd one, I'm sure he said. What that actually means i don't know though. He was kind of muttering and talking to himself really. 🤣 The dr never actually came back to me with anything.
I guess time will tell once we get to the fertility clinic.

@Juno231 i'm not sure i would go to full ivf. But I'm hoping they can do something for me. Obviously you don't want to do nothing and realise there could be a really simple fix and you didn't try! Its just a shame age isn't on my side. Chart definitely looks like it should go up again. So looking good.

@MimiArm shouldnt be any false positives with bbt really, that's why it's recommended to be used alongside OPKs to confirm ovulation has actually happened.

@paintfairy I'd be quite keen on IUI at least and take it to ivf if that doesn't work. I'm 32 so feel I can still push this for fair amount of years before I feel it's too late.

Guys temping isn't recommended by clinicians though right ? I believe it hasn't got enough evidence clinically so wouldn't use it as a 100% thing anyway. Same with OPKS I guess. Such a shame how we don't know anything about this whole process for sure

I'm reading some research articles that say "It has been predicted in some studies to be only approximately 22% accurate in detecting ovulation"

So I would side with @MimiArm on this and say they're not fool proof @Juno231 🙁

@MrsTwentyEight temping doesn't mimic progesterone levels so it's not reliable in that sense. But you should have a clear temperature shift after ovulation. I had one funny month (march) where I had a long cycle and I thought I ovulated late or not at all. And my temp (although slightly higher than pre O) didn't rise much and was a bit all over.
High temp doesn't = high progesterone and a small shift doesn't = low progesterone. But the shift should be showing something is happening generally.

@MrsTwentyEight idk, as always it depends on what you Google - the sources I've seen say 88% accuracy. Considering you get entire contraceptive methods based around it (natural cycles) which have even been approved by the fda I'd feel quite safe using it. Imo if the NHS aren't recommending it it's probably because they know how dumb users are and how the temps are reliant on us charting at the same time each day, without being ill, sleep deprived or drunk - aka there's a lot of room for error if you don't know how to use it properly.

@Juno231 Ahh that makes me feel uneasy as my background is healthcare. I wouldn't say it's what I googled but due to the nature of my profession, I am skeptical about any method without actual evidence...not that I'm saying I did a meta analysis or literature search on this actual method but I would think it would be suggested as an actual option if it was a method with enough evidence, ie. enough clinical trials found that it worked x amount of time ?

This has turned into a bit of a debate without any of us intending it to. I do completely appreciate it works for people however :) I wish anonymity wasn't an issue or I could elaborate why evidence based methods are a big deal for me - ah darn internet!

@paintfairy I know when I was having scans a few months ago, I had follicles but they were big enough to burst and release an egg. It was only at my last scan where the follicle was 17 mm the consultant was able to, as much as he could, advise that ovulation was about to happen soon. Those months before, I had 12 my follicles half way through cycle and they said no ovulation. Hope that's not your case though!

The FDA approved thalidomide ...let's be kinder to our stricter regulations on this side of the pond

@MrsTwentyEight many people use it and the charts kind of tell their own story? I suppose the only way of truly knowing is if someone was temping who was on the pill, had past menopause, didn't ovulate, etc to see if they got that same shift? But I'm guessing they wouldn't?

@MimiArm I'm not sure they were really looking at that at the time. So probably didn't pay too much attention. Although I was there for unexplained bleeding between periods so you would hope they might?
I have to say that I have little faith really. But I'm hoping once we get to the next stage it'll be better! Something is definitely wrong somewhere so it needs looking at regardless.

@Juno231 I think I'd feel a bit happier if I was your age. I'm nearly 38. So much less time!

@MrsTwentyEight haha okay but on this side of the pond the swedes have approved it too, I just figured the fda would be better known 🤷‍♀️