Post Pill TTC Party

[TheDaydreamBelievers]

Come one, come all ! A thread for those TTC after coming off hormonal contraceptive pills.

Discussions typically include:

• Baffling temp charts
• Absent or oddly timed EWCM
• Whacky cycle lengths
• AF gone AWOL (current high score is 141 days post pill)

With pic :)

@MintGreenLife My peak is only a few hours too: I go from low OPK, med hard closed cervix to peak OPK High soft open cervix in a few hours and it doesn't last long. I was really chuffed I caught it last time as I was on one of my camping trips and I managed to jump on my DH at what I thought was the most optimum moment

@MintGreenLife I don’t test throughout my cycle i started testing at CD9 and that reading was 0.1 and then stayed around 0.1-0.2 until CD16 when it started going up! Then back down to 0 this afternoon, pretty sure I ovulate in the very early hours of the morning as I woke up with a sharp pain in my left side...This is my first cycle monitoring ovulation using OPKS so not sure how accurate they are.

Thanks for sharing @Flowerkm wish my peak was as easy to detect! It's so lovely and clear :)

@Kay00 that's interesting. So do you find your cervix only goes soft and high over ovulation? I assumed it was meant to be soft and high during your entire FW, so 5ish days. That may be why I've only ever noticed mine go really high and softer once then. I thought while it was medium and closed sperm couldn't really get in, but then sperm can live inside for up to 5 days, so figured it must be open and soft for around 5 days before ovulation. Hmm. If I'm wrong though that makes me feel better about the fact that I've only felt mine high once!

@Sarahp2308 ah, my levels must be too high then. Although I test when my pee is very undiluted as I get up to pee first thing and then hold on until 11ish without drinking much. Could be why my levels are always that bit higher, but then maybe I do need to look into why LH can be higher and if that causes any issues. That's great you felt ovulation, I've never felt it myself.

@MintGreenLife when I ovulated (CD17) it went from med firm in the morning to high and soft by the afternoon, I was really surprised to catch it! It was firm by the next morning. We DTD when it was soft and high, but I didn't get pregnant, so not sure how important that is, i'll try again this month if I can

Last month was only my first month using OPKs. I had 3 days of high readings, followed by 3 days of peak readings, then 1 high then back to low. There was no missing that! Took my body a long time to finally ovulate :(

@MintGreenLife my cervic was similar to @Kay00 soft and high yesterday but I’d say medium today! I’m not too sure what it all means as I’m fairly new to it all, I would say this is the first cycle post pill I’ve actually ovulated, I had the EWCM, peak OPK, sex drive was crazy through the roof and then the pain in on side in the early hours so I’m guessing the signs are there, i also keep and eye on my RHR and that also went up yesterday so we will see.

It’s all such a bloody mystery! I’m not sure what levels LH should hover around may be worth looking into.

@Kay00 @Sarahp2308 ahh well that makes me feel better about the cervix thing. God you think you know what you're doing and even after reading 3 TTC books and checking absolutely everything for 5 months you realise you've been getting it wrong!

I'll do another OPK later and keep checking my cervix then - at least I won't be getting frustrated thinking I'm not even in my FW because of a medium cervix!

Just had an interesting conversation with my mum who said her cycles always used to be about 6 weeks long.

Do you think long cycles could run in the family? Mine have been around 35-42days since coming off the pill.

@Elsie2021 when you say a long time do you mean late in your cycle? That's great though in terms of it being so clear :) I've not had that happen yet in 5 months! But I think sometimes I've given up and stopped testing too early x

I thought the cervix only went high and soft for ovulation itself but now I'm doubting myself after hearing your theories!

@MintGreenLife I thought a consistently higher than average LH could be a sign of PCOS? Was that not something you've mentioned earlier as a thing you're worried about having?

@Juno231 well if that's the case that does make me feel much better, but then I question how sperm can get in up to 5 days before when its firm and closed?

Maybe you're right, I thought it was more getting lots of 'high' results and peaks but then not ovulating, rather than always having slightly elevated LH. Yeah it is and it isn't. I mean PCOS would be an explanation for my cycles being rubbish, and that's what I'm having a scan for, but then I don't have the typical symptoms. I've only just started getting acne post pill, and I've never had acne before, not even as a teenager. Plus I don't have facial hair growth and my BMI is 21, so normal weight and not something I've struggled with etc. I have read cases of PCOS though with none of the typical symptoms, so I guess PCOS could be a possibility :(

I've made a thread to see if someone that uses the Premom OPKs thinks they look normal or not compared to theirs 😕 Googling elevated LH was a bad idea - doesn't make for good reading!

@MintGreenLife even if you did have PCOS, there's every chance you'd fall pregnant relatively easily, possibly with a bit of help from clomid or letrozole! I am normal weight, no acne and not hairy at all but I think it's a possible, given my antral follicle count of 35 on my internal ultrasound. I think it should be more like 8... hopefully your scan will shed some light, but try not to panic yourself. I've had my bloods today and I should get the results next friday. X

Try not to worry too much about PCOS @MintGreenLife (easier said than done, i know) I know lots of people who have successfully conceived with PCOS!

Thanks @lawandgin ☺️ I'm sure it's fine and just an effect of coming off the pill. A book I read 'the period repair manual' looks into post-pill PCOS, which is meant to be temporary.

@Sarahp2308 thank you ☺️ It wasn't actually PCOS that seemed to come up when googling elevated LH. It's mostly about menopause and putitury gland disorders.

I have just done another OPK this evening and it's a faint line now. Does make me wonder if mine generally look darker as I do it in the morning when I'm dehydrated on a 3ish hour hold with hardly drinking anything, maybe that's not the best way of getting an accurate result!

@MintGreenLife oh! Dr Google is a bd, I think you may need to be abit more pushy with your GP and either put your mind at rest or start to tackle any issues that may be there, if any! I am abit of google-er and end up worrying myself silly!

@lawandgin I've got my blood test on Wednesday so shouldn't get my results too far behind you. Fingers crossed it all comes back OK for us 🤞🏼

@Sarahp2308 I've fallen down the Google rabbit hole many a time 😂 It is pretty annoying that they are doing bloods on a random day as I don't know how much use that will be, but I suppose it's a start. Will be interested to find out what they are actually testing. I guess I'll just go ahead with these initial tests and then have to go from there in terms of whether to push for more tests x

@MintGreenLife they look like you're getting to your peak hopefully 🤞🤞 I'm yet to get any sort of peak on opks. I think I gave up again after cd28 because I had ewcm and pains and my cervix felt the softest it had. I was frantically reading about people getting pregnant without ever seeing peak opks and after that I kind of gave up.
Fairly certain I'm out this month, I would have loved to have had 6 week cycles when I was a teenager!

@MrsBtobe2020 I think it's really easy to miss your peak, so I wouldn't worry about it ☺️ I wouldn't be surprised if I don't see my peak now as I've had readings that high in the past and nothing, but we shall see what tomorrow brings x

Hmm, I've been looking at other screenshots of Premom OPK results and mine look pretty normal actually, so feel better now ☺️

Finally getting my LH surge. So happy 🤣🤣🤣

Seems like my body likes to just do a quick surge rather then a slow increase. I will test again later. With how dark the line is would you say I will ovulate later today or tomorrow?

@Trying4one looks pretty dark to me but I don’t use those OPKs to know. I’d DTD today and tomorrow if you can!

@MintGreenLife am I right in thinking you did use the femometer OPKs for a while? What were your lines like on them? I use those ones.