Anyone had success after stopping using OPKs!?

[newtolineofduty]

Hi everyone! I'm still relatively early in my TTC journey (second baby) but am already feeling very miserable with it! I just hate everything about it! I was thinking of stopping with the clear blue digital ovulation monitor this month and I wondered has anyone found that they conceived after they stopped monitoring!? If so why do you think that was? I was reading an article that said they can actually make you miss your fertile window so was curious as to people's experiences! Thanks everyone xxx

Hi! Yes, I conceived the first month after I stopped with the fertility app / OPKs.

For me, the cause of infertility is known so we were not really expecting a quick journey. I had heard that monitoring ovulation etc can cause people to become a bit too obsessive about ttc and increased stress is not conducive to making a baby. I don’t know whether that was the case for me or not. I never felt too obsessed or upset about how long it was taking but then I’m aware sometimes these things can be very deeply ingrained so I may not have even noticed if I was being affected in that way.

The idea that tracking might cause you to miss your fertile window is interesting. Not so sure that’s quite the case for us as we did try (certainly in the last 4/5 months or so) to have sex every 2 days rather than relying on the app/ tests to guide us.

Not sure if any of that helps you really but you can ask questions if you have any.

Good luck

Thank you @ViaRia! I definitely find tracking means that I'm very 'focused' on it which feels unhelpful. The article I read explained that often OPKs pick up your LH surge too 'late', and you can therefore miss your fertile window, especially if you ovulate very soon after the surge! X

I stopped because I had a miscarriage the month previous, I wasn't ready to try again. I had been trying for well over a year .

I now have a baby from the month of not trying/using opks .

Hmm, yes I think that would make sense. I used OPKs in combo with a BBT monitoring app. As I understood it, the app (once it got to know your cycle) could predict when you’re about to ovulate then the OPK would confirm when it happens. So that perhaps might help prevent missing out on good fertile days.

But… the drawback I think would be that it increases the amount of time you spend analysing it all thinking about ttc. so if you already feel that you might be overthinking this then maybe more tracking is not what you need.

Yes @ViaRia I think so. I'm also having to hide all this from DP so he doesn't feel any pressure!

Wow @whoknew23 what do you put that down to? Did you feel more relaxed? X

Definitely not more relaxed,I was still pretty heart broken from the previous month.

To be honest it was just a quicky before work 🙈

It might have been not thinking of it I have no idea, it was such a shock. Not a whiff of a positive to have a loss and then be pregnant the next month.

I did have 2 weeks off work so maybe that relaxed me.

I'm glad you got your rainbow baby @whoknew23 ❤️

I stopped tracking/SMEP/using OPKs during my November/December cycle last year and I’m now 35 weeks pregnant so worked for me!

We just had sex when we felt like it (including twice in one day which I’m pretty sure is the day I ovulated 🙈) only other thing we did different that month was start using conceive plus, although didn’t use the applicators or anything, just used it as you would a normal lube.

Hope you get a bfp soon 🙂

Like a PP, I used OPK religiously for 8m or so, had a miscarriage, couldn't bare to get that obsessed then disappointed with it, conceived DD 3m after the miscarriage. Happy healthy 13m old now!

I won't be testing when we start trying again

Yep, I conceived on month 13; after using OPK’s every month previously I decided to have a break. Although by then I was very aware when I was ovulating anyway! I’m not going to say I “relaxed” and that’s why it worked - it’s the most frustrating thing to hear for a TTCer

Very interesting about the lube @Lemongrass9! Did you try that because you didn't produce much mucus? I might try it as I only get one day of EWCM! x

@newtolineofduty I hardly produced any ewcm so started evening primrose oil capsules and they helped loads from what I remember

I was reading about that earlier @Nat4392 thank you! X

@newtolineofduty yes, I never really even got enough ewcm to even notice it which is why we tried the conceive plus.

Agree with PP that I wouldn’t have said I was relaxed even though I wasn’t doing any tracking, however I do think my partner was more relaxed - not sure if that made any difference.

Thanks so much everyone-youve all given me a much needed boost! Xxx

It’s not about me, but my friend who couldn’t conceive for about 7 years, then decided to adopt and after the adoption conceived within a year. It looks like this shows that her brain relaxed from constant thinking about baby making and it happened. Sometimes we might think we are not stressed or don’t worry but our body knows us better and reacts when we are stressed. It’s the whole mystery that relaxation but I do hear a lot that this works.

Thanks @GingerFox2021 it deffo feels there must be some truth in it-like when people conceive just as they book IVF treatment etc! X