Confirmed ovulation but no fertile CM (PCO)

[Olegia]

Hi ladies,
I've come off the pill early July, and finally had my first period at the end of September.
I had done LH test and confirmed a positive about 15 days before my period), I had also gone to the gyneco who did an internal ultrasound and could confirm both the remnant of a dominant follicle, and endometrial thickness (pretty much confirming from my LH test that I had done a week before, that I had ovulated)

However what is weird is that I do not recall having much cervical mucus at the time. When you read around one of the first things about lack of fertile CM means anovulation, but in this case that's not true, I did have an ovulation.

Right around now, I'm approaching my peak (my OPKs are almost fully positive), and yet again, I don't produce much CM. Would this make it a lot harder for me to get pregnant?

Thanks,

It might help to say that I have polycystic ovaries (but not PCOS). The gyneco confirmed polycystic ovaries, but still with a dominance follicle

Im no expert but it may be that you and your partner will need to use pre-seed for extra lubrication x

The job of Cervical mucus is to help sperm swim, so using pre-seed lube will help aid that I think

Thanks both ! That makes sense, though wouldn't that also be the role of my normally occurring lubrication when having sex? (which I don't have too little of, sorry TMI)

Hey, I've conceived twice this year mid 30s and dont seem to get EWCM anymore, I can't remember the last time I noticed it, and I've been TTC since January this year. I remember having it in my 20s didn't pay any attention to it really. But just wanted to say you can still conceive. Staying pregnant seems to be my problem! But that's nothing to do with my CM.

Thanks! I hope it doesn't affect chance of conception too much, because other than that everything's there (which is a blessing considering my PCOS, though gaining a bit of weight has helped my cycle becoming more regular, that's right, gaining weight, not losing haha, I'm currently on BMI 19,5, I try to eat as much as I can but also don't want to force myself too much)

Hello hello. I got pregnant with my son first cycle without any EWCM. Also in my 30s. I'm hopefully ovulating soon (+OPK today) and also don't have any EWCM at the moment...
But yeah it can play a role obviously in helping those sperm swim, but not having EWCM doesn't mean you won't get pregnant. Best of luck!

Great, that's a relief, thanks for sharing this!

I never had any EWCM that I particularly noticed but must have been fertile as I'm 37w pregnant now 😂

It took us 7 cycles to conceive after coming off the pill if that helps x

Hi there, yes you must have been haha, congrats!
Did you track your ovulation at all to help?

I'm always wondering when people say it took us X amount of time, whether that be with timed intercourse or just freely having sex without timing it

Same for the stats, like 85% of women who stopped using contraception became pregnant during the first year.

Yes I used BBT and ovulation sticks to track ovulation and timed intercourse around ovulation. Although the month we conceived was the one month I decided to give myself a break and stopped tracking so much as it was stressing me out!

Some months I don't get much EWCM but notice a kind of watery CM instead and this is fertile CM too!

I bought pre-seed to help (it's not just lube, it's lube that mimics EWCM) but didn't get round to using it as I got my BFP first!

We conceived on our second month and I was tracking ovulation and temping. I also started taking conceive plus ovulation support that month.

Thanks so much for all your responses ladies! This is very reassuring and made me feel heaps better :-)
@NalaNana indeed, I rather get watery CM too, and also I noticed that if I'm sitting still a lot, I don't produce a lot of it, as soon as I get moving, for example for a jog, then the floodgates open haha

Maybe it's just that my body doesn't produce a lot of it, my OPK came back strongly positive (stronger than I've ever seen it tbh!), and the Clearblue Advanced Digital Ovulation test (which I believe tracks oestrogen as well), came back as 'Peak fertility' (fyi even though I have PCO - not PCOS- I don't have the issue of constantly high LH levels, so my OPKs are reliable to determine ovulation)

I don't know whether that changes anything but I'm 26

@Olegia I've never used it, but you could try some sperm-friendly lube if you're worried.

What's the difference between PCO and PCOS? Out of interest.

PCO is just the ovaries having a multi-cystic appearance, whether PCOS is a metabolic disorders which also encompasses the whole suite of symptoms (hirsutism, acne, high BMI). :)

So I definitely found my peak at 7am this morning. This makes me think that I probably 'surged' during the night, or yesterday night (as the urinary detection of the LH surge may be seen 3-6 hours after the rise in blood LH levels), which would mean I'm ovulating right about now.
We had sex this afternoon, and yesterday afternoon too, would that be good enough to 'catch' that egg?

Here's my line progression (the drop after the surge seems very sudden!)

@Olegia yep I'd say that's perfect timing for DTD. For what it's worth, DP and I only had sex the day before ovulation when DS was conceived, as I was away the day of ovulation.

I found an interesting article on Cervical Mucus:

www.avawomen.com/avaworld/vaginal-discharge/

I also read that whilst EWCM helps the sperm to travel and keep it nourished as it waits for the egg to descend, having little or no CM also could indicate a lack of oestrogen, which could impair fertility more broadly.

However, I did the Clearblue Ovulation test, which I know tracks both LH AND Oestrogen, but I haven't been able to find anything on what it tracks in oestrogen and how it tracks it. If I had a static smiley face surely it means by oestrogen was good enough right?

Sorry for all these questions but I'm desperate for answers!

Hello,

Sorry just saw this. I really wouldn't worry. Also- I guess take anything that's written by a company that wants to sell you something with a pinch of salt. They know what anxious women will be googling so put out some content to get you onto their site ...but ultimately it's to sell to you, not to give you really well researched information.

I would assume that if you have a oestrogen surge and an LH surge picked up by clearblue that part of your cycle is functioning correctly. However the only way to know for sure is getting blood tests or a scan, I guess 🤷

I get how you feel. Usually my breasts hurt after ovulation, but not this time. I'm also still getting CM - which is making me think I didn't ovulate. But it doesn't necessarily indicate an overall fertility problem if I didn't... it just means I didn't ovulate this time. No CM doesn't mean you're not fertile. It just means no CM.

@Billyv No this article was quite interesting in that it was saying the following:

''How do you know if you make enough cervical mucus?
Some women worry that if they don’t often see cervical mucus in their underwear and need to check internally, it means they don’t make enough cervical mucus. However, the amount of cervical mucus you observe is not a good way to judge whether you are producing enough to get pregnant.

The cervical mucus that really matters for conception is what is present inside the cervix. And the amount of mucus you observe in your underwear or when you check internally is not necessarily a good indicator of what is happening inside your cervix. Seeing a lot of cervical mucus in your underwear can make it easier to track your cervical mucus pattern, but it doesn’t mean you are more fertile than someone who needs to check her mucus internally.''

I'm almost 100% sure I ovulated, because last month I also had a similar LH surge, and went to the gyneco (for another reason) a week later, and she was able to confirm thickness of endometrium as well as rest of dominant follicle :-)

I've done way more research than I thought I'd ever do on this forum on women and their EWCM and there's several account of people that were able to successfully have a baby with little to no EWCM, so I'm staying positive!

3 DPO, I don't really feel any different at all, just this morning I had a few random 'twinges' in what I assume is the cervix/uterus, but could be anything really

Ohhh sorry I just skim read it! Ah well yep that sounds reasonable.

Definitely good to stay positive! Let us know what happens ☺️

@Olegia Hi there! I just came across this thread as I was wondering about exactly the same thing.

I am also someone with PCO I think, or possibly slim PCOS, (it has never been confirmed). I used to have very irregular periods (a lot better now) and my skin flares up when off the pill, but have a BMI of 19ish.

TTC, second month, but have noticed a lack of CM since starting we've started to try.

Just wondering if you have any updates? :)

Hi @terryclothrobe , well luckily I actually conceived the first time I tried! (2 weeks after I started this thread)
I can tell you I had absolutely none of the Egg White Cervical Mucus (my CM has always varied a lot even within a day), and 2 weeks later the pregnancy test came back positive :-) I'm currently almost 28 weeks pregnant and due July 13th!

I also have slim PCOS (BMI 18.5 actually)

I know for the majority of the population it probably will be a good indicator, but also to let you know that you may want to track using ovulation sticks, rather than CM for your case

Best of luck in your conception journey!

Wahoo congratulations!! That’s great to know. Best of luck with the rest of your pregnancy!