TTC at 40: In a bit of a pickle trying to track things

[CheekyLittleB]

Sorry for the long post...

I'm 40 and came off POP birth control at the start of January after being on it 18 months, with the intention of starting our TTC journey, in the hope of conceiving our first child.

Before I was on the pill, my periods were a little all over the place - due to stress and weight loss of a long-term relationship breakdown. I've only had one period since coming off it in January. That was in early February.

However, I've been using OPK strips and BBT to get a gauge on how things are looking. Also, I had full bloods done and a transvaginal scan done to check the overall health of my kit, as it were, and that's all fine.

My BBT dropped to sub-35 degrees during 5-7 March and then I logged a LH surge on 8 March. The day after my BBT increased to 36 and has hovered around there ever since. My partner and I baby danced every day between 7-10th.

I've continued testing using my OPK (because I'm still trying to figure my cycle out) and today I got the strongest T/C ratio result I've seen so far of 1.73 since starting the TTC journey. My previous peak was 0.9.

Over the last seven days, I've also had the worst food aversions. Nausea, general lack of appetite and lots of burping, which is very unlike me. Today has been particularly bad for the nausea - to the point I'm struggling to keep focus on writing this because of it. This period also coincides with me adding CoEnzyme Q10 to my supplement mix...

The last couple of days, I've also had some pulling plan and discomfort on my left side, and generally felt a little congested around my lower abdomen.
I'm testing negative for pregnancy (even though I know it's way too early), but it also feels like if I was pregnant it's way too early for some of these symptoms too.

Also, given how all over the place my cycles have been, we're going to baby dance again today, just in case I didn't ovulate earlier in the month and I am today instead.

But has anyone else had anything like this before? Is it just a mass of symptoms that could just be the result of my cycle trying to figure itself out? I just feel so all at sea with this stuff.

Sorry I didn't manage to get my head around your whole post, but this stood out... Your temp dropped to sub-35°? That's insanely low, and technically hypothermia. Do you have a health condition or something which explains this? Because if not I'd be buying a new thermometer!

Nope - nothing that my doctor has come back with, as they recently ran a full thing of blood tests for me to check for hormonal imbalances, etc. I'm using an Easy@Home thermometer from Amazon.

Do you have another thermometer you can stick under your tongue at the same time to compare it with? Even if not a bbt thermometer? You want to have confidence in your thermometer. If your temperature is genuinely regularly under 35° that's very unusual. Did your blood tests include a test for hypothyroidism? Not a medic but this is the most obvious potential cause.

I had another look through the rest of your post and it does sound like you've ovulated. But I would keep up the sex just in case, until you've done BBT for a couple of cycles and you know your pattern. If you have a chart you could post it, and it might make it easier to share opinions on? If it's Fertility Friend I could help. If not, hopefully someone else can. Other apps always look so difficult to see an ovulation pattern on to me!

That's a good shout on the two thermometers. I'll definitely do that. Have attached my chart with the two peaks in.

Okay, I'm not familiar with that app but there is not (yet) a clear ovulation pattern there. Keep going!

The chart shows your temps going down no further than 35.6, but is that just because that's the lowest the chart will record? If so, that tells you that temps lower than 35.6 are not expected in healthy women, and that if you do have these it's potentially a medical issue. Sorry to bang on about it, but if you haven't had a thyroid test you need to consider asking for one. Hypothyroidism can cause issues with conception and maintaining a healthy pregnancy, but if you have a diagnosis there are things they can do to counteract it, so you need to know.

I had my serum thyroid levels tested in November during the batch of blood tests I had done and it came back normal.

Well that's good then. I guess just keep trying for now, and if you get to six months with no luck then get referred pronto. It is definitely worth mentioning the very low temps you're getting to whichever Dr you happen to see next, especially if it's a fertility appointment. You could also try asking on here specifically about the low temperatures. Other people must have experienced this too! (Obviously hoping it's just a dodgy thermometer 🤞)

Also I've just realised that the chart you posted is not the entire cycle, just the last few days. So please ignore what I said about thinking you haven't ovulated! I have no idea if you have, as would need to see the whole cycle.

Sorry, I don't feel very helpful! 😂 Hopefully at least this bumps your post and someone helpful will see it!