Charter's Anonymous

[LittleSilver]

I thought I'd start a thread for all of us who worship at the shrine of Toni Weschler, spend whole seconds analysing cervical mucus, slip over in the shower checking cervical position and spend two minutes every morning flicking their heads from side to side in a valiant attempt to stop a baby pulling the thermometer out of their mouths. Ladies, this thread is for all of us, may it see many many BFPs!

Hi,

Temp has dropped slightly today, not massively but a drop nevertheless. To be honest I think I am all over the place. I stopped the pill in October and waited 5 months before I got my period. After blood tests I was told it is very likely that I have PCOS. My next cycle was 39days and I am now on day 29 of this cycle so who knows. This is the first month I have temped properly and although I don't have much to go on I think it is all over the place so I am not holding out much hope that I have ovulated. I want to see what the pattern is like next month and then it is back to the docs for me!
Good luck to everyone else, I think it is a long road ahead for me!

Hi ladies. I'm a bit concerned about my charting.

I am waking up about two hours before my temp-taking time every morning because I need to go to the loo! This morning I woke up at 5am and lay there until 7 trying not to move - but BURSTING - until I could take my temp during the usual time period.

Thing is I don't always wake up early ... its just been the last week or so ... and I don't want to set my alarm for 5 and break my sleep pattern every night going forwards.

So what do I do to keep the chart on track and reasonably accurate??

(I stopped drinking juice etc early last night, went to bed thirsty, and STILL needed to get up ..... aaaaarghh!!!!!)

LittleRedRobin, I struggled with my temperature taking at the beginning, too. Things were up and down due to a combination of DD waking at odd hours, and my miniscule bladder .

I now set my alarm for 5:30 am, take my temp and then go back to sleep. If I wake any time from 4ish onwards, I just take my temp then and turn off the alarm. I often get up either for DD or the loo, any time from midnight and depending on the time either go back to sleep and wait for the alarm (up to 4ish), or take my temp there and then (4ish onwards).

I find that my temperature varies enough for me to be able to see my ovulation regardless of small variations in waking time. HTH.

Oh, and I always expect to see a slightly lower temperature if I have taken it earlier.

I agree with BV. I often wake up at about 5.30 or 6 needing a wee and have the dilemma of - temp now or try to get back to sleep.

What I do is this. If there is at least 3 hours before my usual 7.30 temp taking time then i do the wee and go back to bed and temp at the usual time (I read somewhere that you need to have been in bed for at least 3 hrs to get a decent reading).

If there isn't 3 hours left (for example if it were 6am) I would quickly take temp and then do the wee. I would then write on the chart that I took it early and expect to see a slight dip. As BV said - it still gives me a good enought chart to see when i have ov'd.

Hope that helps

Danilou22 I have a feeling that I've heard charting/OPKs etc aren't very helpful if you have PCOS. I think you can get false +'s on the OPKs due to your hormone levels being different. Obviously charting gives you an idea of cycle length and shape, so has some value, but it may be harder to read and not very textbook.

There is a poster called AttilatheMeerkat who is very knowledgable about PCOS and the like, so I'd recommend starting a thread about it in the hope she'll see it and give you some advice.

What did your doc recommend when they said you were likely to have PCOS?

Hi,

I have spoken to Attila before in another thread. Have not bothered with OPKs but as you said I would like to chart just to see if there is some sort of a pattern that emerges and then I am going to go back to the docs (who told me to lose weight and get fit and see how it goes.

After going up at what looked like ovulation on my chart on day 20 of my cycle my temps continued to rise to 36.20 until yesterday when it dropped to 36.05 but this morning we have hit a new record as it have gone right up to 36.35!!! I don't understand it at the moment but am hoping that I will notice a pattern next month!

Danilou22, I may be wrong, but I think Toni Weschler has a chapter on charting with PCOS. Might be worth checking out.

What evidence did the GP give for a PCOS diagnosis? Presumably your FSH, LH levels?

Yes,
I think he said my LH levels were double my something else levels which is apparently a sure sign. Both my sister and my aunt have it so was not suprised. I suppose I am lucky in some ways as apart from being a little overweight I don't have any other symptoms.
Will just have to wait and see and then go back to the docs. I will look at Toni Weschler though thanks.

Danilou, have you looked at the Verity website?

Had a brief look but am being a bit tight as it costs money to join!

Gosh, does it? Sorry, didn'tknow! there is a very good back about pcos, umm, hang on

PCOS and Your Fertility (Harris, C.)

Thanks maybe I will have a look at it in a month or so. I am trying really hard not to get too hung up on it all and relax (easier said than done)

Temps still rising now 12dpo!

Sounds hopeful Danilou. Fingers crossed for you.

I appear to be ovulating sooner and sooner, this month it was yesterday on CD14 (last month 16, one before 19), so I'm glad we started SWI-ing early!

Off on holiday now for a week so best of luck to you all, will catch up next week! Hoping that those of you in the waiting zone have some good news this week.

Bye for now!

Hi guys. Nothing to report here. i'm on day 21 and my cycle can be anything from 21 - 24 days. I know that i ov'd on day 14 this month which is later than previously (last couple of months it's been 11/12). so I would hope for at least a 24 day cycle this month otherwise looking at a short LP.

silver Still hoping your good feeling was right. Not much in the way of symptoms to report. boobs feel a bit odd but they have fooled me before.

Temp high again this morning but it is such a glorious day and I'm still not sure that the weather temp doesn't influence your BBT temp. Can't seem to find out.

Will report back with good or bad news is next few days.

Good luck to all. Keep charting .

Hang in there hippie. spilt are you taking any supplements to facilitate that? Luck to all x

Ho hum. CD10 and ewcm, some of it, frankly, impressive enough to make Toni Weschler fish around for her camera. Only weird thing is that I normally ov CD19, not this early. CP high, medium and OPEN (wtf?). Frankly, ladies, I don't know what to think, but as am in doubt, will SWI tonight.

Just thought I'd update, because there is really no-one else I can share this with!

Good luck LS!! xx

Good luck silver . I agree it does seem early for you, but EWCM is EWCM and cannot be ignored.

I've made it to day 23 with no spotting so far and my boobs still feel odd.

Am hopeful but realistic .

Will let you know.

Enjoy yuor sh*g silver

silver I'm no expert but I charted five days of EWCM this past month (more on this later ) and I think you usually get more EWCM leading up to ovulation and it may even lessen around ov. So it may mean you'll ovulate around day 14/15....maybe....? I would still SWI if I were you though, to give the swimmers a chance to get where they need to. I guess this is where cervical position and temps come in to help correlate.

hippychick I am baffled by BBT. In my experience it isn't affected by the weather but I don't know why. This morning I took my temp at 7.15 and it was 36.7C (and I'd had a restless night). I got up and went to the loo and came back to bed. Took my temp again about 15mins later, and it had dropped to 36.44C. I thought it was supposed to go up if you moved around, not down?? I logged the lower temp - which means AF is on her way.

Can I ask about CM please I check mine by rummaging near my cervix. How many others do that and do you think its accurate? I had spotting last night - on the cervix, not my knickers. Would you record that as spotting on your charts? Under normal circumstances (if I wasn't rumaging) I wouldn't even know I was spotting, so not sure what to make of it.

Well, hippie, that is great news about no spotting at least. Great that your boobs are sore too (in the nicest possible way!) Got a test date yet? (and your "EWCM is EWCM and cannot be ignored" comment is possibly going to make my screensaver at work!)

shaggy, good point about ewcm. I do check mine internally, largely because the quantity of mine seems to have decreased woefully since DD3. Also I think it's better for checking consistency. As for charting spotting, hmmmm. Honestly? Would probably chart it as best poss case scenario iyswim? If around 8dpo, would chart as spotting (because I'd be hoping for implantation bleeding natch). If just before AF, no wouldn't chart

shaggy, my temps do that too. I tend disregard anything that wasn't taken the moment I woke up. Out of curiosity have temped last thing at night and they've always been low then shrugsGallically*

They have Wifi here! V. happy

Silver no I'm not taking any supplements to change my cycle (just the standard folic acid), but I've only had 3 cycles post pill so I assume they are still regulating. Also having a stressful time of it at work which may well have been messing things around. First cycle was 29 days, ov CD19, second was 26 days, ov CD16, this one ov CD14, hoping for hmmm... a 270 ish day cycle .

Did your temps do anything this morning, or is it all still looking like ovulation is imminent?

hippy glad to hear AF hasn't caught up with you. Is it about 9 DPO now for you? Do you have a test day in mind?

Hi guys. Have decided to test at the week-end if SHE hasn't turned up by then. Will let you know.

Love to all. Can't stop and type much more cos I'm at work and goodness knows who is reading this over my shoulder (furtive look).

Oooh, Hippy, fingers crossed for you .

I am pleased to announce that I have ovulated. Hurrah! CD15 this month, same as last cycle. Hopefully this is due to the 2000 mg EPO I have been taking, and the days of CD20 and CD10 ovulation from the previous 2 cycles, are well in the past!

What's EPO?