charting confusion

katiecuddles · October 2014

Hey girls,

I'm really hoping that someone can help me figure this out? My husband and I just officially started ttc, I just started charting as well and I'm so confused!!

A little background. I've been off bc since June. My first period off bc was 9/7. I'm 99% sure I ovulated before that because of ovulation pain, breast tenderness, etc two weeks before. My periods before bc were 28-29 days, and it seemed like things were heading in that direction. After that first period we went on our honeymoon (9/15-9/26). I wasn't charting temps or anything, just checking CM, CP and looking for other general symptoms. Anyway, I wasn't 100% sure I ovulated there because nothing really seemed to line up and I didn't have the symptoms I did the month before. The day after we got back I decided to start charting temps, even though I was mid cycle.

9/28: 97.2

9/29: 97.4

9/30: 96.9

10/1: 96.6

10/2: 97.4

10/3: 97.1

10/4: 97.3

10/5: 96.9

10/6: 97.2

Fairly big range with my initial temps, and a big drop in there, so I thought, I was right, didn't ovulate.

Then 10/6 I started having PMS symptoms. That day I had typical cramps, except I usually a run/exercise eases them but that day it made them much worse and my back was killing me.

The next day was where things continued getting weirder. Kept having cramps and my temps dropped big time.

10/7: 96.3

10/8: 96.5

10/9: 96.6

10/10: 96.5

10/11: 96.3

I'm still having period like cramps, breast tenderness and I've been extremely emotional. I can't say any of that is different from my typical period symptoms, but it's weird for them to last this long. Plus, my temps have been down for 5 days.

Now I kinda think I did ovulate, based on the higher temps earlier. I know I can't tell exactly when I ovulated because I wasn't temping the whole cycle, but I can see a pattern regardless. I was thinking maybe I ovulated late because of the traveling and our 6 hour time change. Maybe I ovulated just after we got back and I started charting so now I'm only 14 days out and due today for af.

Okay, so this is my confusion...even if I ovulated late and af is due today why the week of symptoms and why the temp drop five days ago? I mean, okay, maybe I had more symptoms and a longer duration this month but from everything I've read it looks like af should start within a couple days of temp drop at most, right? My temp has been down 5 days!

I'm so tempted to take a hpt, but I know with the temp drop I can't possibly be pregnant. Has anyone had anything like this happen or does anyone have any insight into why? Does an early temp drop despite not having spotting mean low progesterone and a short lp??

Please help. I've been goggling, trying to find an answer for hours and I cannot find anything!!!

Apollo11235 · October 2014

It's hard for me to follow what's happening in writing... can you link to your chart?

katiecuddles · October 2014

Hopefully this link works. I have been charting temps at the same time, under same conditions, etc, so I don't think the temps are wrong.

https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=de4ff130e1&view=fimg&th=149009b92f68d79d&attid=0.0&disp=inline&safe=1&attbid=ANGjdJ_5q3qnmVP0hhkuMWpFW-MvGIoEN7WDOecchGQTUX03o9V26hbRxoSntCKcgTnBrjrvzeKUvai1pDIkNMCWTQMrxgSp04xcrMN_sNbE3rTIRsVNUzaW88Krijg&ats=1413054437463&rm=149009b92f68d79d&zw&sz=w1342-h533

carcrashheart · October 2014

Your body can gear up to O, show outward signs, but that doesn't guarantee an egg release. Temping prior to and during O confirms whether you O'd or not. Also, reading temps like that doesn't reallu help. Not for me, at least. I need to see a visual of the temp shift since we are talking about such small number changes. I also prefer actual BBT's, rather than regular thermometers. BBT's take the number out two decimal places, so it is more precise than a thermometer. Again, we are working with such small shifts that it can help.

Did you read TCOYF? Temping is a science. It's not just taking it at the same time in the same environment. It's making sure you are taking it after having a decent night sleep (short sleep can impact), not getting up out of bed and minimal moving around just before taking the temp, etc etc.

Who knows, maybe you are pregnant. We can't tell you if you are or aren't. AF and pregnancy have similar symptoms. Also, your first few cycles off of bc can cause hormonal symptoms while your body readjusts.

Try using fertility friend for charting (if you aren't already.

carcrashheart · October 2014

Oh. Low temp drop doesn't mean any of those things. They don't correlate. And you can't know if you have a short LP since you don't actually know when you O'd. If you aren't pregnat then start temping on day one and it will help you to start seeing patterns. Usually I wouldn't start temping until day 6-7, but that wasn't until i was long familiar with my cycle and could break for a few days. Stop googling and start referring to legitimae resources like TCOYF and fertility friend.

katiecuddles · October 2014

Thanks for the help, but I guess I didn't make my question clear.... How long should the temp be down before af? Because my temp has been down 1 degree for the last five days. Sorry I can't figure out how to out the FF chart in here, I tried. I googled searched my question over and over again. There seems to be no answer. Just for kicks took a test and got bfn, so unless it's a false negative, I'm not pregnant and still waiting for af.

carcrashheart · October 2014

No false negatives, only too early to register or legit negatives. False positives can happen. There's no science to when AF arrives after a temp drop. Who knows, maybe you're just O'ing now. I tried to follow your temps but once I realized they didn't start until 9/28, which is cd22. Starting to temp then is completely useless if you're trying to determine O. Like, incredibly useless. Unless you know you have long cycles and don't O until well after cd22, there's nothing those temps can tell you about O. Can't confirm, can't deny. Maybe you O'd on 9/30, since you also had a temp drop then. No idea. That would put you at 12dpo today, which would likely show a positive test by now. I would suggest you are O'ing now, but that many days of low temps makes it probably not the case.

Since there's really only partial info and it is your first cycle off of bc, I'm going to guess that your body is wonky and adjusting to being off of bc and is giving you a longer cycle. That isn't abnormal. If AF doesn't show in one week, test again. Continue waiting for 60 days before calling your dr. I doubt it will take that long for something to happen (af or BFP). Temp isn't usually down for this long, but it can and has happened. If you're not quite temping correctly, that could be part of the problem with the temps. If you are, then it's just what it is. I'm really guessing that you're still adjusting to being off of bc. A good portion of women can take three cycles before their body re adjusts to no bc.

If you're going to google all over the place (not exactly reliable), keep the searching to within fertility friend. The thing about searching in FF is that you can usually find at least a few charts that will give you the answer that you want to see.

Good luck!

charting confusion

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