BBT charting advice needed!

[RubyB]

I would really like some advice. Since coming off the pill at the end of June 2016, I have had very long, sporadic and unpredictable cycles (38, 47, 47, 96, 49, 69). We have been TTC since the end of October with no luck – presumably due to the fact I have only had 3 periods since then. I am currently on day 10 of my latest cycle (since the 69 day one). I have had blood tests for various things which all came back normal but there is clearly something not quite right. We have now been referred to the fertility clinic and I am hoping to be prescribed clomid but in the meantime thought I would start BBT charting to get a clearer idea of what is going on. I have used OPK’s but find them very frustrating as I have had a number of positives only to be followed up with no pregnancy and/or no period that would confirm ovulation. I’ve only ever once got a clear positive opk which was followed up 14 days later with a period. I’m kind of done with the false hope they create!

My question is regarding the taking of my temperature. I try and take it at around the same time every day (6.30am when my alarm goes for work) but have noticed that I naturally wake up at 5am briefly every morning but immediately go back to sleep. I also sometimes wake at around 6am and then doze until 6.30. Should I continue taking my temperature at 6.30am for consistency or should I be taking it when my body naturally wakes at 5am? Will the 5am wake up followed by the occasional half hour doze session be altering my temps and affecting the chart pattern?

 

[kabuk1]

If you wake regularly at 5am, I'd say take it then if you're awake enough. They say it works best after at least 4 hours of good sleep. The article below says this and that if you wake in the middle of the night to go for a wee, that you should take your temp before getting up and that you can still take it again when you completely wake.

https://www.kindara.com/blog/how-to-get-an-accurate-basal-body-temperature-reading

Hope this helps. Best of luck.

 

[Sunflower1]

I take it at all times and still get a clear pattern. I would take it when you first wake up.

 

[KatD]

If you wake regularly at 5am, I'd say take it then if you're awake enough. They say it works best after at least 4 hours of good sleep. The article below says this and that if you wake in the middle of the night to go for a wee, that you should take your temp before getting up and that you can still take it again when you completely wake.

https://www.kindara.com/blog/how-to-get-an-accurate-basal-body-temperature-reading

Hope this helps. Best of luck.

BBT should be taken with at least 4hrs of sleep, as said above. Although, there are some women who can walk through snow and take their BBT without it being disrupted, it usually depends on your sensitivity to disturbances like lack of sleep, alcohol consumption, illness etc. Eg. I wake up during the night at about quarter to 3 every morning and go to the loo, then at 4:30 I take my temp and it hasn't had any effect whatsoever on my BBT pattern. My advice would be the same as above, take it at 5am when you naturally wake up and then go back to sleep

Long cycles that vary like yours is usually anovulatory cycles. The positive OPKs can be at various stages in the cycle and indicates that the body is building up Estrogen but never reaches the threshold where an egg is released. This could be due to various reasons, I think it's a good thing that you are going to see the fertility clinic because they can help you to get your cycle to a normal length by testing your Estrogen levels. It's frustrating but unfortunately not uncommon for such cycles. The body will eventually regulate itself if it's only Estrogen levels but it might take a while...keeping my FX for you let us know how it all goes