PCOS and tracking ovulation

[silvers]

Hi Ladies,

I have been ttc to for about 6 months now. I have PCOS and my periods are usually quite irregular (anywhere from 28 days to 78 days in the last year) although my last 4 cycles have all been around 33 days which has been nice.
I have tried used ovulation test strips but they always come up negative and it is getting annoying and disheartening.
Any advice on predicting ovulation would be helpful please!!

 

[IVW]

Hi Ladies,

I have been ttc to for about 6 months now. I have PCOS and my periods are usually quite irregular (anywhere from 28 days to 78 days in the last year) although my last 4 cycles have all been around 33 days which has been nice.
I have tried used ovulation test strips but they always come up negative and it is getting annoying and disheartening.
Any advice on predicting ovulation would be helpful please!!

Hi Silvers,

I have also been ttc for 6 months and i plan to hit poundland for the ovulation sticks this weekend lol - advice from my sister who is currently pregnant.

She was diagnosed with PCOS a while back and conceived quite quickly, so it just goes to show you could be absolutely 'healthy and normal' and struggle compared to someone who pcos.

I hope it happens soon for both of us, the poor hubbie will soon be getting the hump otherwise haha x

 

[Akua]

Hang on in there. You might just ovulate later in your cycle so it’s worth keeping going. Plus it could be that you’re just missing your surge due to what time you’re testing - some surges only last 12 hours.

What I’m trying to say in a very roundabout rambly way is that just because you’ve had a negative ovulation test doesn’t mean you’re not ovulating that month

 

[MrsBunny]

Hiya

I also had irregular cycles - similar range to you (32-66days). Tests from Dr couldn't find a cause, so I can't speak for specifics of pcos, but for those of us with long cycles would have to pee on ovulation sticks for weeks to see ov. I've also heard that its possible to get hormone surges that aren't productive, so you can see a false peak in lh where your body tried and failed to ovulate

The only way to know for sure that you've ovulated is if your bbt goes up and stays up. I really recommend charting your bbt - although it tells you after the fact that you o'd, it at least can tell you when you're in your tww, and so when to expect to test / see af. It really helped my sanity and saved me tonnes on o sticks and pregnancy tests.

The downside is you can't time sex for fertile window. We just dtd every 2-3 days until I was sure I o'd or we were exhausted (happens on looong cycles). Once we were properly ttc like this (rather than ntnp) we fell within about 6 cycles

Good luck hun x

 

[WinterWolf]

All the OPKs I've bought say not to use them if you have PCOS. Not sure why that is though. Do you track your cm? I'd recommend trying that if you haven't. It's all that worked for me since I couldn't make OPKs work and I'm rubbish at tracking my temperature lol.

 

[silvers]

I started using OPK but I found them to be a waste of money and also quite disheartening since they were never coming up positive. At the moment I’m tracking Cervical Macy and position but I’m thinking of tracking BBT as well.
Do I need a thermometer to 2 decimal places or is accuracy to 1 decimal place enough?

 

[WinterWolf]

Needs to be 2 decimal places for BBT! You can buy BBT thermometers at pharmacies.

 

[Sugarpop]

All the OPKs I've bought say not to use them if you have PCOS. Not sure why that is though. Do you track your cm? I'd recommend trying that if you haven't. It's all that worked for me since I couldn't make OPKs work and I'm rubbish at tracking my temperature lol.

This is because ov tests detect a surge. With PCOS, ladies can have the surge but not actually ovulate. Some ladies find them useful. Personally for me I found them a waste of time and it gave me even more stress!