When to test?

[katie88]

Hey Ladies

Hope you're all ok!

I have a bit of a random one.....

When do you test if you have very erratic cycles?

I only as as i'm everything from 35 days to 68 at the longest....

I have no idea when i ovulate as my hubby does not want to track or chart it (wanting it to be more natural - we're on month 15 of ttc now so natures being a pain)

This month as we were on holiday and at it pretty much like rabbits we've decided to go with doing the deed as much as possible (so far its been at least every other day if not every day) my last cycles was 38 days (last period started on the 3rd of oct to the 9th - which when i put it into a ovulation calculator makes this week the most fertile time.... but with my body being all over the place it could have already happened or might not happen for a while.

When we lost early in June this year i had no idea i was pregnant as i had no symptoms and only tested as its a standard thing before i race (run marathons which the doc said i can keep doing up until i find out i am - but with races most weekend i'd be peeing on a stick constantly)

so, long winded post short - not knowing when i ovulate or dont ovulate when the hell do i test? haha

fairy dust and love ladies

 

[MrsS15]

Sorry hun I have absolutely no idea. After this long I'm afraid I'd be pushing to do opks, you could be potentially missing it each month. If you know when you've ovulated it'll obviously narrow it down for you with testing for pregnancy etc. You can buy opks for pennies on eBay and Amazon. It really doesn't have to change things for you both, just make your life easier xx

 

[CoachQueenie]

I'm with MrsS, I would probably be wanting to do opks at that stage in the game...do you notice any changes in your cervical mucous throughout the month? If you get to know your CM you might be able to roughly tell when you are most fertile if you really don't want to do opks x

 

[katie88]

Thanks MrsS15 and Coachqueenie - thats what ive said to hubs, think he's just worried it will make it harder for him to perform knowing that its the time to do it (if that makes sense?) but we've said this month that if nothing by the end of the year i'll push my doctors for more (they are reluctant at the mo for some reason)

 

[kumber]

I think with such long cycles you'd be best opking skills you know where you're at in your cycle. Have you tried anything to regulate or shorten your cycles?

 

[katie88]

I think with such long cycles you'd be best opking skills you know where you're at in your cycle. Have you tried anything to regulate or shorten your cycles?

sadly my doctor is a bit of a nightmare, as im only 28 they dont want to give me anything/test anything until its been longer. we've now been told to do it as often as possible (hence after holiday we're carrying on the rabbit mode haha) hubs does not want to OPK as he thinks it will affect how we see/do things. i sort of agree with him to some respect but the rest of my brain just wants to get pregnant asap haha

 

[CoachQueenie]

You could do the tests, and just not tell him that NOW is the time, as I do think that does put added pressure on the man. I don't mean lie to him, but you could tell him your going to do them but will just keep the info to yourself, then when you initiate it (or maybe he does at the right time) then you know when you're covered and roughly when to test x

 

[Lulla Bell]

I dont tell my husband when I'm ovulating, And i just make sure we dtd a lot thought the month haha. He does know that I use opks, He just said he would prefer not to know when ( in his words ) 'My special days are'
This month I told him as I O'd on a random day and he was just going away, I told him so we wouldn't miss our window.

 

[Salley]

I have irregular cycles too, they don't run quite as long as yours but I use ic opk's from cd10 until I ovulate and usually take my temperature every morning too just to make sure. I ovulate anywhere from CD14 to CD27. I would recommend talking to your doctor about medication to regulate your cycle.. If they're unwilling or discouraging, try to find another doctor! Good luck sweetheart.

 

[Lulla Bell]

Defiantly get another doctor, I had this old guy as my doctor, for months, And I was having 14 day cycles, it was so frustrating, I would just gear up for ovulation then my period would start, twice a month I would make a appointment and cry my eyes out.
He just kept turning me away and telling me to wait!
I swapped doctors, and on my next visit with a new doctor(who was a lovely lady) I had been referred for scans and bloods!
I don want to be sexist, but I really don think men know how much it effects us when our own bodies are preventing us from getting pregnant x

 

[Lulla Bell]

p.s I was 27 when I was referred, So age shouldn't really matter

 

[katie88]

thanks girls at least we all have each other while going through this!

My hubby is amazing bless him but sometimes gets a bit freaked out by medical stuff etc so even though we talk about it, i dont want to freak him out too much haha

i did think about OPK-ing and not telling him, so maybe thats an option to think of if this months "DTD every other day" doesnt work but would just feel a bit guilty i think. we've said after christmas if nothing still has happened, it will be back to the docs and pushing for help.

sadly my doctor is a lady and not much older than i am but just seems to unwilling to help - which i just dont understand at all!

oh the joys!

 

[MrsS15]

When I went to the GP for help one of the first things she asked me was have I done home opks so just be prepared this question might come up for you hun. If your gp does day 21 bloods for ovulation she'll have no idea when to do them without a rough idea from opks! Like Queenie said, do you monitor your cm? Changes to that will indict ovulation and your fertile time. Also maybe download an app like ovia? That way you can keep track of when you get your period and changes to your cm etc.
Every second day is bound to catch it but it's a lot to keep up xx

 

[BunnyN]

After our 1st I was breastfeeding which gave me irregular cycles. I had cycles between about 26 days and 45 days and an LP of between 6 and 14 days. I did OPKs not so much because of timing sex (although that is a plus) but because when I did get pregnant I wanted to know exactly how far along I was. I have seen lots of posts on here from ladies on here who had spotting and end up having an early scan where they cant see a heart beat or baby is measuring behind. If you dont know how far along you are you dont know if baby has baby stopped growing, or is it just too early. Then you have to wait for days or weeks to know whats going on. At the other end of pregnancy I was worriedabound ending up with an induction because they thought I was overdue when ai wasn't. Then there is the fact that waiting for af to show and not knowing when to test and if you might be pregnant is enough to drive anyone with irregular cycles insane . I just did OPKs and didn't say to OH when I was ovulation. Its not like I hid from him that I did them I just didn't make a big deal out of it.

Maybe you could just mention to OH that you want to do OPKs so that you know when to expect af because its stressing you out not knowing when its due. If he agrees then just go ahead and start doing them and dont mention it at ov time.

 

[katie88]

Thanks for all the answers girls, really does mean a lot to me!

Well, as this month has been DTD every other day as a minimum (hubs doesnt seem to mind ) im going to see how that goes this month and then go from there.

i did think they'd ask about opk's at some point MrsS but on my last visit they said we had to try every other day first as with such long cycles (which they didnt want to look into yet) she think we could have just missed it!

ahhh the joys ay? im just going to see what this month brings and go from there! fairy dust and love to you all girls! fingers crossed for us all!! x

 

[Bellarina]

Hi hun you mentioned ttc to 15 months...what form of contraception were you using before ttc?xx

 

[BunnyN]

I get that they don't do tests for TTC until you have been trying for a certain amount of time but I would have thought they might do a little investigation as to why your cycles are so irregular. Surely thats a medical reason, not just a TTC one?

 

[Bellarina]

Yes they did with me...started ttc in July 2011 and by the March Dr had referred us for all the tests as I had very irregular cycles (mind u I saw a Dr in the Dec who fobbed me off but I knew something wasn't right so went back and saw a diff doctor...first Dr was female 2nd was male)...by the June gynaecologist had me on clomid as turned out i wasnt ovulating. I'm convinced it was the contraceptive pill id been on (yasmin) as my other friend had exactly the same xx

 

[katie88]

Yes they did with me...started ttc in July 2011 and by the March Dr had referred us for all the tests as I had very irregular cycles (mind u I saw a Dr in the Dec who fobbed me off but I knew something wasn't right so went back and saw a diff doctor...first Dr was female 2nd was male)...by the June gynaecologist had me on clomid as turned out i wasnt ovulating. I'm convinced it was the contraceptive pill id been on (yasmin) as my other friend had exactly the same xx

Hey Bellarina,

i was on microgynon 30 for just under 10 years.... when i spoke to the doc about the length of time she said that on that pill i should return to normal pretty quickly as it wasnt a very strong pill compared to others out there.....

i know shes probably fobbing me off for the moment but at least if i do all the leg work before i go back (DTD ever other day, try and convince hubs for OPK etc) at least then i can say ive done all that and she wont have an option but to look into it...... he's hoping all this DTD pays off! We're both knackered

 

[Bellarina]

Fx for you hun. They told me pill wasn't anything to do with it either and yet last month I caught first time (sadly mc'd)...then caught this month straight away aswell...I haven't been on pill since coming off July 2011xx