Do OPK lines HAVE to be dark? When is it actually positive?

[cosmosis]

As per Atomic's suggestion, I will be using OPK's from early on so that I don't miss my window, however, I'm slightly confused with what exactly I'm looking for.

I see posts with ladies talking about their OPK's gradually becoming positive, as in, they get light lines and they continue to get darker. So when is it actually positive? I would assume that as soon as I see two lines, it is a positive and plans should be executed accordingly. Am I right or wrong here?

All input is appreciates! TIA! :)

[GirlieCat]

It depends on what kind you are using, but the cheapie internet ones will show a second line just about every day of your cycle. They get darker and darker as you get closer to your LH surge. When the second test line is "as dark" as the control line, then it is a positive. When you get a true positive, you will understand that the lines truly do become the same darkness. When in doubt, post a pic and ladies here will help.

[cosmosis]

I'll be using dollar store cheapies since I'll be doing two per day. This past cycle I definitely didn't see a gradual darkening of the line. One morning it was just dark and the 3 days after it slowly faded. I wish I had started using them sooner to practice lol.

[GirlieCat]

I would order some online if I were you. You will go broke buying them at the store, even dollar store. They are about 0.20 a piece online and I needed that cheapened so I didn't feel bad testing so much. Also know, that most OPKs need afternoon urine. Morning urine will give a false positive- unless you are using the expensive OPKs that specifically say to use morning urine. Read the instructions. If it doesn't say use first morning urine, test in afternoon.

[foxtrotmama]

OPKs with lines aren't positive until the result line is as dark as or darker than the control line. For most people, they will fade in and then fade out.

[cosmosis]

This makes me very nervous! What if the OPK just doesn't get very dark and I miss my window? lol

[foxtrotmama]

I probably wouldn't do a pink cycle completely dependent on OPKs if you've never used them before.

Are you a blue swayer? What is the frequency you have planned?

[cosmosis]

Yes, I'm swaying blue. I plan to BD every other day when AF is done and 3 attempts at +OPK.

[atomic sagebrush]

Some people get a fade in, others go right to positive. (and this can vary by individual, by month, meaning you can "always" have one pattern and then suddenly go to the other and in any possible variation)

What you're looking for is lines that are equally dark, or the test is darker than control.

IF you don't get that, what you can do instead, is if the test is quite dark but not quite positive, go ahead and hit it with the 3 attempts and then go back to eod. It's ok to have part of the 3 attempts in slightly before surge, and/or it's fine to go up to 5 or even more provided you're in the fertile window anyway, so if you BD at dark-but-not-pos and then get a positive the next day, you can still have more attempts, and that first attempt will BE in the fertile window because you are fertile just before you get a positive OPK as well. (I hope that makes sense)

[atomic sagebrush]

Yes, I'm swaying blue. I plan to BD every other day when AF is done and 3 attempts at +OPK.

Just go ahead and feel free to have an attempt if you see that line dark, but not quite there yet. Either scenario works:

1)This IS the positive and it isn't going to get any darker, thus have 3 attempts

or

2)You'll get a true pos tomorrow and so you can have 3 attempts counting this as one OR you can have 4 attempts total or even more because the fertile window is open!!

[Throwaway_panther]

I think the every other day sex is supposed to help with issues like this -- but yeah, with the cheap ones, you'll almost always get a second line.

I just tested for the first time last month following a miscarriage, because I wanted to see if I'd be ovulating (which I ended up doing CD25, with a very short LP after for a full 31 day cycle). I tested every day after I stopped bleeding since I had a ton of them cheap off Amazon and had never actually tested before.

I ended up having 3 days of solid, two dark lines for the period of ovulation -- and you will definitely know the difference between that and a negative. I don't know if this happens for others, but I also noticed that my positive ovulation line came up very quickly versus the 5 minute wait for results on a negative.

I know some women have a very short phase of ovulation -- around your suspected ovulation, you may want to test more than once during the day to see if you can catch it to be sure?

[cosmosis]

Thank you Atomic and Panther! Yep, I plan to test twice per day. If I do it this way, should I do morning and evening (every 12 hours) or noon and evening?

I'll be posting pics on this thread when the time comes for some input :D

[atomic sagebrush]

please check the directions on your OPK because most of them are best used afternoon/evening (not morning) A few kinds are calibrated for morning use tho so I can't totally say from here.

[cosmosis]

The test instructs to take it between 10AM and 8PM. I started testing this evening and to my surprise, I have a faint line. I understand that this is a negative and what I'm looking for is the color to be the same as the control, correct? I feel uneasy lol, last cycle, they were stark white up until 2 days before I got a clear positive. So, I don't know what this could mean besides that I'm gearing up early this cycle.

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[atomic sagebrush]

Yes, that's a negative test and believe it or not if your partner peed on them, he could get lines like that sometimes!! Your body uses that hormone in smaller amounts to do other jobs and so sometimes enough will come out to register on the test. But it has to be a certain concentration to trigger O.

[cosmosis]

Thank you, Atomic :)

The lines are now gone and my tests are stark white. This is the time I started testing last cycle, so its interesting.

I do have a question. What happens if I get a positive on our off/no BD day? I'm on CD 11(6 days after AF) and we've BD'd 3 times so far and today will be 4. If I O on CD15 as I did last month, I will possibly get a positive OPK on CD14 which is our off day. Last cycle I got my positive OPK on the day of Ovulation, not the day before. My temp dropped that day as well so it was confirmed with both methods. I don't seem to get a huge heads up, even with temps and symptoms. *sigh* lol.

Also, is it safe to continue to BD daily from positive OPK onwards(after the 3 attempts) or are we supposed to continue every other day until after O?

[atomic sagebrush]

Then you have sex that night just like normal and do the three attempts. No difference just do what you'd do normally

I would actually have you keep with the EOD in case of delayed O. Let's say you actually don't O for another week, and so have been DTD 7 days straight and by the time the egg shows up, he's depleted again. We just can't know for sure if you Oed, and thus it's too risky IMO

[cosmosis]

Sounds like a great plan, Atomic! :) will follow EOD after the 3 attempts.

Earlier in this post (or a different post? lol) you mentioned you liked ladies to start OPK's a bit early so they can see the progress. Is this what you mean?

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34194

The previous sticks have evap lines, but the first 5 mins they were all totally white. The one from tonight got the line within a minute or two. I know it isn't positive yet because when it is, it gets dark almost instantly. However, I'm assuming that what I have now is equivalent to a flashing happy face on the fancier tests right?

FF says my fertile window starts tomorrow(4 days), which is just in time. :D

[Burakoam]

The flashing fancy tests measure estrogen and LH. It's the estrogen that causes the flashing smiley and the LH surge that causes the solid so no it is not the same. The smiley Test only go solid when it reaches the specific concentration needed to O.. as atomic memtioned..anytime before that you can pull the stick out and see lines like what you have on those, but they aren't positive unless the solid smiley is there. Another thing to keep in mind wether it's the line tests or smiley tests you can get a full on positive result and still not ovulate. As an example this BFP cycle I had a solid smiley in June, but never had a period and just kept going until I got another positive in July.. THEN I didn't even ovulate with that solid either... I got a second solid smiley a week later in July and that's when I ovulated and got pregnant.

I know the tests say test in AM but I feel especially for blue sways you want to test at night when your LH concentration is at its highest and that's more of your 'go to' LH result... Atomic will weigh in on that I am sure. My reasoning is this: with DD3 I had a negative in the morning and went to RE because I was late to ovulate at that point.. ultrasound showed a fat egg ready to go so he told me to test again that night it would be any day now and sure enough that night I had a solid smiley! Sonby the next morning I would have missed 12 hrs of ovulation window to DTD for blue sway if I had paid more attention to my AM result. Same thing with DD4 btw.. negative ovu kit in the morning and negative at 6 PM but then positive at midnight!

[atomic sagebrush]

cosmo - those are all pretty faint. Some people get a nice progression of color from fainter to dark positive over the course of a few days. Not everyone gets this (and it can vary by the month as well) but it can be handy to plan for the 3-5 BD in the fertile window. I would not be surprised if you do see a progression over the next few days.

Please everyone follow the instructions that came with your tests. If you want to add in an additional test that's up to you but don't skip the morning one in favor of an evening/afternoon one if your test's directions say to test in the morning.

[cosmosis]

Thank you, Burakoam and Atomic.

One of the big issues with us is that we don't stay up late. I'm in bed by 8:00PM and I wake up at 4:00AM, so I can't test so late and by the time 10/11AM comes along, my pee is diluted and as per the test instructions, I've waited until that time to test(10/11AM). I"ve tested twice per day and up to 4 times per day lol. You know, the reason I started this thread is because I had a MASSIVE hunch that my surge would happen during the night based on what happened last cycle where I got a positive late in the evening and a negative the following morning.

I feel very deflated because went against my intuition of making sure we BD on the AM and PM of CD 13 and 14. It looks like I did wind up getting my surge overnight and I skipped BD the morning of the positive test on CD14. It just wasn't dark enough to consider positive, but once it dried, I realized it is the darkest one of all my OPK's. By the time I realized this though, we had already skipped BD in the morning, so we ended up having an attempt at night just in case. I'm so glad we did! Here are my tests from CD12 (PM) to This morning, CD15 (AM). I took the test at 8:00AM on CD14 and again at 11AM, look at the difference. I should have been taking them earlier all along since I get up so early. Live and learn.

http://i63.tinypic.com/2dsr5zn.jpg

Ovulation is a funny thing isn't it? lol. Yesterday I was VERY irritable (not great when you have to BD!), fatigued and had very painful O pain, but no real EWCM. Today, my BBT spiked very high, I have some EWCM, no real positive OPK and very mild O pain. So who the heck knows. I didn't think getting 3 attempts in was going to be so stressful. It's mainly the OPK issue. Now I don't know if my attempts sway boy or girl, but I did my best, or should I say we.

Here's my chart so you ladies can have a look. It is what it is, there's no looking back now. I marked both CD13 and CD14 as +OPK based on the image above.

http://i63.tinypic.com/eqqsn5.jpg


*Let me stress that even if your partner loves to BD, there's something about being on demand that makes them less cooperative, or all these things just HAPPEN to get in the way (especially if you have kids). It also made ME less cooperative. haha.

I must add some advice for those reading; LISTEN to Atomic when she tells you how to BD :D . Everything she warned about happened to us, so glad I followed through or I may be crying right now lol. BD every other day is much better than every day. At least I know I'm covered because We BD'd on CD11 and CD13 so the swimmers had plenty of time to capacitate. If I O'd yesterday or today, they will catch the egg (hopefully!). We'll get in one more attempt tonight and another tomorrow morning, then we take a break and EOD thereafter. We used preseed at every BD session, btw.

That's my OPK drama. Hope it helps somebody! :D

[Wantanother2017]

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20161226/97061c3673a469e18a95b9f04dba696f.jpg

Like this? Yikes. This is early for my usual cycles.


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[Burakoam]

Does look like you surged later the night of the 13th (when you couldn't test) but that's great imo.. puts you right on track for CD14-16 for ovulation if everything went as planned!

I stress that I never said not to test in the morning but to be careful because you can get a positive at night as well as in the morning and your actual surge would have began the night before. Clarification for anyone else who reads this thread :)

With that nice temp jump I think you ovulated nice and fast in the window too. Gl this 2WW!

[cosmosis]

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20161226/97061c3673a469e18a95b9f04dba696f.jpg

Like this? Yikes. This is early for my usual cycles.


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That's a nice gradient! Very clear to me :)


Does look like you surged later the night of the 13th (when you couldn't test) but that's great imo.. puts you right on track for CD14-16 for ovulation if everything went as planned!

I stress that I never said not to test in the morning but to be careful because you can get a positive at night as well as in the morning and your actual surge would have began the night before. Clarification for anyone else who reads this thread :)

With that nice temp jump I think you ovulated nice and fast in the window too. Gl this 2WW!

Thank you! :) The test instructions say between 10:00AM and 8:00PM, so that's what I did. I kept wondering if I should change it due to my early wake time, 4AM would still technically be night time no? LOL. I feel lost

My temp dropped right back down today and now I'm utterly confused.It could be a fallback rise, but that's never happened, so I'm not sure why this time would be my first but hey :owl: OPK still negative. All other O symptoms are gone, except cervix being high. Should we skip BD today and just resume EOD tomorrow? Decisions Decisions.

[atomic sagebrush]

Re when to test, between 10 and 8 is just fine and dandy. Don't worry about when you wake up. I'ts more primordial than that and has to do with day length. It peaks in your body sometime during the night and then gradually makes its way out in the urine starting lunch thru early evening. Between 10 and 8 whenever it is convenient.

Yes it's really next to impossible to tell it to the day except in retrospect. If you think you've Oed, I'd go to every other day. If you're still not sure, then hit it tonight.

[business.woman]

Umm , I really don't know about this , as I used opks one cycle before !
And it's darken gradually leading up to a dark line ,
I will use it in my next cycle and I hope it will work fine[emoji26]


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[cosmosis]

Good Morning!

My temp went up today :bluecheer: We made one last attempt last night and I'm ready for a break! lol.

http://i64.tinypic.com/300bq88.jpg

So I personally feel I O'd for sure, and I'm pretty certain it was CD14, which makes me 3DPO today with a fallback rise. We'll know for sure tomorrow, God willing.

Atomic, would you still consider my attempts to be boy territory?

As far as the tests, OPK's are now negative and none have reached the darkness my other two did on late CD13 and early CD14.

[atomic sagebrush]

I'm going to wait for crosshairs if that's ok with you

[cosmosis]

Houston, we have [solid!] crosshairs.

http://i63.tinypic.com/300shl0.jpg

My temps are oddly low for this time in my cycle though, I'm a skeptical because yesterday I had a temping issue.

The night of CD17 I made it to bed at my usual 8:00PM and was asleep by 9. I woke up at 12:30AM the morning of CD18 to toilet (this has been happening since CD14, its a huge pain) and apparently had no pants on and light blanket over me, which isn't my usual. It's winter and I'm up north, the house was very cold (60-65F). I took my temp because I wasn't aware of the time at that moment and my temp was 96.78F! I went back to bed, put pants on and big blanket on (as other nights), had a couple of wakings between then and wake time(this is normal for me), but I didn't get up. I took temp for the second time at 5:00AM and got 97.82F

My usual wake time is between 4:00AM and 5:00AM sometimes even 3:30AM and I always just temp at the time I wake up for the day and only once. Some nights are restless, some are not and it hasn't really affected my patterns in the last few months I've been temping. So I went ahead and used the second temp because it is my norm and so whatever lol. I'm annoyed. I should have just taken my temp once.

My cover line for last cycle was 97.29, this cycle is 97.30 and I have never dropped so close to the cover line unless AF is around the corner so I don't know what to think, except just keep temping lol. All fertile signs are gone. I was just left with light AF cramps that come and go since CD15 and very painful boobs today.

Sooooo, now what? Stick to EOD until further notice?

[Burakoam]

I would just in case. Not entirely sure with your temps that this was an ovulatory cycle for you.. could still happen so be on the look out.. are your OPKs stark white?

[business.woman]

I would say DTD every other day just in case


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[cosmosis]

I would just in case. Not entirely sure with your temps that this was an ovulatory cycle for you.. could still happen so be on the look out.. are your OPKs stark white?

Yep, unless I leave them for like 12+ hours lol, then I see lines, but by then they are discarded. I didn't test yesterday though, got tired of so much peeing in a cup. LOL. I'll need more data to confirm O I guess. If I wasn't doing OPK's I would be pretty certain I O'd.


I would say DTD every other day just in case


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yep. that's the plan for the time being.

[Burakoam]

Whats really crazy Cos is the cycle before i conceived this baby i had a positive OPK AND o signs and still didnt ovulate..had no period at the end of that cylce and just kept going into the next. So yes even if your OPK had been positive it still wouldnt be 100% confirmation...all it really says is your body WANTS to ovulate..in your case with your temps thats pretty telling that i think your body started to gear up for it but didnt hit the mark...but you may still yet this cycle. If not be on the look out for your typical O signs and test then..or test around same days next month when your body would be getting ready to ovulate again...I skipped a cycle then got pregnant the next one so nothing to worry about yet and it can still all work in your favor :)

[cosmosis]

Thank you for your input Burakoam! :)

fwiw, here is today's OPK. I took it 20 mins ago:

http://i65.tinypic.com/21kxbuq.jpg

That's how they were before I got the positive one cd13 & cd14.

[atomic sagebrush]

Boy, still not liking that chart. I can't call that one as having ovulated yet.

[atomic sagebrush]

Yes, keep BD every other day for now (or every 2 if he starts running out of steam) and then be on the lookout for EWCM or O pain to let you know when/if to do more OPK.

[cosmosis]

I got some ewcm today, but cervix dropped down and appears closed lol. I've had ongoing cramping since CD15. Of course, the month I'm actually trying, everything has to go wonky.

I'll test again tonight!

[Burakoam]

Cycle i got pregnant i EWCM right before the first positive opk but it was very little and died out fast...within a week it came back and the second day of it i had such huge amounts of EWCM which i had never had before (yay blue diet) that i just HAD to test..so it was 2 days into new EWCM that my test went stark positive.. test tonight but dont be surprised if the positive is tomorrow morning or night! curious wether the line will be any darker tonight :)

[dancingdiva88]

I agree with burakoam - keep testing. I've had positive opks and then didn't O until about 8 dad later when my.body geared up again.
I don't think you've ovulated based on your charts yet.

[dancingdiva88]

Try switching your FF over to FAM. That's more reliable using temps I found with when you actually ovulate. One cycle where I got a positive opk and put the data in (it automatically made crosshairs under the advanced method). However when I actually O'ed 8 days layer and there was a visible temp rise that then stayed up, it didn't move it still. But then I switched to FAM setting and it moved to correspond with the temps.

[cosmosis]

Alright ladies, thank you so much for your input. It really helps to have a place to go to while experiencing all of this. DH just doesnt quite get it haha.

I ran out of tests :p This morning's OPK was negative. I took one at 1:30AM and at 5:30AM. The EWCM comes and goes, I'll get a glob and then creamy the next hour, but the most consistent is creamy. Cervix keeps moving also u_u, at least its always closed and firm. None of it is normal for me and has me rather confused lol.

I've been very consistent for many years, even when I had my IUD in last year. No anovulatory cycles, no extra long cycles. They have all been 29-32 days. They got longer when I started taking Bvits in late 2015. I did FAM for 8 years and started temping this year again to TTC.

I have a feeling I did O and caught the egg and am now slowly rising in temp after the initial rise and fallback. Every time I Ovulate, I get extremely grumpy, I get into it with DH and end up crying myself to sleep.every time. This past CD14 was the same thing (except I had to sort myself out to BD lol), so if I go based on my body awareness, it would be unmistakable, but, alas, nobody can really guess ovulation, so here's to waiting.

I feel so done taking tests lol, but I'll go stock up tonight again, gonna get HPT's while I'm at it. As if the 2WW wasn't long enough!

FWIW, in September I O'd CD 17, October I O'd CD 17 and November I O'd CD15

This is today's update both with FAM settings and Advanced settings:

http://i67.tinypic.com/eqvzw5.jpg

http://i63.tinypic.com/n6vy1j.jpg


We will know for sure tomorrow if I'm steadily rising.

[atomic sagebrush]

:agree: for me the mood change is real and unmistakeable BUT that having been said, still can't sign off on that chart!!

[cosmosis]

lol, I know. I'll be back with updates until we get something concrete. Stocked up on tests, but I'll just be doing 1 daily late in the evening from tomorrow on + EOD. :D

[cosmosis]

This is my updated chart for today:

http://i65.tinypic.com/70e03k.jpg

My temps for the last 3 days go like this:

12/29
97.36 - 5:00AM Oral
97.63 - 5:00AM Vag

12/30
97.62 - 5:00AM Oral
97.83 - 5:00AM Vag

12/31
97.93 -5:00AM Oral
98.16 -5:00AM Vag

I've started taking Vaginal temps in addition to my oral temps so I don't have doubts about the pattern. It looks like O took place on CD14 or 16. Either way, progesterone is clearly taking over.

[atomic sagebrush]

still not sure yet - I'll hold off for a couple more days!

[Wantanother2017]

When should the temp drop again if we don't conceive this cycle?


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[Burakoam]

Via a part of me really thinks you are trying to ovulate now and haven't ovulated yet. The temp rising is good and if the EWCM keeps coming we will have to see what the next few days shows on your chart.

[atomic sagebrush]

When should the temp drop again if we don't conceive this cycle?


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12-14 days after ovulation occurs

[cosmosis]

Good morning! Here's a chart update:

http://i67.tinypic.com/25p2rno.jpg

I have never gone past 98.05F with BBT, so it appears I'm hanging out at my max temps so far. I stopped with OPK's. They all look the same and fertile signs are all gone. I did have EWCM on CD's 20&21 (assuming I O'd, 6&7dpo), but it was nothing like my fertile days. This was something else which should have its own category. Gonna start testing for hCG tomorrow :poas:.

We're still doing EOD, with the exception of the other night. He didn't wanna cooperate. :worry:

DH says he is the ovulation predictor and declares that I ovulated based on my behavior. :giggle: He is 100% sure, but we'll see.

Edited to add:

So, just because I find data collection and graphs so fascinating (when it comes to the human body that is), I decided to discard the two wonky temps which threw everyone off lol.

Here's discard 1, the huge spike that we all look for to mark a thermal shift:
http://i68.tinypic.com/2a56pt.jpg

Here's discard 2, the massive dip which came out of nowhere:
http://i64.tinypic.com/mtpj5y.jpg

The only thing FF changed was my cover line, but either way it keeps my O day as CD14.

But wait, there's more. LOL! I removed t he +OPK and the cross hairs remained solid.
http://i63.tinypic.com/auxd1t.jpg

If I add the EWCM I saw those two days, my cross hairs become dashed, but that's about it. Cool story eh? :D I didn't add them because I didn't see the EWCM when I checked first thing in the morning as I usually do. They were a couple of globs that appeared mid day. I kept them in my notes though.

I look forward to bedtime just so I can get up and take my temp. u_u

[dancingdiva88]

Good luck Cosmo!

[business.woman]

Only few days and we will see
Finger crossed [emoji177]


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[atomic sagebrush]

If you did O sometime around the 14thish some of us occasionally or regularly get EWCM with the secondary estrogen surge about 7 days later. That would be my guess. :)

[cosmosis]

Aaaaaaaaalrighty then. It is time for an update. My temps are hanging up high these days, but we can pretty much be certain I ovulated. SO, now the question is, when did I O and was our BD pattern in boy territory? I say I O'd on CD16 and possibly implanted on 9dpo. I had bloody discharge on CD17 and it wasn't fresh, so it was from O I presume. FF won't change my O date, probably because of the CM on CD16.

http://i67.tinypic.com/j6mnv7.jpg

this is last month just for comparison, all of my charts look like this except this month. I never logged BD consistently until this month btw.

http://i67.tinypic.com/xap7oi.jpg

It is a waiting game at this point, I'll give AF a few more days to decide if she's coming or not and then test. Just trying to keep busy until then lol.

[atomic sagebrush]

i think you ovulated on CD 20-21 unless you are a million percent sure you didn't. But that is a guess. I think your suggestion of when O happened is also very likely. This is one of those charts that is literally impossible to really know. The good thing is that no matter when you did actually O you had a good BD pattern and very similar to what many of us did to get our boys.

[cosmosis]

This is so funny, I was just starting to toy with the idea that I O'd on CD20/21. Can I ask why you think that? The only reasons I suspect that day is the giant globs of EWCM and no bfp so late in the game. Otherwise, it isn't convincing, but there has been loads of action in my uterus this month, that's for sure LOL!

[atomic sagebrush]

Because I feel that's when we saw the sustained rise that stayed up after that. I think your body thought about Oing, earlier, and didn't, and then finally got its game on then. But like I say, that is just "most likely" to me and not definitive.

[cosmosis]

Well, I went back through all of my notes and found that I had EWCM on CD19 as well. It was later in the day though which is why it didn't get recorded. I recorded mild O pains on CD20 towards the end of the day. I switched my settings to FAM and there you have it:

http://i67.tinypic.com/1z5oi1w.jpg

Assuming I did O on CD20, how many attempts did we get in total? Do we count attempts made in a fertile period or just 2 days before O and O day? I should have O'd at the end of the day because I still had copious amounts of EWCM on CD21.

[Burakoam]

Cos if you check the 2ww thread I posted the full story of my delayed O that resulted in this bfp (DD4). I really think you ovulated cd21-cd22. 3 great minds thinking alike shouldn't be wrong so let's assume for now that's when Eggie popped.. I can't read the DPO on charts.. my brain is mush.. how many DPO does that make you?

[cosmosis]

If I O'd CD20, then I'm 13dpo today.

[atomic sagebrush]

2 or 3 depending on when egg actually dropped. :)

[cosmosis]

That's definitely better than 1 shot! lol. I may have J&D'd on CD21, but I had alot of EWCM and used a tiny bit of preseed. I felt like I was getting a UTI so I didn't want to lay there more than a couple of minutes. I can't remember if this started the last few days or since CD21. I haven't felt like my brain is all there the last couple of days.

Trying not to worry myself as it's a done deal. Not easy when you like to control every little detail haha.

[cosmosis]

Alrighty, I have a decision to make here and I'd really appreciate your input ladies :)

My cycle is whack this month and I have a feeling it is due to stress I placed upon myself. At this stage, not matter if I O'd on cd14, cd16 or cd20, I should be getting a positive test by now. During the last two weeks I had tons of toilet issues, like diarrhea for instance and alot of night wakings for the toilet. It stopped in the last 4 days, which correlate with my temps evening out. Still waking up to pee though *sigh*

Knowing what I know, and understanding my body the way I do, I'm certain this was all hormone surges, estrogen was trying to take over and my chart reflects that battle lol.

Yes, my temps seem to have stabilized above 98F for the last 11 days or so, but I also take progesterone cream in small doses and although it has never raised my temps this high or stopped my period from coming (I always stop it when I spot), ever, there's still a possibility that this could be the case because my hormones may have evened out at this stage (I'm treating myself for that as I'm estrogen dominant) and my progesterone may be extra high due to my natural levels kicking in. Just a theory.

I can easily stop the progesterone and I'm fairly certain a period would come if I'm not PG. The downside is that if I AM PG, it can potentially cause a miscarriage, but again, I'm taking a small dosage so I don't really think that would happen.

At this point, I'm more than ready to move on to another cycle and have my supplies ready to go. How much longer should I wait? I was thinking of doing one last test tomorrow morning, or should I wait until I'm a full week late? That's in 2-3 days. I would feel alot more relief getting another shot at this lol. I got some good quality OPK's (clearblue digital) so there's no wishy washy lines to deal with.

Thoughts?

[atomic sagebrush]

I would compromise and start using it every other day for a few days and see what happens.

[cosmosis]

Good idea! I'm testing with a frer on wednesday, I'll update then :D Thank you! <3

[Burakoam]

Okay Cosmo...

First and foremost, take the last CB digital you have in the morning please. First morning urine, holding your pee as long as you can...humor me. To me i love that test so much that if THAT says not pregnant at this point im going to say you really probably are not. Then if you still cant bare the thought of stopping the progesterone completely just yet tomorrow is the day id start taking it every other day and see what happens.

As for your new opks..i want to stress that i wouldnt have known the difference between my opk on july 9th vs my opk on july 13th...both had solid smiley faces. But the line was undoubtedly MUCH MUCH MUCH darker on the 13th. So lines still play a role even with the digitals in my opinion..but at least then with a solid smiley you know it is detecting SOMETHING in your pee.

Otherwise approach this how you want. Thats what i would do at this point. Also keep in mind as ive posted..i went the whole month of june and didnt ovulate even though i DID get a solid smiley opk..but i never bled and had a period..then ovulated on time in july. However i also was not on progesterone. So your situation IS a bit different

[Throwaway_panther]

Alrighty, I have a decision to make here and I'd really appreciate your input ladies :)

My cycle is whack this month and I have a feeling it is due to stress I placed upon myself. At this stage, not matter if I O'd on cd14, cd16 or cd20, I should be getting a positive test by now. During the last two weeks I had tons of toilet issues, like diarrhea for instance and alot of night wakings for the toilet. It stopped in the last 4 days, which correlate with my temps evening out. Still waking up to pee though *sigh*

Knowing what I know, and understanding my body the way I do, I'm certain this was all hormone surges, estrogen was trying to take over and my chart reflects that battle lol.

Yes, my temps seem to have stabilized above 98F for the last 11 days or so, but I also take progesterone cream in small doses and although it has never raised my temps this high or stopped my period from coming (I always stop it when I spot), ever, there's still a possibility that this could be the case because my hormones may have evened out at this stage (I'm treating myself for that as I'm estrogen dominant) and my progesterone may be extra high due to my natural levels kicking in. Just a theory.

I can easily stop the progesterone and I'm fairly certain a period would come if I'm not PG. The downside is that if I AM PG, it can potentially cause a miscarriage, but again, I'm taking a small dosage so I don't really think that would happen.

At this point, I'm more than ready to move on to another cycle and have my supplies ready to go. How much longer should I wait? I was thinking of doing one last test tomorrow morning, or should I wait until I'm a full week late? That's in 2-3 days. I would feel alot more relief getting another shot at this lol. I got some good quality OPK's (clearblue digital) so there's no wishy washy lines to deal with.

Thoughts?

Boy, this is tricky. 16DPO and nothing one way or the other? From what I understand, if you absolutely O'd when you thought you did, you COULD have delayed implantation explaining the "no period," the higher temps and potential early pregnancy symptoms, etc., but I'm not sure how the progesterone cream could affect anything here. Maybe just lengthening your LP a bunch?

I'd say with the "early symptoms" and then them going away for 4 days you might just have had a chemical and need to wait for the bleeding slightly late :/ It sounds like it could be the classic case of, "Bajillions of women lose early pregnancies without ever knowing it," and because you were paying attention noticed the slight change, but just happened to test even after the HCG lowered?

[cosmosis]

Ok! I've got a great update! :D

So, I reluctantly used my CBD lol and it was a BFN, as expected. My temps dropped today so I already knew but just wanted to triple check before cutting off progesterone.

Apparently, yesterday I did temp, I just didn't remember but when I checked my thermometer memory there was one recorded which was on its way down already(98.08). Unfortunately, I erased the memory when I was checking it just now and had to guess today's temp, gha! It was one of my popular temps of either 97.90 or 97.79, I wasn't fully awake when I took it so I don't remember exactly and I chose 97.79. We'll just wait to see what tomorrow brings.

Clearly the progesterone doesn't prevent my natural levels from dropping. I'm telling you, I always spot on time and I cut it off and AF arrives fully. Some months I don't use it and I'm still on time with the same pattern even.

I'm actually quite excited to tackle the next cycle but I'm worried. What the heck happened here? Was this a chemical? I DID get a faint BFP on 13 and 14DPO, I didn't imagine it. They were my only two tests that showed a line out of a sea of stark white tests. Were those just evap lines? I doubt it. My last cycle was 31 days and the one before was 32 days long. This makes me 5-6 days late, this is the normal range for a chemical right?

If they were evaps, did I not ovulate? Wouldn't FF pick up a non ovulatory cycle and wouldn't temps stay relatively the same if there was no O? I'm pretty certain of that, but I'm a bit rusty as I've been so regular for years . 10 years ago my cycles were like 60-90 days long and I corrected that with a lifestyle change and have been like clockwork since with the occasional skipped ovulation, in which case I get AF a full week early, never late.

I find it almost impossible to believe there was no egg and sperm action with all of the changes I experienced, they were WILD. I kept a detailed log and I always keep a close eye on my health, especially bowel movements and things like that.

I'd like to gain some clarity on this because I'd like to prevent a repeat, although I'm aware there isn't much I can do about chemical PG's. I want to make sure everything adds up and I do handle that which I am able to.

I'm pretty certain AF is on her way now and I couldn't be happier to see her LOL. I really cannot deal with disorganization and when things go off schedule in any areas of my life, it almost paralyzes me. I spent the last week doing nothing but research trying to sort this out. Now I'm behind on packing and we move this Friday >_<

As for the OPK's, my plan is to get 3 attempts in as soon as I get a smiley, if I get another smiley later, I will do another 3 attempts and just do EOD in between. Is this appropriate, Atomic?

So, what are your thoughts ladies?

[atomic sagebrush]

For next month, yes, I want you to get in the 3 attempts and then EOD if you can, indefinitely, and if you think you're Oing later than normal, have ANOTHER 2-3 attempts if poss.

I, or anyone else can't tell you YET what day you Oed. I have only very rarely found chemicals to delay AF coming by 5-6 days and so if those were true BFP I still think you Oed late.

I would like to wait until AF comes and then look back to see if all this makes more sense.

[cosmosis]

Well, she's officially here and at her usual time, right before bed lol. CD1 for me.

This is my full cycle:

http://i68.tinypic.com/2jfzvh0.jpg

[Burakoam]

A period as reliable as yours suggests cd 22-23 then as ovulation date being as that was 14 days ago

[cosmosis]

My LP is 15/16 days long. If I use the FAM method, my O day is marked as CD20 which leaves me with a 16 day LP and the faint bfp's on 7&8dpo. Not sure if that makes sense, but the LP is on point.

[atomic sagebrush]

I think CD 21 with 15 day LP. :agree: Glad you're out of limbo! :)