Pregmate OPKs and when to test

Hi! Im unsure of this question should be asked on this thread. If it is in the wrong thread please let me know where I should ask...

This isn't my first time doing opks but for the life of me I can't remember when I should start taking them. My cycles have also changed since I was doing them last... I now have a 29-34 day cycle and have been having anywhere from 7 to 14 days on my period for the past few months! I'm currently still nursing my 2 yr old once daily. Which my GYN is saying could be partial cause of my loooong periods combined with the small cysts she's found on my ovaries in my recent u/s. I'm also on Synthroid due to a total thyroidectomy because of PTC, 7 yrs ago and no recurrence! I've also stopped the mini pill yesterday, today is cd1.

Ok, so now that I've shared a little, a lot, background info, when should I take an opk? TTC pink starting Oct or Nov but hoping to learn how to track my cycles so I know when I'm abouy to ovulate and not miss my attempt window.

Thank you for any and all info!!

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Oh wow how great you've got to the seven year mark and no recurrence! Fabulous!

Nursing your 2 year old once a day is NOT the cause of a long period. There's no hormonal interaction with nursing that COULD make a period so long (let alone just once a day!!!) Doctors like to find the most blatantly obvious thing and blame any weirdness in cycles on that, and breastfeeding is their particular fave since some of them think it's "weird" to nurse so long and it's easy for them to point a finger at.

Have you recently had the Covid vax?? A lot of women are noticing much longer periods for a few months after having it.

Another very common cause of a long period is an underperforming thyroid, it may be you need your levels adjusted up a little.

Have you recently started any new supplements?

I want you to start testing before the earliest day you think you could possibly ovulate (so CD 10 or so) even if you're still having your period then. Your lining grows from the inside out so even when you're still bleeding you can be approaching ovulation. Some even start earlier, more like cD 8 so they can see the tests run the gamut from stark negative thru positive. (you would only need to do this one or two months just so you could see what they look like). This sounds expensive, but when you're out of the fertile window you only need to test 1x a day, after lunch (around 1 pm). If you think you're getting closer, you can test 1x after lunch and 1x before dinner (so like at 4/5 pm or so) This is the time of day you're most likely to get a positive.

Atomic, thank you so much for such a speedy response! I had my suspicions that they'd blame nursing just because, smh. He's my 4th DS but the 1st to want to nurse so long. His older brothers stopped by 18 months.

As for covid vaccine, currently I'm unvaccinated and my thyroid levels were checked 2 months ago and are great according to my endocrinologist. I may push to get my levels redrawn for this month and explain we will start ttc in the next 2 months and want our best shot. I have not started any new supplements but have been on 500 mcg of Myo-inositol for about 5 months or so as well as 400 mcg Folic acid daily taken at night. My Synthroid is in the AM.

Thank you for all of your help!

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I'm unsure if this will help but these were my levels 2 months ago...

TSH with Reflex to T4 was 3.24 uIU/mL
(lab levels are from 0.4-4.2)

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Yes exactly - I swear, it's practically such an Official Thing I have had clients see their doctor for a hangnail and the doc blames it on breastfeeding. It's so bizarre how some docs are just looking for the most obvious reason to put any issue back onto us.

Though this effect has not been reported to me that I recall, I did some digging and found that some people are having heavy periods after starting myo. Let's try taking the 500 mg every other day instead (more as a maintenance dose) and see if you have any benefit from that.

Since you ahve been bleeding quite heavily I want you on 30-60 mg iron (avoid the irons that come in hundreds of mg as that is a form which is badly used by the body and has some unpleasant side effects as well) daily. If you do go in to have your levels checked (which, as I read what people are experiencing from the myoinositol, plus seeing your levels, which are very nice, I am starting to think you probably don't need to) have them do an anemia work up at the same time and we'll see where we are at (we may drop to 3x a week if you are not anemic). If you don't have the anemia work up done, take the iron daily for 6 weeks, then we'll go to 3x a week maintenance dose.

Here is one of the threads I read where women are discussing bleeding after starting myoinositol: https://www.reddit.com/r/PCOS/commen...rine_bleeding/

Thank you Atomic! The link won't open for me on the app but I will try on a PC soon. Came on this thread to ask a follow up question...

I stopped taking my birth control pills (mini pill) the same day my period arrived. My period this cycle lasted 4 days! Do you still think I need to take an iron supplement? I've never done well on bcp and am now wondering if they were the cause of my long periods.

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Oh yes it's Tapatalk, any other browser and it should work.

Yes, I think you still need the iron because the longer periods were depleting your iron some. If you prefer you can just go straight to the 3x a week maintenance, but I'd like to see you on the daily iron.