How soon after OV does your CM change?

[nyc0404]

This is just one of those curiosities I have. On Monday I recevied a opk+ and bd that night (one attempt). According to my app I was to ovulate Today (Thursday) and I know we shouldn't be emphasis on apps but it's been pretty bang on predicting my menstral cycles.

With that all being said, this morning my CM was very clumpy so I assumed ovulation has passed. My question here is how soon after ovulation does your CM changes. I'm trying to see if I ovulated yesterday or this morning to see what the cut-off would have been since BD on Monday.

[atomic sagebrush]

The truth is, CM consistency is highly overrated in determining when and if you ovulated. We have people whose CM is drying up a day or two before O, and CM can last a day or two after (this happened to me personally in the month I conceived my daughter...I had CM for 2 days after ovulation). This is because CM actually has nothing directly to do with ovulation. CM is caused by the same hormones that rise around ovulation. So since those hormones can rise for other reasons, and fall a little AFTER they've messaged your body TO ovulate even if your body hasn't ovulated yet, and also it can take day(s) for it to clear your body, the level of CM really does not tell you if and when ovulation has occurred.

When studied in good studies, even highly trained people could not pick their day of ovulation with CM any better than 1 out of 3 times. CM can get you in the ballpark of conceiving, and it can help prevent conception, but it CANNOT and never has been able to pin down the day of ovulation, let alone to the hour the way that some sites claim.

And if you're wondering about all those studies that use "cm consistency" to "prove" timing, yep, they cannot be relied upon. Only timing studies that use ultrasound or blood tests to monitor ovulation are reliable. (and they showed timing doesn't work!)