FertilityFactor.com Home

I had the same question. If you have normal periods every month that same time the same flow, it is a safe assumption that you ovulate. CM can be a good indicator but does not actually confirm anything. The lack fo CM is something to discuss with your doctor sinc eit supposedly changed when you went on the hormones. However, the only way to really confirm ovulation is the increase in your basal temp. When your temp increases, this confirms the egg was released. However, by the time you see your temp jump, your window of conception may have passed. The tmeps must stay higher for 3 days to propoerly confirm ovulation. You can get a jump but then have your temps go back down. This shows that the egg was not released or something else caused the jump in temps. Hope this helps!

I agree with Me. You could be right either way. But it's more likely that you haven't O'd yet. That CD14 thing just isn't for everyone. O can change drastically from month to month, depending on things like illness, exercise routine, stress, etc. I've Ovulated as early as CD6, and as late as CD17, with a couple of cycles at CD10 (I usually O on CD13 or 14). It is possible to miss a surge: If you only test once a day, and let's say it's noon, that's fine. But if your surge starts at 5PM, and you don't test again until the next day at noon, you may not get a full on positive and think you still have not surged when you have. Does that make sense? I test twice a day but that can get expensive for most of us. My suggestions: 1) Buy an FM (a little on the expensive side but it will tell you when you can expect to O without the OPK guesswork. Check them out on Ebay) 2) Chart. When you get your CM (watery or EWCM, both are fertile quality), get busy and stay busy. Once you get three days of sustained temps, you are pretty much safe to DTD just for fun or to stop if you want to. But you will probably have covered your bases. Just some suggestions. But if you have 28 day cycles, you really don't need to start testing before CD11. Save yourself a little money.

Wierd story... I have been temping and always saw an increase at o time. I also got positives most months on my opks, and I have regular periods (though somewhat light. Unfortunately for me, I also have PCOS, which was just diagnosed at the beginning of this cycle. My dr said I may have been ovulating, but not regular or normal. Very wierd!!! Not to mention confusing for me!

Hi, I may be wrong here but this is what I was told you do not get A/F unless you have ovulated. You need to ovulate in order to get a cycle. Unless of course you are on progesterone that only makes you have your cycle it does not promote ovulation. This is what I have been told by my doctor. so basically if you get a normal period each month then yes you are ovulating.

No, af doesn't always follow ovulation. Should a follicle regress, af would also occur because there is no CL to produce the additional progesterone. Becca, because your cycle is so regular, the odds are high that you are ovulationg. I've had negative OPKs plenty of times even though u/s has confirmed ovulation.

Wow guys, thanks so much for all your replies. It does help out a lot to know these things. I guess I'm just getting extra concerned as it's been almost 8 months since my D & C and still nothing. We have been very busy in the baby making dept. I guess if I don't get a positive opk soon, I will just go in on cd 21 for a progesterone level since I've heard that is a common date to go in. I really hate that it's this complicated and hard to get pregnant. With my first pregnancy ( my son will be 6 in November) I was actually on Dostinex to lower my prolactin...I had had an elevated prolactin level for over 8 years? Well with my first cycle of dostinex, my ex-husband and I fell pregnant ( not on purpose )....it was amazing. Since I had my son I've had two m/c with my current husband. With each subsequent pregnancy, my cycles have regulated as well as my prolactin lowered. It's very strange how it worked itself out without the needs of meds. So I guess I'm a little paranoid with my past hormone imbalances. Obviously I've ovulated at least twice on my own that we know of - hence the two m/c......so I'll just keep trying. Thanks again girls for all of your answers....this has been a terrific forum for me in the past year.

Lena is right. AF is usually triggered by the drop in progesterone levels. But if you don't ovulate, your body continues to build up on the lining, waiting for that drop that will not come (since there is nothing to drop, well nothing that counts anyway). Usually the lining will slough off on its own because of disintegration and the weight, called "Estrogen Breakthrough Bleeding". Or your estrogen levels will build up slowly and then drop, resulting in what they call "estrogen withdrawal bleeding" or "anovulatory bleeding". Some don't call this AF because it's not really a cycle caused by a normal ovulation.