Stupid question- How do you know when you ovulate

austenreader85 · March 2009

So my doc is holding off on starting me on Clomid for another month or two since I"ve been diagnosed with hypothyroidism and he thinks if he gets my thyroid level right, maybe I'll ovulate on my own. My cycles have been so messed up, always, that I'm not sure if I've ever ovulated, which is common with PCOS (which I also have). But women with PCOS can ovulate and maybe it was the thyroid level that was keeping it from happening, which has gone undetected for years. So how do I know? I would have no idea of knowing what days it would be likely. My last AF was Provera induced in Feb, before that BCP in June, before BCP it was October 2006?? (I think that's right) on my own. I used to have AF every 2-3 months and I just thought my cycles were long, that's how I didn't know I had PCOS for so long! And then it changed to never. So besides chemical testing at the Dr what can I do to know? Just buy a pack of ovulation testers and test daily?

Dragonfly1226 · March 2009

You could try to start charting your temps.

krissyh21 · March 2009

The best way to do it is through charting. www.fertilityfriend.com is a great site that will walk you through the basics of charting. Taking Charge of Your Fertility is also a great read that will further explain charting.

lilmel6 · March 2009

I chart my temps along with OPK's. Charting can take a couple months to get used to, as far as noticing the patterns, but it is definitely the best way to go.

Marielle0430 · March 2009

It's not a stupid question at all. Ditto pp regarding charting your basal body temperature (or "waking temperature") and reading "Taking Charge of Your Fertility".

Once you start charting and you read the book you will learn the signs your body exhibits that show you've ovulated. For example, if you track your waking temp every morning you will see that usually the day after you ovulate your tempurature jumps higher than previous tempuratures for that month and then stays elevated until you have AF again. Also, if you track your cervical mucus, you normally have what they call egg white cervical mucus (which is exactly what it sounds like) on and around the day you ovulate...it normally dries up right after you ovulate.

You should note that when you take Clomid your CM will probably dry up - and you need fertile (egg white) cervical mucus to assist sperm mobility/motility (?) so you might want to use something like Pre-seed to assist with that. You can buy Pre-seed online.

Good luck.