BBT question...

brandiwiggins91 · January 2016

Hey, ladies! I recently started temping (on CD 9). My last cycle occurred while I was taking progesterone (not after, but while I was still taking). So I am honestly unsure if I ovulated or if it was just the progesterone causing that cycle. I am extremely irregular and will go sometimes years without a cycle. However, I've been on Metformin, and the doctor recently upped my dosage, so I am unsure if that caused the cycle.

Anyway, since that cycle, I've been BBT and using OPKs. The OPKs have been a source of frustration to me!!! I can never get a positive, and while I may not be ovulating, my line color differs greatly. I also am not sure I was testing enough in a day and that I may have been missing my surge (if I even had one). As far as the temping, I'm only on CD 14, so I know it's hard to judge based off of a few days.

When I first got the thermometer (about a month ago), I played with it on a few different mornings, and my temp was always 97.1-ish over the course of a few days. I stopped using it last month because I knew that the progesterone was going to induce a period. This month, as you know, I started it on CD 9. I'm going to be upfront and tell you that I am not good about taking my temps at the same time each day, so I'm not sure what type of impact that would have, but it's usually between 6 AM and 8 AM.

On CD 9 & 10, my temps were 97.2 and 97.1. On days 11, 12, and 13, I was experiencing a huge dip each morning down to 96.2, 96.7, and 96.5 (yesterday). I have heard of the pre-ovulatory dip....if that WAS the pre-O dip, I feel that the timing would be roughly right in my cycle. Then this morning, I took my temp at 6:00, and it was 96.5 again. I almost started feeling like it was stuck there, because I made my husband do it during the day yesterday, and his was the same. I got up and turned off the fan and I fell back asleep. When I woke up at 8:30, I did it again, and it had jumped up from that to 97.4! That looked much more like my previous temps, but I'm not sure if it was just because I got up to turn off the fan or if was because the fan was off. Also, I know it wasn't 3 hours of sleep, but it was 2 1/2. Would it cause that large of a difference? I took it once more to make sure it wasn't a fluke, and it gave me the same temp.

Thoughts? Once again, I know that I would need to do more than 6 days for accuracy, but I just wondered if maybe I shouldn't put too much stock into this one temp.

Thanks so much for your help!!!!!

MrsDepo · January 2016

Have you read Taking Charge of Your Fertility? It has TONS of information on BBT. What's your "normal" temping time in the morning? While you do want to do it after 3 hours of sleep, I have also found differences in time of day, so try to do it at the same time each day. As far as I have seen from chart stalking, ovulation dips are rarely over 2 days long, with most being one day. I would go out on a limb and say that the mid 96s are your regular pre ovulation temperatures. Also, when you are on progesterone there is no point in temping since it artificially raises your BBT.

If you go to the TTGP board as well there are a lot of ladies that use BBT as their biggest indicator of ovulation. In the IF board, many of us are getting constant U/S monitoring and trigger shots, so I don't know how many responses you will get.

Good luck!

susykat77 · January 2016

I always take my temp the first time I wake up (usually to pee in the middle of the night) and go with that temp. If I take it later it's all over the place. I assume my temp goes up because I've been tossing and turning. Also, you should get a thermometer that reads to two decimal places. You can find them in a rite aid or Walgreens.

KLake42 · January 2016

It's been a while since I temped, since my cycles have all been medicated for a while, but I know that I had dramatically different temps between 6am and 9am. It's important to temp at the same time, even if you set an alarm to do it before wake-up time.

KatBH · January 2016

Regarding the OPKs, it might be worth trying the ClearBlue (not advanced) ones. I know they're on the expensive side, but I've found they're the only tests that work for me since the cheap ones from Amazon never give me a positive. They're also the brand that my RE has me use while taking Clomid.

brandiwiggins91 · January 2016

Thanks for the replies, ladies!!! I see what you mean about the dramatically different temps. I happened to wake up around 3:30, and couldn't resist temping. Lo and behold, it was low again (96.3). I was annoyed (because I really want to ovulate!) and thought that maybe it wasn't accurate because I never temp at that time of day. So, I fell back asleep around 4 and re-temped at 8:30 when I woke up this morning. It was 97.3...that's a full degree higher! Still not sure if I ovulated, because that's just a tad higher than my previous temps before the big dip. I need to figure out the whole "coverline" thing. My thermometer does read to the hundredth, and I do track that into my phone. However, I couldn't remember those hundredth places when I was typing this up.

Anyway...I will keep you all updated! And I guess I will start setting an alarm from now on to make sure I am getting accurate temps!

brandiwiggins91 · January 2016

Oh, and I think when I start taking Clomid (should be next cycle), I will definitely try the Clearblue!!! It's worth the money I'm sure! Good luck on your round of Clomid!

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