Sinuses, temp spikes, sleeplessness, Oh my!

Ok, I know I've used the ol' "Wizard of Oz" Lions, and Tigers, and Bears, OH MY title before, but how can you resist? Also, this is a super long post, and if you read the whole thing, bless you! : )

Sinus update--fatigue is somewhat less, but cough is way worse, sore throat moderately sore (compared to severe) and ears are itchy. Yuck. I kind of wish I'd asked the Dr at the Walk-in for a z-pack in hopes this would clear soon---I saw online it was pregnancy category B!! So is the amoxicillin he gave me, but I have 10+ days worth!! One cool thing he gave was a list of OTC (over-the-counter) meds that are "safe" for pregnancy. (Expect a post with that later!)

Temp spikes---click the link to my chart at the top--99.1! Now for most people this would be a fever. I suppose it could be. I feel I don't have any reliable fever thermometers. The only one I trust is my BBT. Also, woke at 5AMish to pee and so got slightly less sleep than needed to accurately trust the temp. Here's the thing though---lately, my pre-O temps are hovering between 97.6 and 98.1---98.0 is my coverline and my pre-O temps were more often in the lower half of the 97s. So, now my coverline is about the same, but my pre-O temps seem to hover just underneath that until O. SO, assuming that I COULD be pregnant, and that I MIGHT go triphasic, it makes sense that I would get up to the low 99s, right?? (See me desperately grasping straws)

The sleeplessness thing. This COULD have been since I got the sinus infection (about 1 week pre-O) BUT from what I recorded on FF, the waking regularly around 4AM has been since O....not my usual LP experience, though it has happened a few times, this time it is CONSTANT. Also, the frequent urination thing---I usually overestimate this one, but I timed it the other day and 30 minutes after peeing I need to go again.  I can guarantee I will wake at least once before temping (~7:10AM--I know I'm weird for picking that time) and that time has ranged anywhere from 3:30-5AM. Most of those are early enough that I technically can get enough sleep in to have the required 3 hours sleep before temping. But not always. So, I just went and marked every day that I seemed to wake up early AM.

And, I know this is not the accepted truth, but I SWEAR that I have tested myself by taking temps when I first wake (at an early hour) and then again when I wake at regular testing time---and my temp DROPS. This is exactly opposite effect from what you read about in most charting materials. I suspect it is because I get all snuggly under the heavy covers that it acts as a sort of incubation and the first waking and getting out of covers creates a massive cooling down that the short amount of sleep can't regain the temp.

So, high temp, but this morning the leftover sperm from yesterday was streaked with darkish or bright red blood. This is just about on-cue for me to truly start spotting with my reg cycles. But at the same time I have doubt because, well, not to get to TMI, but let's just say there was a lot of irritation in the vajayjay after yesterday's exercise. Right after there was NOTHING. Today, just flecks in the seminal fluid.

Oh, and I decided to test using my CBEFM test sticks with my Clearblue digi OPK reader---the sticks look ALMOST exactly the same. It sure fit. Please don't laugh, but I was so tired when I first woke to pee at 5AM that I think I compromised the test with overflowing urine. I'm new to the CB OPK digi and I forgot that you put the test in the reader BEFORE peeing on it. I was using it like I would for the CBEFM. The CB OPK digi reader wouldn't work with it. So I tried again at 7Am and it did read it...got nothing though. And it looks like Estrogen is back in dominance, which for the average LP it would be higher than LH at this point. I wish there were a home Progesterone test! Kind of pointless unless it is quantitative and all home tests are qualitative (i.e. first one gives an exact # of the levels and the second is just a Yes/No answer). So if there were a Progesterone pee stick I'd have to take a baseline one right before O and then start testing later...but still, it'd be hard to know just HOW high it is getting.

I know we POAS addicts like to think a darker line means more hormone in the test (OPK, HPT, FSH, whatever) but the truth is that although this is generally true, each batch of the respective tests can have a varying amount of dye in each test---meaning same brand, different batch could yield very different results from the same urine sample in terms of color darkness. So, that's why ladies if you take an HPT one day that is super dark and the next very light followed by another dark one---mostly differences in dye, but then you add in different concentrations of urine (unless you truly used all from the same urine sample within 1 hour). Same thing for OPKs. We all like to think we can line up our OPKs and see a gradual darkening of the test line--and generally we can, but don't be surprised if there are a few in-between that get really darker or really lighter than the previous--it's all down to dye and pee.