What does it mean when your cycle is messed up?

That is what I ask myself. Yes, cycle's change. You can have a consistent pattern six cycles in a row, and just when you seem to have identified the pattern, it changes. If ONLY for that one cycle. Just to show you that you can't ever be definite when it comes to your body.  I don't know how many times I've seen posts on forums or pregnancy sites claiming that "royal jelly messed up my cycle!" Replace the underlined word with the newest supplement to be touted as the infertility cure. I've seen it said about Soy Isoflavones, Vitex (chasteberry), and any number of other blends or new supplements.

Here is the cold hard truth. These supplements are supposed to make your cycle change. Yeah. I said it.

When something changes that is good, we sigh in relief or jump for joy and think, "Yes! It worked" or something to that effect. When something changes that is not what we were hoping for or expecting, it messed it up or didn't work.  After 3 years of attempting to conceive successfully, I will admit that many (ok, most) of the times that my cycle took a drastic turn, I was moaning and complaining with the rest of my TTC pals. But later, because hindsight is 20/20, I saw how perhaps these changes, although not the immediate miracle I was longing for, these changes are what just might push me towards that happy ending in the form of a healthier cycle.

The first time I tried Royal Jelly, I loathed the increase in PMS symptoms AFTER AF, that made me insanely paranoid that I had actually become pregnant but was having early bleeding. Which when you think about it, isn't a great sign anyway. BUT, one thing I did notice about my flow, was it turned from dark and clotty, to thin, bright red. Almost really EWCM with blood. And from what I've read, a bright red, non-clotty flow is a healthy one. So, although it was inaugurated by some killer cramps, the likes of which I had not seen since my teen years, I took this as a sign I was headed in the right direction.

So to sum up the good things that happened when my cycle "messed up":

1. Healthier, cleaner flow
2. Symptoms more similar to adolescence, which let's face it, are generally more fertile than your 30's . 
3. Lengthening of LP to just around 11-12 consistently. Also, spotting before AF is now negligible, and sometimes absent.

So, I recognized a temp pattern in my early pre-O temps. Around 5-7 days after a "false O" that occurs about the 2nd week of my cycle (CD's 7-12), I get my true O. I have to say what was most frustrating to me was my CBEFM! After 2 lows, I just kept getting Highs. And 3 days after FF gave me cross hairs, still only High! I will say though, that looking at the sticks, they've read closer to lows that I've had in the past. The closest to a Peak was about 3 days before FF said I O'd, where both lines were present, but quite faint. 

Yet, here is my chart today. 

9 days later I get my O. 2 days past the longest stretch between my "false O" and true O. Plus no High on my CBEFM. But as you can see, my clear Fall-back rise pattern, which has only failed me a few times. So I'm sold. Goodbye CBEFM, I might give you ONE more shot next cycle. But did the Bee Fertile "mess up" this cycle? Not really. Because in order to fix something, sometimes you have rebuild it piece by piece. Lay the foundation, shift a few things here, add some things there, and eventually, your building is functioning more effectively. But it takes time, and sometimes it won't work right away. 

Besides, if you read the literature on Bee Fertile, it is not claiming a quick fix. It lets you know that it becomes most effective after 3 cycles. If you get knocked up in cycle 1 or 2, you're just lucky!  I hope I get that luck!

Disclaimer: Although the Bee Fertile supplements were provided to me at no charge, all opinions are my own. Trust me, I 'll give you the good, bad and in-between with an un-varnished eye!

Fertility charting pattern prediction Pt 2

So, if you read my post about an Interesting Chart Pattern I discovered, here's a followup to it! Yesterday, I posted about noticing a "false O" after AF that usually proceeded O by about 5-7 days. So, with my "false O" being on Sunday (2/26) CD7, I looked ahead about 6-7 days and see that I should O around this weekend, Sat Mar 3 or Sun Mar 4. It would be a kind of early one for me, although I have O'd on CD13 before.

So, I predicted that today would be my first High on my Clearblue Easy Fertility Monitor (CBEFM). And so it was!

Here is a pic of my chart today, with the green marks I added predicting possible O dates and readings on my CBEFM.



Also, I noticed yesterday my nips started hurting, which has progressed to a faint bruised feeling on the sides of my BBs--all classic signs of approaching O.

I have to say that with the Bee Fertile supplements, I feel a stabilization of my cycle symptoms. They follow the same familiar pattern, but are more stable and consistent. Previously with Vitex, my moods have become despondent and alternatively happy.  With Royal Jelly I get some stabilization, but eventually the severity of the PMS symptoms during my period took its toll.

Since my period ended and I've started the Bee Fertile regimen, I've noticed a very stable mood, if a little weepy and nostalgic at times, but never so overpowering that I felt swept away. I also feel I have improved energy. But this is the "calm before the storm" so to speak. This is the one time in my cycle I feel "normal" As O approaches, the symptoms and my analysis of them increase and my mood becomes more erratic. I'm praying that this will bring a welcome change that also leads to increased fertility!

So, I'm not really doing Sperm Meets Egg plan faithfully. But with this new prediction, I'm hoping to use it to plan and hit the 3days before O and O. Since today was High, I gotta get busy!

Disclaimer: Although the Bee Fertile supplements were provided to me at no charge, all opinions are my own. Trust me, I 'll give you the good, bad and in-between with an un-varnished eye!

Hmmm...interesting chart pattern

So, I keep getting "faked out" by what seems to be an early O---low temps after period ends, then a huge spike that seems like I have O'd much earlier than I usually do. It's happened so often, that when my temp spiked 3 days ago, I took it for granted. But then I thought....hmm, I wonder if this pattern could give me a heads up to when I might O!

So I created an overlay of "average" charts and I did identify a pattern.



I identified the highest temp that spiked after AF and before O. (circled in red) You'll see that of the 4 cycles I identified, the highest temp spike occured 5-7 days before O was identified. So, with that logic, looking at my current cycle...



It looks like if O could be 6-7 days from now, it could occur CD13-14 (Sat Mar 3or Sun Mar 4). If that is the case, then if we make sure to BD starting today and for the next 5 days, we could easily catch O! We'll see if my theory holds true! Either way, I'll still be using my CBEFM to track it.

Another restless morning

Ever since I started cutting my anti-psychotic in half I usually find myself awake anywhere from 3-5am. Not every morning, but enough to notice a difference and I never had trouble sleeping through the night before. I wonder if it will affect my temperatures. I usually try to stay in bed until my alarm goes off but this morning I was so hot and sweaty that I decided to take my temp an hour early and go ahead and get up. I wish I were in bed asleep right now because I'm still quite tired, but it just wasn't happening.

The weird thing is that for so early my temp was a bit higher than normal (97.90). Yesterdays OPK was completely negative, however, I did notice my sample was more diluted than it has been the last few days. Still, I got zero test line and I think that if I had ovulated yesterday there would have been SOMETHING even with a diluted sample. So I feel this higher temp today is just a fluke unless by some miracle I'm ovulating today.

A lot of my other fertility signs are pointing towards it. Lately my cervix has been so high I can't reach it so I can't evaluate the texture and my CM has been odd. It has a very lubricative feeling, but most of what I pull looks sticky more than anything, so I've been putting creamy.

I just don't know what to think about my body because I get a sign like a super-high cervix, but negligible CM. Yet still no positive OPK (barely even close) and temps all over the place. Looks like I'm back on my anovulatory cycles. I had such hope because for at least two cycles in a row I had 28-30 day cycles on their own with no help. That was when I was on the calorie-shifting diet and had lost some weight. I have to wonder if there is something about a higher protein diet that is more regular.

I must try using the diet generator for it again. I can't be depended on to eat according to the diet when I have too much control over what I eat and it was working. Plus, there was this diet program we were set to start, a holistic program, but there is a problem with the way WA state licenses it so the owner is having to decide if she can stay and run it or not.

I'm not sure how many days to give AF before she shows. I did just get the ClearPlan Fertility Monitor from my friend at work and have ordered the test sticks so I may just wait to use the progesterone to start AF until after they show up so I can reset the monitor.  I even ordered about 3 expired sticks to use for resetting so I don't waste a good stick from the new package.

In reviewing the prices online for the sticks I really do think Amazon is the  best price for sticks within the expiration date. There were a lot of them going for about $20 or less on eBay, but the expiration date couldn't be guaranteed and I wouldn't want to chance it.

I really wish I could call in sick today and just try to get some more rest, but it is so hard to try and reschedule clients and my schedule is out so far anyway that I think that I shouldn't call in just because I'm feeling poorly. I suppose I could go back to bed and try to get some rest and come in an hour late. Then do some work from home on Wednesday. I think I'll just shower and go in because even now I'm still hot and sweaty.

I think I need to really watch the caffeine. I had two sodas yesterday. I only intended to have one but my husband served me one for dinner and I wanted it so I drank it anyway. I think at the very least I'm going to say no soda after 5PM and see if that helps with my sleep at all because I'm very sensitive to caffeine. Too much a day or after a certain hour messed with my sleep before and it certainly will now. I guess it will have to be the price I pay for going off the medicine. I wonder if I should start taking Melatonin on a regular basis just to see if it will help me sleep through the night.

We'll see what tomorrow night brings