Charting normal but no CM?

[nevafaye]

This was our first month off BCP and TTC.

I can't remember my periods pre-BCP, but I think I was fairly regular. I started charting on CD1 and it seems I've had a very regular 28 day cycle (including Oing on CD14). I also used OPKs and got fairly normal results from them.

I did get a temp spike on CD15, which has stayed high until this morning (CD21) where it dipped. FF tells me that it could be an implantation dip?

The weird thing is that I have not noticed ANY CM at all. Nothing creamy, nothing stringy, nothing I'm "supposed" to have.

Maybe it just doesn't make it down far enough? LoL

Analyze me please. (Oh, I've neurotically POAS the last three mornings, BFNs.)

[mimosas]

First of all, here's a rule of thumb chart for pg test accuracy by DPO:

HPT accuracy DPO
10 dpo : 35%
11 dpo : 51%
12 dpo : 62%
13 dpo : 68%
14 dpo : 74%
15 dpo : 80%
16 dpo : 88%
17 dpo : 92%
18 dpo : 99%

If you O'd on CD15 and started POAS on CD18, you wouldn't have a positive yet anyway. I'd wait until a missed period or at least 13 or 14DPO. The waiting sucks, but you're just wasting pg tests until then.

Not sure about CM, but just wanted to throw that out there. GL!

[Cheesecake]

If you're on CD 21 now and you O-ed on CD14th you're wasting your money POAS-ing already. (REad the intro post, no complaining about BFNs until 14DPO.

You won't be able to get a positive until after implantation. The hormone will then start building up and after a few days of building up it can be found in your urine.
Don't POAS before 10DPO at the very earliest and only if you have ultra-ultra sensitive tests and too much money in the bank. Don't think about BFNs until 14DPO, there's a chance you are pregnant but not enough hormone has been produced.

Yes, implantation dips exist, but in at least the same amount of women temps just gradually go down when there hasn't been implantation starting around the same day.

Again, read the whole intro post on this board. Also, most people do NOT get pregnant their first cycle trying (only 25 percent chance of pregnancy per cycle IF you have sex on the right days!)

Oh, and re the CM, everyone is different, chart and look at it for a few months. Your CM cycle might be different than that of others. If you keep finding nothing at all while you know what to look/feel for (aka it's extremely dry even at the tip of your cervix) go see your doctor and get that stuff checked out.

Stop peeing on sticks though, really!

EDIT: ha, mimosa's response wasn't there yet when I started typing. Good chart!

And another edit because I just now think about it. If this is your first month charting and trying, how do you know how long your cycle is???

[nevafaye]

LoL, didn't realize y'all were so serious over here!

Wasn't complaining about BFNs, since it's obviously too early. Plus they're wondfos, so not exactly a big investment.

I said that it would seem that I have a 28 day cycle as I O'ed on CD14 and had what appears to be an implantation dip on CD21 (both standard 28 day cycle milestones). Obviously, I have no frame of reference as this is the first month.

I was really mostly curious about the CM, but thanks for the other info.

[mimosas]

If you go a few months with no luck, I've heard good things about preseed (you can find it on amazon). I haven't used it, but I think it's supposed to act as CM.

[nevafaye]

Aug 14, 2012 13:05:59 GMT -5 mimosas said:

If you go a few months with no luck, I've heard good things about preseed (you can find it on amazon). I haven't used it, but I think it's supposed to act as CM.

Thanks!

It wasn't bone dry, just nothing like egg whites. I did read that it could be watery too which I might have had (was also really sweaty, lol, this got TMI fast!)

[Cheesecake]

Thing is, if you just now got off birth control, you don't know anything regarding your cycle. Charting helps you to get to understand your cycle quicker, but not halfway through the first one.

There's no such thing as a standard 28 day cycle. You don't know how long your luteal phase is, could be 10 days (if shorter than that it MIGHT be a bad sign) but it could be 16 days as well. You don't know if you ovulated relatively late this month, or that this was average. Also your 'implantation dip' can just as easily be the start of Aunt Flo coming along.

Point is, if it's your first cycle charting, you don't know what your cycle is like yet - and perfect cycles are the stuff of fairytales, they would be pretty damn awesome if they did exist!

[nevafaye]

Sorry, will crawl back to my hole until I have a few months under my belt!

[jenn1298]

Don't crawl back into your hole... the goal is to have a more active GP board, so don't get scared off.

I only use OPKs and don't chart anything else, but it seems to me like the amount of my CM can easily vary from month to month. Yours might be very different next month, or it might be different all of the time. Especially your first month off of BCP, I wouldn't expect you to have a very normal cycle.

[mimosas]

And FWIW I've been aware of/charting CM for over a year and I still have trouble classifying it. Eggwhite, creamy, watery, whatever. But you'll get more familiar with the, uh, consistency as you go. Also it still grosses me out some too especially when I start overanalyzing it. lol

[anonnani]

Classifying CM is varied what you might consider EW another person might not. The classification are based on texture more then color if that helps any. You may have thought "hmmm doesn't look like EW", but the actual texture WAS eggwhite in consistency but the color was tinged not clear. Grapefruit juice and water increase the amounts of CM though.

[Cheesecake]

No hole crawling puh-lease. I didn't mean any snark, just eanted to give perspective.

Damn, I'm on a roll today. Everything I type comes out/is percieved snarky while I totally don't mean it that way. FX it's due to hormones (and not PMS)

[thoseareradishes]

I never heard that grapefruit juice increases CM. Do you know the science behind how that works?

[vivaladiva]

[Viva creeps timidly into the post with her most hated word]

PreSeed is great.

[runs away]

[nevafaye]

No worries!

I realize as a lurker I have zero street cred, but I assure you I've been around for a while, pre-GBCN days.

I think I was just misunderstanding what you were saying. I realize now that BCPs can mask CM and it might take a few months for that to even out.

I'll keep with it and definitely try the PreSeed if I'm still not seeing a difference in a couple months.

[nevafaye]

Also, just realized that 8 and - equals that sassy eyeroll.

I probably looked like an ass, lol.

Fixed it :-)

[Jalapeñomel]

Keep in mind that your periods could be really wonky after coming off BCPs. My first three or so months were regular, and then they went crazy, and it took about a year to regulate.

[Jalapeñomel]

Oh and I never really understood the CM thing. It has never been anything like what the books describe.

[SKP82]

Neva - I just went off BCP too! We can learn together.

Have you read Taking Charge of Your Fertility? There is SOOO much good info in that book (IMO).

[Jalapeñomel]

Do you check your CP too?

[nevafaye]

Aug 16, 2012 18:44:46 GMT -5 Jalapeñomel said:

Do you check your CP too?

No, because I'm not sure how to do that, lol. I don't know what I'm looking for!

[Jalapeñomel]

Aug 20, 2012 18:44:45 GMT -5 nevafaye said:

Aug 16, 2012 18:44:46 GMT -5 Jalapeñomel said:

Do you check your CP too?

No, because I'm not sure how to do that, lol. I don't know what I'm looking for!

Basically, you are looking for some sort of pattern. If you check at the same time during the day and then mark what you feel (open, closed, close, high, etc), you should see a pattern month to month. But keep in mind that if you don't check at the same time every day each month that it will seem to be wonky.

[statlerwaldorf]

I usually have a really low dip around 7-8 dpo. It hasn't been an implantation dip for me.