Cbfm help please!

[TickTockBaby]

So CD25 of first cycle ttc, had highs since day 8 and now today my monitor is back to low, with no peak

This impending AF will also be my first of BC, should I be worried that I didn't get a peak? The only think that's got me wondering is i had to use another stick from a different batch today because I used all the 20 sticks that I started this cycle with.

To summarise, I feeling pretty bummed, stupid no show egg

 

[laura109]

Hi darling you may have just missed it this month. Sometimes its just best to have sex every other day from cycle day ten too 18 if you can lol. As sperm can survive up to five days theres always some waiting around to meet the egg. Xx

 

[pinkcatgirl]

The first month the monitor is getting to know your hormone levels so may not have recognised the peak . You should get one next month hopefully.

The booklet say if you get no peak after several months them see your doctor

Xx

 

[misspriss]

Your cycle may just be too long this first cycle of BC, or you may have missed a peak, but I doubt that.

The way the monitor works, it keeps asking for a test for 10 or 20 days. Once you get a high (which most people get a few days before peak) it will keep saying high until you get a peak. However, you ran out of your 20 days of testing and only got highs.

You have a couple of options, you can DTD and wait and see, or you can reset the monitor and keep testing.

There is no reason to worry about mixing sticks from one batch to the other, the sticks are high enough quality there is not that much variation between batches. Especially since it looks for estrogen once and then only looks for LH after that, comparability wouldn't be an issue. On that note, once you DO get a peak - even if it asks for a test - don't. It will give you an automatic second peak, no matter what your test comes out, and and automatic high then automatic lows, so save your sticks! Those things get pricey.

If you reset the monitor (not just retrigger) it will give you a fresh (not automatic) result, and will erase your "learned" data, you could keep testing after the reset and see if you get a peak, and then you would have to reset again if/when you got your period after so it would forget that "super early" peak.

I hope I haven't confused you further. I use the CBFM with the Marquette Method of NFP breastfeeding protocol. I am intimately familiar with it's quirks and oddities.

I could assume getting off BCP is like breastfeeding, since the pill suppresses ovulation as does pregnancy. You will probably get a lot of highs before you get a peak, or you may not get a peak at all for the first few cycles.

My first cycle PP, I started getting highs on CD9 and got my peak on CD31 (on day 25, I reset the monitor and kept testing, charted online to keep up with the actual CD instead of what the monitor says).

 

[TickTockBaby]

Thanks for the reply. We have been bd'ing every other day since I started to get the high readings, so that's good to hear- thanks!
Is it possible to miss a peak on the CBFM? I thought with testing every day the monitor would pick it up if I ovulated. I'm just impatient I think. Haha
Baby dust to you!

 

[misspriss]

Thanks for the reply. We have been bd'ing every other day since I started to get the high readings, so that's good to hear- thanks!
Is it possible to miss a peak on the CBFM? I thought with testing every day the monitor would pick it up if I ovulated. I'm just impatient I think. Haha
Baby dust to you!

Oh yes, it is possible.

The monitor looks for two things:

1. A rise in estrogen (No threshold amount)
2. A specific level of LH (above the threshold amount)

It could miss a peak for different reasons:

1. Not enough LH (a rise, but not over the threshold)
2. Quick spike (LH rises in the afternoon/evening, not overnight/AM)

The monitor is very effective at picking up estrogen for a couple reasons, 1 - detects rise not threshold, 2 - test in the AM with AM urine. Estrogen is higher in the AM urine. It is more recommended to take OPKs in the afternoon I believe, because LH is more likely to spike in the afternoon. Some people have a short spike and the monitor can miss it.

If you are really trying to pinpoint O, some people use a separate LH checker (either line OPK or digital OPK but NOT clearblue advanced digital opk) in the afternoon to be sure and not miss that peak.

 

[TickTockBaby]

Thanks ladies! So going on all your info should I just keep bd'ing every other day till AF shows up or am I officially out this month now my readings are bk to low? Also if I turn on my CBFM tomorrow and it asks for a stick should I just ignore it? And start fresh next cycle when AF shows?

 

[misspriss]

Thanks ladies! So going on all your info should I just keep bd'ing every other day till AF shows up or am I officially out this month now my readings are bk to low? Also if I turn on my CBFM tomorrow and it asks for a stick should I just ignore it? And start fresh next cycle when AF shows?

It may very well be an automatic low, I can't remember if it is day 25 or 26 it goes back to low regardless, but just be aware it could be an automatic response from the machine and not necessarily your test result.

I say you should keep BD'ing if you want. It will not ask for a stick unless you reset the monitor and MAKE it take another stick (it never takes more than 20 sticks in a cycle). I'm not an expert in post BCP cycles, more on PP cycles, so I am not sure what to expect. Hopefully AF will come around quickly so you can start over and hopefully peak.

You are just pretty much in limbo land with the monitor if you aren't sure of your cycles (due to getting of BCP or pregnancy or breastfeeding or whatnot) once you get your peak, you know either AF or a BFP is coming. But if you don't get that peak....you just kind of have to wait it out.

 

[dollych]

This happened to me last month!!.
I realized I was peeing for too long on the stick!!!. It says to place the stick in the stream of your urine for 3 seconds only. I was leaving it there for 10 secs!!!. This can prevent the monitor from detecting the surge.
I read about this on a post on here, a girl contacted the clearblue helpline and they confirmed this could happen......... that's when I realized I had done the same thing.
I don't know if you have done this so this could maybe the reason as well.
Good luck xx

 

[misspriss]

Oh yes oversaturation can skew the results, I'm a cup dipper myself. I find that I count 1-10 mississippis, then 11-15 just regular. 15 mississippis is too long, but 1-15 without the mississippis is too short. You are supposed to dip for 15 seconds.

In general, for OPKs or HPTs I find the controlability of cup dipping to be preferable to the unpredictability of my urine stream!

(the though occured to me that people outside the US, or maybe even outside the southern US, don't count "mississippis"...it's like counting one-onethousand two-onethousand etc or some other word to get you to count SECONDS and not just count)...

 

[Lynny77]

OMG Dolly thank you for posting that!!!! This is my third month using the monitor and month one i got a peak at day 17 and month 2 I got my peak at day 20. This month I didn't get a peak but I did get ewcm (which I don't always get) and a positive opk. I read on another forum that people are dipping their sticks and getting stronger results so I thought if I peed on the sticks longer that'd be the same thing. That's probably why I didn't get my peak! I did notice the lines on the sticks were really cloudy whereas before the lines were really noticeable. I feel so much better now! Next month only 3 seconds! lol

 

[Paloma123]

This is my second month using the monitor, and have not had any peaks. Just highs. It's really getting me down. One afternoon I tried using a clearblue smiley stick thing, purely out of curiosity, and lo and behold.... A bloody smiley face!!! Yet my monitor is only showing high?!? So that smiley face detects the hormone which says I'm going to release an egg, yet the monitor is not saying that?!?

It's all very demotivating and confusing, not to mention tiring having sex every day it says high and hoping next day it will peak....

Should I just accept the monitor doesn't work for me and switch to using the smiley sticks in the afternoon?

 

[misspriss]

This is my second month using the monitor, and have not had any peaks. Just highs. It's really getting me down. One afternoon I tried using a clearblue smiley stick thing, purely out of curiosity, and lo and behold.... A bloody smiley face!!! Yet my monitor is only showing high?!? So that smiley face detects the hormone which says I'm going to release an egg, yet the monitor is not saying that?!?

It's all very demotivating and confusing, not to mention tiring having sex every day it says high and hoping next day it will peak....

Should I just accept the monitor doesn't work for me and switch to using the smiley sticks in the afternoon?

No, I would use both if you can.

Smiley stick picks up LH, but since sperm take a while to get to the egg, you lower your chances just depending on the LH checker.

LH generally does NOT peak in the AM or overnight, but estrogen does. In order to pick up the rise in estrogen, the monitor has you check in the AM. Generally, you are able to pick up the LH surge as well. However, some people have very short LH surges that happen in the afternoon, and the monitor will not pick up the peak.

Using the monitor in the AM and adding the LH smiley face stick in the afternoon when you start getting highs is an almost bulletproof way to pick it up, if in fact you ovulate. It's expensive though in the long run, but it works really well and hopefully if it works, you won't need to do it very long.

I'm using the monitor to avoid pregnancy until my LO is a bit older and my c-section has time to heal, so I will be buying a lot of sticks. Amazon usually has close to the best price, and fast shipping.

Also, the Advanced Digital Ovulation predictor works like the monitor, but is noticeably more sensitive, you could try it. Also, you can test at different times of the day before and after you start getting highs I think, it's not so picky on the "3 hr +/-" window thing. It, like the monitor, picks up estrogen (lower level than the monitor) and a RISE in LH (where the monitor picks up LH over a certain threshold), making it more sensitive on both estrogen and LH surge. If your hormones are crazy like when you are BF'ing, it throws a lot of false positives. However, if you are having trouble getting proper measurements with the monitor, you might try the advanced digital.

 

[Paloma123]

This is my second month using the monitor, and have not had any peaks. Just highs. It's really getting me down. One afternoon I tried using a clearblue smiley stick thing, purely out of curiosity, and lo and behold.... A bloody smiley face!!! Yet my monitor is only showing high?!? So that smiley face detects the hormone which says I'm going to release an egg, yet the monitor is not saying that?!?

It's all very demotivating and confusing, not to mention tiring having sex every day it says high and hoping next day it will peak....

Should I just accept the monitor doesn't work for me and switch to using the smiley sticks in the afternoon?

No, I would use both if you can.

Smiley stick picks up LH, but since sperm take a while to get to the egg, you lower your chances just depending on the LH checker.

LH generally does NOT peak in the AM or overnight, but estrogen does. In order to pick up the rise in estrogen, the monitor has you check in the AM. Generally, you are able to pick up the LH surge as well. However, some people have very short LH surges that happen in the afternoon, and the monitor will not pick up the peak.

Using the monitor in the AM and adding the LH smiley face stick in the afternoon when you start getting highs is an almost bulletproof way to pick it up, if in fact you ovulate. It's expensive though in the long run, but it works really well and hopefully if it works, you won't need to do it very long.

I'm using the monitor to avoid pregnancy until my LO is a bit older and my c-section has time to heal, so I will be buying a lot of sticks. Amazon usually has close to the best price, and fast shipping.

Also, the Advanced Digital Ovulation predictor works like the monitor, but is noticeably more sensitive, you could try it. Also, you can test at different times of the day before and after you start getting highs I think, it's not so picky on the "3 hr +/-" window thing. It, like the monitor, picks up estrogen (lower level than the monitor) and a RISE in LH (where the monitor picks up LH over a certain threshold), making it more sensitive on both estrogen and LH surge. If your hormones are crazy like when you are BF'ing, it throws a lot of false positives. However, if you are having trouble getting proper measurements with the monitor, you might try the advanced digital.

Thanks for the advice, I'll keep using both and hope it soon gets into sync x

 

[TickTockBaby]

Thanks for all the advice ladies! I think I'll just wait it out and start fresh next month with the monitor.

It's so frustrating paloma so I completely understand where your coming from, I've thought about using an OPK in the afternoon as per the ladies recommendations but I really don't want TTC to become a chore or all consuming haha: might be a bit late!)

Also, I'm a cup dipper! Haha and I'm the uk and still a Mississippi counter!

 

[misspriss]

Thanks for all the advice ladies! I think I'll just wait it out and start fresh next month with the monitor.

It's so frustrating paloma so I completely understand where your coming from, I've thought about using an OPK in the afternoon as per the ladies recommendations but I really don't want TTC to become a chore or all consuming haha: might be a bit late!)

Also, I'm a cup dipper! Haha and I'm the uk and still a Mississippi counter!

I started thinking about this thread, and the thought occured to me you could do the CBFM until you get a high, then stop using it and start using LH testing in the afternoon until you get your peak, so you would only be doing one a day you would just switch tests and timing after you get the high reading. Just a thought....

Do you spell it "M-I-crookedletter-crookedletter-I-crookedletter-crookedletter-I-humpback-humpback-I" or is that just us? LOL!