Irregular cycle / when to test

[Mrs Mac]

Hi ladies,

Those of you with irregular cycles - how long do you wait before testing and what test do you use?

has anyone had experience of negative test and it’s turned out to be positive because you tested too early?

I’ve done a test which says negative but as one of you commented on my last post - your not out until the witch arrives!

 

[DobbyForever]

Hi! Oh man. Depends on how often you're DTD tbh. My cycles are irregular, but in the sense that they can be as short as 24 days or as long as 34 days. BUT I temped. I found that confirming my O with bbt really cut down on a lot of stress. Before I knew about temping and opks and all that jazz, my gyn used to say test two weeks after the deed/ generally trust a hpt two to three weeks post dtd. And so true! You're not out until the witch shows! In the early days, 1-2 days makes such a huuuuge difference in results. FXed for you!

 

[Mrs Mac]

Thanks for your reply. I did a digital ultra early yesterday so don’t think so but was only day 28, 2 weeks today since positive ovulation test.
I’ve not done bbt before. How do you track this? Take every day and wait to see a rise or something? I’ll maybe give this a go and see if it matches with my CB ovulation tests

 

[DobbyForever]

Digitals, even the early ones, are not as sensitive. I'd say anything is possible.

Opks are great but can be misleading. I've had one brand give me a clear positive while another was clearly negative. I've had positives for one day or five days. It's such a guessing game, especially when you have irregular cycles.

BBT isn't too bad. You just need a bbt thermometer preferably but a regular one is fine. The difference is that the BBT will read to the hundredths value. You just take your temperature at the same time every morning before you get up. It's only hard if your sleep schedule isn't consistent OR if you get up in the middle of the night and you have to account for things like drinking or super hot bedrooms potentially affecting temps. But I just set an alarm on the weekend, take my temp, and go back to bed. Even now, I get super broken sleep because of stress/my toddler cosleeping and as long as I don't get out of bed my temp is accurate. It's great with opks because one you get the positive, you can really pinpoint when you Oed because there will be a clear shift and your temps will progressively start rising.

 

[Mrs Mac]

Thank you. I’ll wait another week or two and see what’s what.

 

[NDH]

I would read Taking Charge of Your Fertility. Even with irregular cycles it is possible to track and predict ovulation, and then I would start testing around 9-10 days after you detect ovulation. Taking your temperature is just one way to look for ovulation, and it is most accurate in conjunction with other signs

Good luck.

Also, when I have not had a postpartum cycle yet and am NTNP I typically will take a cheapie pregnancy test every two weeks cause I have no interest in looking for signs of fertility for possibly months before my fertility actually returns, and this way I figure I'd have only a 2 week window of conception if I was to get pregnant before a period

 

[Bevziibubble]

Good luck for when you test

 

[Mrs Mac]

I tested

Good luck for when you test

i tested yesterday with FRER. Negative.
(Day 34) wasn’t FMU though, do you think it would make a difference at this stage in cycle.
Although my cycles are irregular, I would expect it to pick up a bfp at this stage? But not sure?

 

[Bevziibubble]

Sorry about the bfn