OPK after Miscarriage

[ajarvis]

Curious. I just had a miscarriage. I'm still lightly bleeding and not going back on Birth Control. I've heard though you should have at least one cycle before TTC etc. but that ovulation can be hard to predict (my cycles are super predictable I get pregnant every time I'm not on Birth control - so 3 cycles off BC 3 pregnancies) so should I try some OPK to avoid ovulation maybe? Are they expensive? Are they pretty accurate? Any other advice?

 

[Kimbre]

Opk are not too expensive you can get a bunch of them online on earlypregnancytests.com so sorry for your loss I'm right there with you. Although I'm not so good at falling pregnant
you're lucky you get preggers so easy lady !

But yeah they send you the strip ones those are the cheapest and accurate to tell you when you should be ovulating

 

[Dill]

I'm so sorry for your loss!

I got mine off Amazon for super cheap. They were very effective.

That said, if you still have any hcg in your system from your MC, you may find yourself testing positive even when you're not ovulating!

 

[ajarvis]

I've been bleeding since the 25th. How long til the HCG is gone?

 

[Dill]

That can vary pretty widely. I've read that most women will clear out within 2 weeks, but it took me about 2 months before mine finally dropped low enough to stop showing lines on HPTs. Many clinics will monitor the levels with blood tests until hcg is down to 0-3.

 

[ajarvis]

I'm not being monitored by a clinic. But will be touching base with my midwife on Monday. So will go from there. She said she may send me for another ultrasound to make sure everything was cleared out. I'll look into some OPKs. Thanks for your replies!

 

[wantingagirl]

I think from my loss in 2010 I ovulated 17 days roughly after my miscarriage xx

 

[jlw617]

I'm so sorry for your loss!

I got mine off Amazon for super cheap. They were very effective.

That said, if you still have any hcg in your system from your MC, you may find yourself testing positive even when you're not ovulating!

Ditto, I tested positive with my opks for quite some time after mc

 

[ajarvis]

hmmm. Well I've been bleeding for 16 days. I just went back and looked. So these past 3 have been the heavy passing I think. Big clots etc. Maybe I'll pick up some OPK and HPT just to see when the HCG is gone.

 

[sunshine2014]

My hcg took about 5 weeks to drop to below 5. I had to go for weekly blood tests to monitor. It then took me 3 cycles to have a real af. They tell us to wait for good reason, after a mc or d&c your body needs time to heel completely before it is ready to become pregnant again. After my super intense af I got pregnant right away. It also shortened my cycles from 28 days to 23.

So sorry you're going through this. X

 

[ajarvis]

Thanks. Talked to my midwife and she wants one cycle between trying. So going to use a basal body thermometer and get some OPK to avoid.

 

[jumpingo]

hi ajarvis

i meant to send you a message a couple weeks ago, but was on vacation and BnB from my phone drives me crazy but know i was thinking of you and hope things are looking up.

i can't seem to find any consistent info on what the "average" is for HcG levels and their relation to ovulation. some sites say you don't get AF until your levels reach 0, but then there are a lot of women out there who get AF before getting back to "normal." for what it's worth, here were my HcG levels:

dec 7th 6839
dec 8th
dec 9th 2501
dec 18th 102
dec 22nd 38
dec 26th 16
jan 2nd AF

i haven't gotten bloodwork done since the 26th, but my doc said he likes to watch it until it's below 5, just to be sure. i will likely go in tomorrow or friday to see.

i guess all of that is not really answering your question...?

i have read lots of people getting positive OPKs and/or HPTs for several weeks after miscarrying. i guess using HPTs to measure HcG is, in a sense, the same as getting blood work done, right? i can handle numbers from a blood test, but not sure i could handle a "false" positive on a test, so haven't even tried testing.

we are preventing until march (wedding in the states in september that i refuse to miss), just using condoms. but i am temping again too, so i guess once i know i've ovulated, we could forgo the condoms for the 2nd 2 weeks of each month.

if you've never temped before, i would say that it wouldn't do much good in preventing pregnancy, unless you use condoms until after you get a temp spike. temping doesn't really give any "warning" that you are fertile, it just indicates after you ovulated, so you (especially with your luck in getting pregnant!) could very easily get pregnant since you wouldn't know you were about to ovulate. even OPKs only give a couple days notice, so if you have sex 3 or 4 days before O, you could still get pregnant.

 

[ajarvis]

hmm. Thanks for the info! Now I'm more confused I'll try and get some condoms next week. Not sure how successful that will be haha. Can't get them til next Friday. With OPK I would know ovulation was coming 3-4 days out though right? With faint lines? At least that's what I thought.

 

[jumpingo]

hmm. Thanks for the info! Now I'm more confused I'll try and get some condoms next week. Not sure how successful that will be haha. Can't get them til next Friday. With OPK I would know ovulation was coming 3-4 days out though right? With faint lines? At least that's what I thought.

well, they say you ovulate 12-36 hours after a positive OPK. so, some people probably only get a half day's notice! the 2 cycles i used OPKs, i got a temp spike 2 days after a second positive OPK. so technically i Oed 3 days after the first positive. so, i guess some people may get more warning. but again, you won't know your normal after just one cycle. i'm also guessing after a miscarriage, "normal" could very well change...

my husband hated going back to condoms after months of not needing them, but i've found that they'll do whatever they have to to get you.

 

[ajarvis]

lol. Good point. But the question is will I make him wait?! It's been 18 days!!!!


Not that I'm counting....

 

[jumpingo]

lol. Good point. But the question is will I make him wait?! It's been 18 days!!!!


Not that I'm counting....

impressive - sex was the LAST thing i could think of after i miscarried. then again, we also didn't have much sex when i was pregnant because it hurt (mostly i think i was too nervous/tense) and mentally really hard for me, so 18 days doesn't seem like too long.

but after a week or two after my miscarriage, we had sex and i found that it was really healing for me. not in a perverted way, but just being close with my husband, with no agenda or schedule. it helped me a lot, actually.

anyway, i hope you are hanging in there - sounds like you're looking ahead, which is always helpful when you can manage to do it.

 

[smurfy]

Hi so sorry for your loss, you were in the pregnancy forum with me when I was there back in Nov, we lost our baby end of Nov at 9 weeks. How far gone were you?

I waited 2 weeks after the bleeding started once I went back for scan they said that wanted to go down surgical route, I had that on Dec 5th bled for 5 days or so and ovulated using opks tests on approx. day 24 after D&C. The opks do work and give you approx. 3 day window.

I did enjoy the closeness with my husband having intercourse afterwards, but you should not have any intercourse whilst your bleeding from miscarriage as your cervix is still open and can cause infection.

TAKE CARE

 

[ajarvis]

Thanks. I was supposed to be 12 weeks 3 days. But baby stopped growing at 8 weeks 4 days. So it's been a long process. I think I'm almost done bleeding. I hope so. Definitely waiting on sex until stopped. But my cervix is slowly moving higher and closing more so that's good. Will pick up some OPKs anyways and see how it works out.