Question about taking Basal Body Temp

[roomaloo]

Hi all! Hopefully you'll be able to shed some light on my problem. I've been charting my BBT for the first time this month, and expected to ovulate last wednesday - ish. Had symptoms - cramps/mucus changes etc and now my boobs are sore which i'm pretty sure only happens after i've ov, due to the change in hormones.

Now here's my problem, according to my temps, which i take at 7am without fail and before i get up or move at all, they've varied between 36.2 and 36.0 only. On tues and wed they dipped from 36.2 (mon) to two days of 36.0 and then crept up and now i'm back to 2 days at 36.2.

I was a little confused by this, so straight after getting my 36.2 reading this morning i decided to try it vaginally (still not having moved/got up etc) and it read 36.6!! According to stuff i've read pre ov should read temps at 36-36.3 and post ov should be 36.4 and upwards.

So, shall i take vaginally from now on (i'm going to get a more sensitive thermometer today anyway to get .00 readings) is that the more accurate way to take it. The reason i tried it that way today is cos my mouth was really dry and made me wonder maybe i'm sleeping with my mouth open which would skew the results....

Congrats if you got this far, bit of a rambling post sorry!

 

[abic77]

Hi there - I'm sorry I am only on my 2nd cycle of temping and I literally have no idea what is going on with mine either. I have a similar story in that my temps have been around 35.95 - 36.05 for 14 days then in the last 4 days they have gone up to 36.15 - 36.18....it is a bit of a jump BUT here's the thing...i have had no change in CM, I have tested negative on OPK's every day for last 8 days and also at the beginning of my cycle the temps were around 36.18 then so basically same as they are now!
Last month I didn't ovulate at all...my temps were all over the place and I had a random 37 day cycle (which followed a 12 day period!)....apart from that all other months since i came off BCP in October were 26-28 days!
PHEW!
Anyway what i'm trying to say is that unfortunately I can't help you answer your question but I can sympathise! I am not sure about vaginal temping versus orally but i think either way you have to stick to the same thing for whole cycle as temps will be slightly different depending where you take them.

Good luck and let me know how you get on!

PS is this first cycle of trying or have you been trying a while?

 

[roomaloo]

Oh no i wonder what's going on with your cycle? That's weird. I'd read that the temps themselves don't actually matter so long as you see a shift, so the fact that yours have gone up and stayed up is a good sign i think! We've not been trying long, just second cycle ttc no. 1. But i don't want to mess about, just get the deed done LOL. How about you?

I'm on a 28 day cycle, to the day which is handy. I think i'm going to take temps both ways once i get my new thermometer and see the results, after lying in bed for a few hours last night i took my temp and it was 36.8 so i'm sure there's something weird going on with my morning temps as in celsius a change of .4 or .6 is pretty big really. Where did you buy your thermometer as yours gives you readings to .00 - i'm thinking of heading to a big ish boots to have a browse. What a rock n roll life i lead

 

[abic77]

Hi...yeah I got mine from Boots in a pink box with a thermometer and a book with a chart in it for about £14 or £15?? If i could show you my temps from last month you'd laugh...they were literally everywhere but I was feeling better that this month seemed to settle down a bit! I came off the pill in October so my body could get used to not being on it (although was only on about 2 years) but we didn't start trying until March as we had a ski holiday planned and didn't want anything to stop us going skiing (yeah selfish i know!)
Anyway i wasnt really bothered about the temps at first then realised that i prob didn't ovulate due to the temps....really hope i did this month! I'm trying not to worry about it and am just thinking that it's gonna happen when its ready to happen (hey you can't force these things....) but then on the other hand because I'm gonna be 34 this year i am also thinking i need to hurry up and get preggers as I'm getting closer to 35 and so on etc ! When i see an older mum with her toddlers I do get a bit of hope that maybe i'm not in such a rush...think it's hard tho not to let it take over! IT's true what they say about everyone being pregnant as soon as you want to be!

I would definitely get a .00 thermometer and like you said just track your temps both ways if that's better (u might as well if you have 2 thermometers) but because you have a regular cycle just make sure you have lots of sex in the middle days (like day 11 - 16 or something!)

I'm feeling very positive for you!

PS i was the same re the temping etc....figured why try for a year and then start temping etc when you can do it straight away! Oh and I tried OPK's but so far negative everyday! Fingers crossed for both of us! x

 

[threebirds]

Hi ladies, I think from your temps that maybe neither of you ovulated. Are you using Fertility Friend to record the temps? If so post a link and people can look to check.
Roomaloo - sounds like you are temping right, but unless there is a shift you wont have ovulated. Temping vaginally will give slightly higer, and more accurate readings. As you started temping orally this cycle I would stick with thid but then move to vaginally after this cycle. Sorry.
Abic77 - harder to say in your case as there was a small increase, but its possibly still in the pre-ov range.
Stick with the charting though - even when it is showing us things we dont want to see we are learning about r bodies & cycles and really helpful for if / when u see the doc. Good luck xx

 

[roomaloo]

Thanks abic-Boots here i come! Yeah we'll have to keep our fingers X won't we, though i'm feeling this month may be a write off. Boo, i'm going to try the OPK's next month i think then i'm covering all angles!!

Threebirds thanks for the info, that was what i was thinking too so i'm going to try with my new thermometer vaginally and OPK's next month, it's like a military operation

Thank god hubby's in the dark, he'd crumble under the pressure!

Yeah i do use FF but i think i'll write off this month and start again next. Then post my charts (obv FF is not even detecting ovulation this month yet. Grrrr)

 

[morri]

Hi,

You didnt get it fully right

Anyway basic rules are:
only temp at one place for the entire month
2nd , use a thermometer with two digits after the decimal.
3rd for a reliable measurement leave your thermometer 3 minutes in your mouth.(if you take it orally)
4th ovulation is shown when your temperature is 0.2 degrees C higher for three days, than your previous 6 measured temperatures.
it is only valid if you can back it up with either your cervical mucus, or your cervix opening /position.
try to keep it on the same time, especially if you don't know yet whether and how sensitive your temperature is to change /later time /earlier time.

 

[roomaloo]

Well it bumped up to 36.5 this morning the highest reading i've had by .3 degrees C so here's hoping....