Hello! :D

[fushigi_na_chou]

Hello everyone! My name is Andrea, but you can feel free to refer to me however you like. I'm new to the community (literally just joined like, ten minutes ago), and I've read through the FAQs to get started. I guess it'll help if I go ahead and use the question guide thinger to get things started:

1) Are you new to FAM or an experienced FAM user?

Comments

[nightsinger]

Yes, a basal thermometer's a different animal from a regular fever thermometer -- it's much more accurate. Fever thermometers typically have an error margin of ±0.3°F, whereas a basal thermometer is usually accurate ±0.01°F. Since you're looking at relatively fine variations in your basal temperature to tell whether or not Ovulation has passed, 0.3°F more or less could make you think you've ovulated when you haven't, haven't when you have, or make it unclear whether or not you have.

As an example, my average post-ovulatory "jump" is about 0.56°F... So an error margin of ±0.3°F, being over half of that amount, could easily obscure the change.

E.G.: if my temps on a more accurate thermometer are (ovulation-date bolded):
96.85   96.43   96.85   97.19   97.32

An unfavourable 0.3° shift could make those same temps look like:

97.0   96.7   97.1   96.9   97.0

Which makes it really hard to tell where the ovulation is, since there's no distinct shift.

You can often buy basal thermometers in the drugstore, too -- check in the 'family planning' section with the pregnancy tests, or ask the pharmacist.

[fushigi_na_chou]

Oh, okay, thanks for clearing that up. Once I get some extra cash, I'll have to invest in a basal thermometer. :)