You may find more precise information about your cycle if you temp or use a fertility monitor or OPKs. Some people find that observing only some signs (Billings Method) provides a clear picture of fertility, but if you're having concerns about fertility issues like PCOS, and having erratic cycles the more data the better in helping to determine whether there's another problem at hand, or whether you just need a few months on Metformin to settle into a regular cycle.
I found that the Clear Blue Fertility Monitor was actually more useful than OPKs when we were ttc.
One thing to watch for (I wish I'd known this before, even if I did get pregnant rather quickly using the monitor) is that Clomid can affect the estrogen level detected by the monitor so you may not see a peak reading even though you're hitting peak fertility. You may instead get days and days of high fertility without a peak reading.
It did work. She'll be seven weeks old tomorrow and is asleep in front of me.
I assumed that "high" reading meant just that-the beginning of "high fertility" and had sex on the appropriate schedule (for us, that meant every other day because in addition to PCOS, hypothyroidism and short luteal phase, we were also dealing with low sperm count.) We continued this for about a week, maybe ten days, and then waited. Because Clomid can mess with your cycle length, I waited a couple of weeks and peed on a stick and got a positive result.
The more signs you observe will defintely increase your chances of finding your fertile period, so I would definitely encourage you to try temping. It's not that hard to do and you don't even really need a special thermometer - I just used a normal digital thermometer I bought at the drug store.
I also had erratic cycles so I understand what you mean about OPKs, they are expensive and frankly they never helped me either. But the temps were valuable and easy to track. I tracked temps and CM and was pregnant by the end of our second cycle TTC.
There's a great site called Fertility Friend where you can record your observations and it helps you analyze them - I found it super helpful and the best thing is that it's free. They also have a massive amount of information about fertility signs and help interpreting them. I recommend it to everyone who talks about TTC using fertility-awareness method.
hi i know i'm really late on this, but this was my 5th ttc month, and I took clomid for the first time this month (may). I used opk tests for 4 months, but the last 2 months i switched to answer opk test "strips" which are semi-pain-ish because you have to dip them opposed to peeing *on* them, but there are something like 20-25 in a box so you can test every day -- therefore catching your erratic ovulation. i didn't think they worked at all either, but after the clomid i had very high (and even peaked) readings for 3 days straight. the catch: the clomid-induced ovulation didn't occur until 1 week *after* I would have normally ovulated. So it was a good thing I was testing OPK or I probably wouldn't have caught it, I would have just thought: eh, it didn't work. Hubby and I were prescribed "every other day" sex by dr. after taking the clomid, so i made sure we stuck to it like religion around those positive OPKs.
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I found that the Clear Blue Fertility Monitor was actually more useful than OPKs when we were ttc.
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I will start temping... and may even get the Clearblue Fertility Monitor. I have heard really good things about it!
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Good luck.
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I assumed that "high" reading meant just that-the beginning of "high fertility" and had sex on the appropriate schedule (for us, that meant every other day because in addition to PCOS, hypothyroidism and short luteal phase, we were also dealing with low sperm count.) We continued this for about a week, maybe ten days, and then waited. Because Clomid can mess with your cycle length, I waited a couple of weeks and peed on a stick and got a positive result.
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I also had erratic cycles so I understand what you mean about OPKs, they are expensive and frankly they never helped me either. But the temps were valuable and easy to track. I tracked temps and CM and was pregnant by the end of our second cycle TTC.
There's a great site called Fertility Friend where you can record your observations and it helps you analyze them - I found it super helpful and the best thing is that it's free. They also have a massive amount of information about fertility signs and help interpreting them. I recommend it to everyone who talks about TTC using fertility-awareness method.
Good luck!!!
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I used FertilityFriend.com and it was very easy. I just did oral temps with a regular digital thermometer.
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Good luck & keep trying (that's the fun bit!)
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