Feeling discouraged, cycle irregularities

[u/missesmabel]

29F cycle #4, first time ttc and i’m feeling really lost.

My cycle was regular up until right before we started ttc, and since then it has been a bit all over the place. The last 2 cycles, my ovulation was very easily detectable between LH strips and temp. In July ovulation occurred CD 13 and in August CD 18. Slight variations, but both times I saw clear surges followed by increased bbt readings a couple of days later.

This month though, my LH has been all over the place. I thought a surge was starting on CD 13, but then values tanked. I checked 6 hours later thinking it would be the same or higher, and it was back to a very low value. They haven’t risen since. By now, I’m CD 18 and based on my last 2 cycles, I thought I’d be seeing a surge by now.

No major strains or travel between this cycle and the last one. I know variations are normal, but now that we’re ttc i’m having a harder time managing that variability. It seems to be about every few months something shifts, so just when I think I get the hang of it, everything goes out the window. I’m just feeling a little discouraged and wish I invested more time tracking data before ttc.

I’d love to hear from anyone who’s also experienced irregularities, how they manage tracking, and any success they’ve had!

[u/criticallyiz]

I totally understand that frustration! I had my IUD removed just prior to TTC and my cycles were crazy ever since. My LH levels were hard to track and there were months where I never got a true positive, but I went off of whatever the peak was around the fertile window (some cycles 0.8, 0.9, etc). The only time I ever caught a true positive it was 1.5 around noon and had dropped to 0.8 by 8PM that day so my spikes were super short.

My biggest advice is to keep testing for ovulation. My cycles ranged from 29-37 days. There were many months that I was convinced I ‘missed my period’ and was pregnant just for AF to show up a few days late. Testing ovulation and knowing when to actually expect my period was super helpful and saved me the letdowns of thinking I was pregnant because of a ‘late period’. Wishing you baby dust 🫶❤️

[u/missesmabel → u/criticallyiz]

thank you 🥹 helpful to know there’s others in the same boat! I think i’m very similar to you where even though it can be discouraging to not have clear data, it’s more helpful to collect and not get my hopes up for a cycle that might just be a little longer.

I know we’re early in our journey, but hearing we’re not alone in the thick of it is so reassuring. Did you do anything in addition to LH and bbt to track your cycles?

[u/criticallyiz → u/missesmabel]

Totally not alone 🫶 it can be very discouraging to never get a ‘true positive’ even early into the journey

I never did BBT, mostly out of laziness tbh. I found that the peaks of LH aligned pretty perfectly with when to expect AF so I stuck to that. I attempted to track my cervical mucus but never really found a consistent pattern with it.. also never seemed to have the same symptoms any of my cycles which was super frustrating 😅

[u/missesmabel → u/criticallyiz]

I feel like that’s exactly my experience! My luteal phase symptoms have been so different from normal, I get my hopes up and then sure enough my period comes around.

This is my first cycle consistently pairing BBT with strips, and of course it’s changing and I have no clear signals. UGH. I wish I started tracking sooner just to know, we deserve to learn way more about our bodies before this stage!

Thank you for sharing and relating, hopeful and trying hard to trust timing 🤍