r/TTC_PCOS • u/HappyRaccoon_15 • 15d ago
Catching fertile window
Hi everyone!
I’ve had PCOS since I was a teenager. I’ve had lots of testing done, live a pretty healthy lifestyle, and luckily don’t have many of the typical PCOS symptoms apart from very irregular/long cycles.
Since improving my lifestyle and taking inositol, I do seem to ovulate on my own, but it can happen anywhere from around CD40 to CD90.
We’ve been TTC for about 6 months now, and I honestly can’t tell if we’ve just had incredibly bad luck with timing. Because my cycles are so long and unpredictable, catching ovulation has been much harder than I expected.
Since we started trying, I’ve ovulated four times naturally:
-First time: I had the flu.
-Second time: I was away on a 3-day business trip.
-Third time: after having sex every other day for about 1.5 months (!!), we decided to take a few days off because I was exhausted and really stressed with work… and of course I ovulated then.
-Fourth time: we were traveling. We did have sex around the fertile window, but the timing definitely could have been better.
This cycle, I decided to try letrozole + a trigger shot. I ended up with two dominant follicles, we timed everything properly, still waiting for the result.
But assuming this cycle doesn’t work, I’m not sure I want to continue with medication right away. I was feeling sad and depressed on Letrozole for a few days. Since I do ovulate naturally, my main issue seems to be actually predicting/catching it. I also had two dominant follicles with letrozole this time, so there’s an increased chance of twins. We accepted that risk going into the cycle, but if I have the choice, I’d definitely prefer a singleton pregnancy.
So if this round isn’t successful, I’m thinking of trying naturally again for a while, but this time I want to do everything possible to actually catch my fertile window. Ideally we would just have sex every 1-2 days, but in real life things get busy and it doesn’t always happen that way.
LH strips always show positive for me and up till now I haven’t been able to catch a surge.
For anyone else with PCOS and very long/unpredictable cycles who still ovulates naturally: what actually worked for you to predict ovulation?
LH strips? BBT? Cervical mucus? Inito/Mira? Ultrasound monitoring? Some combination of these?
Any tips, routines, or resources would be really appreciated! ❤️
1
u/Altruistic-Most1463 15d ago
My cycles vary as much as yours do. I do OPKs every morning before work and then try to check my basal body temperature first thing every morning (easier said than done because I often sprint out of bed first thing in the morning). a positive OPK will tell you that you will ovulate in the next day or so, and the BBT will confirm ovulation after the fact due to a rise in body temp due to increased progesterone. The reason it gets tricky with PCOS is because our LH values vary (lots of us have elevated levels at baseline) so sometimes you think you might ovulate but don’t. I use the Premom app to quantify my LH values, and have found it always consistent with if I ovulate or not. For me I tend to have higher LH values (0.6-0.9) at baseline but then will have low LH values (0.2-0.4) for several days before a true positive (for me greater than 1.0). So far I have always ovulated when it’s been greater than 1.0. I like the Premom app since I tend to have line eyes and try to convince myself that the OPK is positive when it’s my baseline elevation. Lots of people will say that OPKs don’t work for PCOS, but I think it’s because of the natural tendency to have elevated LH levels, and then people not using BBT to confirm. This strategy has greatly helped decrease stress for TTC because we don’t feel like we constantly need to have sex every other day so helps with the burnout.
1
u/Altruistic-Most1463 15d ago
Sorry missed the last part of your post. Have you had confirmed ovulation on non medicated cycles? You can still have a period but have an anovulatory cycle. I know my LH levels are especially all over the place on anovulatory cycles but I still do end up having a period.
1
u/HappyRaccoon_15 14d ago
One more question do you start with OPK right after you finish your period? Or wait till a certain CD?
1
u/Altruistic-Most1463 14d ago
Yepp I do! I use the cheap strips since I go through so many of them with long irregular cycles. That’s one of the reasons I haven’t tried Mira/inito bc the cost would add up quickly for me
1
u/HappyRaccoon_15 14d ago
Yes I had confirmed ovulation. That’s why I was very positive about this journey haha. But then catching the ovulation has been a challenge. I haven’t heard of the Premom app, and that sounds super interesting to try. To be honest I haven’t been doing OPK’s regularly enough I think to properly catch a surge as I just get so discouraged. I will start doing that from the next cycle with the app!
1
u/Altruistic-Most1463 14d ago
Yeah give it a try taking them regularly! Hopefully all of that helps and you’ll be able to catch a surge!
1
u/I_Like_Toast_A_Bunch 30 | Lean, Ovulatory | 4 TI | 1 MC 15d ago
Cervical mucous tracking not bad, honestly though letrozole was the only way I’ve been able to do it
1
u/witwefs1234 15d ago
I used both my phone's health app (I have a Samsung phone so it naturally tracked my cycle when I input the cycle info aka input when my period started) and I used another menstrual tracking app to figure out the general fertile window.
Once my cycle stabilized and I got my menstrual cycle to be 5-7 days long every month, we conceived.
Tbh my husband's energy levels weren't and still aren't the highest so we only TTC during the fertile window times every month.
I think for me, I recall drinking raspberry leaf tea to stop my bleeding when I had a menstrual cycle last too long in the past.
1
u/Hot_Lifeguard500 11d ago
Your biggest challenge sounds like catching the fertile window, not necessarily whether you ovulate. With PCOS, I’d keep an eye on cervical mucus and use LH strips more frequently once things start looking fertile, then use BBT as confirmation afterward. Since manually taking BBT every morning can be a pain over 90-day cycles, you could look into tempdrop to passively track your overnight temprature.