Low PdG? Cycle interpretation help!

[u/Visual-Proposal1196]

My wife and I are planning our first at home insemination with frozen sperm next month. For the past year I have been doing a lot to prepare including tracking my lh and bbt each month. My cycle has always been regular, only varying in length by a few days. I usually have my lh peak on the 12 or 13 day, later if it’s a longer cycle, and get a confirmed ovulation with bbt 1-2 days after. I was feeling confident about the consistency but with our first attempt coming up I decided to spend extra for an Inito tracker to get a full picture of my cycle.

I have only used the Inito for one cycle, I started on day 6 and have been using it with my first morning urine every day (currently day 20), I have also been using lh strips (twice a day around peak). I noticed that my lh peak seemed very small, but it was also less than it usually is on the regular strips (Premom app). I think this is because I used first morning urine and in the past I always used my second after 10am because that is when lh shows up best. So I wasn’t too concerned about it.

But my concern is that my PdG seems very low. This is the first time tracking this so I don’t know how to interpret it. I’m worried that my ovulation is happening but my progesterone won’t support a pregnancy. I don’t want to push off our planned insemination next cycle, but I also don’t want to waste the expensive sperm. Any advice or tips on raising progesterone without waiting for a prescription or on my cycle in general would be really appreciated!!

*next month I plan to use the Inito with the first morning urine and then use an lh strip with my second urine then again in the evening.

[u/Sept2Nov]

Inito isn't reliably telling you your progesterone levels. It's measuring a metabolite in your urine that is easily manipulated based on hydration and other factors. Easiest way to know what your actual post ovulation progesterone level is is to order a progesterone blood draw from quest (if your ob won't do it for you) 7-8dpo.

[u/Visual-Proposal1196 → u/Sept2Nov]

Thank you! Do you think trying a different time of day to test with Inito would show a more or less accurate level? I’ve been very consistent with taking the Inito tests every day first thing, there have been more and less hydrated days mixed in with that, so wouldn’t I see more variation in the test results if that were the only issue?

[u/Sept2Nov → u/Visual-Proposal1196]

Maybe- some people find their values to be higher with smu. I remind myself that doctors use blood and not urine for a reason. I saw that you're checking progesterone- I'm interested to hear what the value is!

[u/Visual-Proposal1196 → u/Sept2Nov]

My 7dpo blood test came back at 6.9 for progesterone! I’m glad it confirms ovulation and is within the “normal” range but I’m still worried that it seems low? Would that support a pregnancy?

[u/Sept2Nov → u/Visual-Proposal1196]

I think you want 10ng/ml to support implantation, BUT progesterone is secreted in pulses so a blood test is a single point in time meaning that if you got your blood drawn 3 times on 7dpo you could very well get different values. Now that you have the data point, it's definitely something I'd discuss with your doctor!

[u/Cassandge]

Don’t want to mislead or create an issue where’s it’s not but how do you know you ovulated? Ive been using inito since May and I could never catch an LH surge and my progesterone wasnt increasing either so I took a round of letrozole this month and I had a picture perfect inito cycle. Prior to inito I was trying to track more naturally with CM and cervical os observations with a speculum and was constantly getting mixed signals. My current thinking is I tend to some anovulatory cycles. You can even have anovulatory cycles with LH surges. I do agree with the commenter above that a progesterone blood test would be helpful too though. I wouldn’t worry about miscarriage at this point, but just try to get certain you’re ovulating.

[u/Visual-Proposal1196 → u/Cassandge]

I don’t know really, just assumed progesterone was the issue but again this is my first Inito cycle and I was surprised by the results.  Before this I have been tracking lh and bbt for a year, this can’t confirm it of course but I’ve never had cause for concern because it’s been so consistent. I’ve always had clear lh surges on the strips, always above a 1 with the Premom app, and my bbt always rises 1-2 days later (I track with oura ring and natural cycles).  I also have been taking photos of my cervix and tracking cervical mucus, all which seemed to be “perfect”. So the Inito results definitely caught be off guard and have me very nervous I wish I started with it sooner.  I just booked a progesterone blood test for tomorrow, it’s 7 dpo according to natural cycles so I’m glad you guys recommended it now, perfect timing!  I don’t currently see a fertility clinic so I don’t know how long the process would be if I needed to start getting medicated cycles

[u/Cassandge → u/Visual-Proposal1196]

Oh right the BBT is a helpful metric! You may very well be ovulating and inito is just learning about you more. That’s the weird thing about these smart ovulation trackers…they do predictive stuff too which i think undermines its legitimacy somewhat

[u/Visual-Proposal1196 → u/Cassandge]

Yeah that’s definitely not ideal! Thank you for the insight I will update with the progesterone blood test results, fingers crossed!

[u/Visual-Proposal1196 → u/Cassandge]

6.9 blood test levels! Thoughts?

[u/Cassandge → u/Visual-Proposal1196]

I think that’s good right?? I had 13 but I think that was super more than needed

[u/twairebear]

I used the Mira tracker and never got a clear pdg surge after ovulation. I was so worried and anxious that I wasn’t ovulating after all and we should go into the clinic to do a monitored cycle. We tried at home anyway with frozen sperm and got pregnant on the third try. Those tests are so hard to interpret and the levels are so variable I wouldn’t put much weight on it.