Cycle 8 CD22 (2DPO) - Deja Vu

So I did end up jixing myself and having some awful side effects after my last post. The nausea and hot flashes were terrible! The combination of the two kept me up several nights. Thankfully the mood swings weren't so bad. When I did have them they were more mild than last cycle. I did end up crying a few times because of the lack of positive OPKs and got a bit angrier than usual at DH but nothing worse than what I hear PMS is like for some. I was on estrogen CD9-13 which I think is what helped decrease them at first. I was taking it to try and help improve my lining but that's a pretty nice result as well!

I did finally get a +OPK on CD18. It was pretty late at night so it might as well have been CD19. I didn't take this into account at first so became quite frustrated when I was still having fertile signs the morning of CD20 and my temp was also still down. I expected to ovulate the day after the +OPK. Now when I think back, I kinda did O the day after when you consider how late on CD18 I got the +OPK. If I lived just an hour and a half east of here it would have been CD19 already. I did O later in the day of CD20 and my temp was up on CD21.

This really annoys me that even being on the higher dose of Clomid I still did not O before CD20. That's the same day I O'd last cycle! The whole reason I went up to 200mg was so I would O earlier. =[ So I basically went through a week of more intense nausea and hot flashes for nothing. It makes me wonder, why? Why wasn't it earlier? Would I have ovulated even later or not at all if I had stayed on 150? I ovulated once on 50mg but then the next month that dose was no longer sufficient.

I still haven't called the doctor to let them know I've O'd. I wanted to make sure that the higher temp wasn't a fluke. I will try to call tomorrow. I am wondering if they will want me to go up to 250mg. That's the highest I can go up if I remember correctly. The whole point of going to 200 was to make it earlier, so since that didn't work it makes sense to try 250 right? Just because this didn't work doesn't mean going up again won't.  I'm scared to do that though because if the side effects were this bad on 200, what will they be like on 250? If I don't try 250 am I going to stay on 200 or go back down to 150 since they had similar results? Hopefully I will get a BFP in a week and a half so I don't have to worry about it.

My chart overlay looks really interesting so far. You can definitely see the same pattern pre-O, and my post O temps are exactly the same! I imagine this is just a coincidence and will change in the next few days but I still think it's really neat. This is the first time I've been able to compare two ovulatory charts of mine.

Cycle 8 CD14 - Movin' On Up

I was recently made co-host of the TTC with PCOS board on JustMommies! /dance Our other co-host has been MIA lately as she's due in December so I decided to step up and try to get the board moving again. It's really nice for me to have a place to discuss PCOS and it's effects on my life so I want to provide that for others. Also, hosts of TTC boards have been known to get their BFP shortly after becoming host and I could use a little of that luck. Of course I'm sure that's all a coincidence but I'll take what I can get!

As far as my cycle goes, I'm still waiting on a +OPK. I was hoping to O at a normal time (CD13-15), but it looks like my O will still be on the late side. So far all my OPKs have been about the same. Last cycle they went from being this dark to positive pretty quickly so I guess I'm going to start testing multiple times a day. Here is the latest one.

The Clomid actually hasn't been too bad this month. Had a few hot flashes at night, but only one day of mood swings so far. I think it's been better this cycle than last believe it or not. I was expecting the side effects to be worse on the higher dose. And of course as I write this I start sweating haha! Hopefully I didn't just jinx myself and my moods continue to be stable (or as stable as any woman's can be expected to be =P).

Cycle 8 CD7 - Insomnia

So yeah as you can see by the title I got AF. I actually got it the day after I posted my last post. While I'm super happy I at least ovulated, I've taken this BFN extra hard. Two friends from high school have given birth in the last few weeks, and I have two more baby showers this upcoming Sunday. It sucks because they got pregnant after we started trying and now they have their babies or are pretty close. I feel like I should be there with them, celebrating my child's birth or going to my baby shower or at least have a BFP. Instead of morning sickness I'm just nauseous from the Clomid. Sigh.

Even though I did ovulate last cycle I've gone up again to 200mg. So far I can't tell much of a difference between 150 and 200 side effect wise. I am really thankful for that. The nausea is still killer and has been keeping me up all night. My DH and I are kind of on different sleep schedules now which kind of sucks. I didn't start having hot flashes till midcycle last time and I'm hoping that will happen again. Gives this Florida heat a little more time to cool off so they are more bearable.

I've noticed the last few days I've been hungrier than usual. I think it might be because I started being serious about taking the Metformin again. I normally have a decreased appetite compared to most people so this is a good thing. It's nice to know I need to eat by hunger signs rather than just guessing based on when I ate last.

I've also started taking Evening Primrose Oil (EPO) to help increase fertile CM. On the 150mg I was a little dryer than I liked so I imagine that would be true or worse for the 200mg. I started taking 1300mg of EPO (that's how big the pills are) after dinner when I take everything else. I noticed right away that it's definitely helping. If you're ever TTC and feel like you could use some help I would highly recommend it.

Today I took my first OPK of the cycle, and it's definitely darker than I imagined it would be. Below is today's on top of last cycle's CD7 OPK for comparison. I am hoping this means I will O earlier this time! Last cycle my OPKs started getting dark and then went back to blank then got dark again so that could just be happening this cycle too. I guess we will know in a couple days. Link to my full OPK series.