Fertility Charting

I have been charting for about 6 months and have noticed that it is like I have two different cycles...they are the same every other month. For example, Cycle 1 is around 27/28 days long with ovulation on CD15. Cycle 2 is only about 23 days long (leaving me with a luteal phase only 7-8 DPO!).

Also, my temperature levels are different. On the short cycle, my post-ovulation BBT stays just above coverline (but I definitely ovulate), whereas the long cycle shows a significant rise.

My husband and I are going to TTC in 2010 and I want to make sure that I have everything taken care of before we start trying. What can this mean? Do I have one bad ovary?

If this is the case, do we need to plan on just being able to conceive every other month?

Edited 10/30/2009 9:03 am ET by allbella

Hmmmm, that's odd.  If you have your charts online, I'd love to take a peak.  You don't necessarily alternate sides like everybody thinks, so you may be ovulating from the same side several months in a row.  Your cycles are hormonally driven, so your ovaries shouldn't be affecting your hormones anyway...it's the other way around.

This may be something you'll want to check out with your doc before you start TTC, just to make sure that things are ok.  Having your charts in hand so they can see the cycle aberrancies could be helpful, if your doc believe in the validity of charting, that is.

Here's the past 2. Since I am not a vip member, I cannot post more than 2 at a time. I have attached 2 more in pdf.

http://www.fertilityfriend.com/home/2878de

I haven't been able to find any information about this online. I just don't know what to make of it.

TFS your charts.  Of the 4 given charts, I really only see one with a good LP, and that is your September 5 cycle.  Of the other three cycles, I don't agree with the crosshairs FF gave you for either the July or October cycles.  You have open circle or missing temps right at the crucial point, but you also have ewcm after when FF says you O.  Usually you don't O until the day after your most fertile cm day.  For the July cycle, that would be cd18 and give you only an 11 day LP.  For the October cycle, that would be cd17 and give you only a 7 day LP.  Given the short LP also in August, I would say it's reasonable that you may have an LP defect going on.  You can try taking 100mg vitamin B6 daily and see if that helps.  Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't.  If you choose to get your progesterone levels tested, make sure that the doctor does the test 7dpo, not at the arbitrary cd21 (making the assumption that you O'd cd14, which you might not have!) for the most accurate results.

Hopefully you can get things straightened out.

Thanks. I am sure you're probably right. I've assumed I've had an LPD since the beginning. I've been taking 200Mg of B-6 for, oh probably 4-5 months, plus some "Pro-Creation" Multi-vitamins (but recently I can't stomach them due to the fish oil- Eck).

I guess I am going to have to get my progesterone tested...shouldn't be too high considering I sometimes barely make it to the 7dpo mark!

ps... On my charts, I also chart on my phone, so sometimes dates are left off, but they usually coincide. Any open circle means I slept about an hour late. But even at that, the spikes are big.