high temps, long cycles, delayed ovulation, short(ish?) LP,

[onetrumpeter]

Hi! I just saw this forum - very cool and I'm enjoying reading past threads (and current ones, of course!)

I've talked w/ our family doc about this, and briefly w/ a ND/MW who weren't concerned, but I'm wondering what's going ON lol

I'm 10 mos PP. DS was put on formula at age 14 days (long sad story I'd prayed to avoid - reacting to something in my milk) and I got my first period when he was 8 wks.

I'm on my 7th cycle since then. My pre-O BBTs are around 98.4(!) and then rising to around 98.6 and higher post-O. That's a high pre-O temp, right? I read TCOYF and she talks about low temps being related to hypothyroid, but I doubt I've got hypERthyroid (don't see any signs of overactive metabolism, lol!). My 11 charted cycles prior to my first pregnancy all have pre-O temps around 97.8 or so. Then spiking to around 98.2 and higher post-O.

I'm ovulating really late - around day 20-26 and my longest LP, by BBTs, has been 11/12 days (and that was last cycle - this cycle was only 10 days).

Has anyone experienced this? I was on an SSRI (antidepressant - was super depressed re: not nursing) and stopped that when DS was about 6 mos. My family doc said wait and see how things are at a year PP. Re: my temps, "Maybe you've just come to a new baseline." (?? anyone heard of that?! doesn't really make sense to me?!)

Curious to hear anyone's thoughts - will enjoy lurking around here!

[MaerynPearl]

Giving birth can change your body a LOT... it really could be that your body just runs warmer now than it did before. Of course, I myself would worry more about the other aspects of it possibly pointing to something being wrong and keep in mind that the higher temps may be related... but not necessarily so.

[onetrumpeter]

thanks - I'd like to think that's true... there are some (Catholic, pro-life, as I am, also, and the primary reason we use NFP) OBs not too far away who I think are familiar w/ NFP and I'd like to run my charts by them. Unfortunately my MW (who we had for both our births) was not too familiar w/ NFP. But, to give her credit, I was only 6 mos PP the last time I talked w/ her and it wasn't as big a deal to me as I was coming off the SSRI and thought maybe my body was still shifting.

I'm sure it's true that pregnancy and birth can really shift things - just wondering if anyone else has had noticeable temp shifts that have become your new "baseline" temps?

[onetrumpeter]

considering using vitex

A few months ago, I met w/ the ND/MW (a consult, pre-conception visit to look at ins. options that might cover her while we were in open enrollment).

She named a couple herbs I might try to even out my cycles. Vitex was one I'd never heard of, and as I google it, it looks to be used frequently and more for couples TTC. We're not in that boat yet, but I would love to have my cyles back to more of a "normal." My current pre-O temps are averaging 98.3 and my LP last cycle was only 10 days.

Anyway, didn't want to start an entirely new thread; just wondering who has used vitex and what you noticed. Also, can I think of it as an herbal remedy that I use, then will stop using after a couple months or so? Or does it become sort of a supplement taken indefinitely?

Thanks for any ideas OH! If you DID take vitex, or know about it, where do I look for it?! What form(s?) should I look for? Is it a tea? Capsule? I looked at www.bulkherbstore.com (where I got my pregnancy herbal teas) but they don't have it.

[onetrumpeter]

maybe this is the wrong place since I'm the one posting the majority of the time re: my own question, LOL!

anyway, bumping b/c I'm wondering about anyone's experiences w/ vitex.

AND b/c I'm still wondering about anyone w/ *high* BBTs (98.8 F today, but that is post-Ov). anyone? anyone?