temp spikes but no ovulation, can this happen?

[contactmaya]

Ive come across information that when charting, and noticing the usual temp spike, you still cannot be sure you ovulated.

I know the central thesis of TCOF is that you *can* keep track of your cycles and plan or avoid pregnancy accordingly. But ive come across women who consistently have a temp spike over months, then a period, but in fact are found not to be ovulating (via ultrasound)

i guess i was sure i was ovulating, but now i am not.

I know its wise to watch other signs, like cm, or ferning microscopes. But my temps have been consistent, whilst my ferning microscope has not. Ive been getting cm at the end of my period, and the usual around the middle of my cycle.

I guess my question is, is charting a way to prove that you are ovulating, or not?

Has anyone experienced temp spikes and then found not to be ovulating?

(also, im still breastfeeding)

I look forward to hearing your experiences.

Maya

[karmab]

you will also find women who were told by bloodwork and ultrasound that they had not ovulated, who end up pregnant that cycle. i would trust a carefully and accurately temped chart (not one where the user has to discard a bunch of temps to get it to look the way they want it to, i've seen that too) more than an u/s personally.

[contactmaya]

Wow, thats amazing. So you cant trust technology can you. Glad i didnt bother with an ultrasound. Im sticking with the thermometer.

...and frankly, consistent temp spikes, period, but no ovulation on the ultrasound, begs the question of why there is a temp spike. What is causing it if there is no ovulation. Do you produce progesterone even without ovulating? I doubt it, but could be wrong....

[karmab]

well, it's the corpus luteum that is cranking out all the extra progesterone that makes the temp go up, so if it really is a thermal shift, it's not likely to be from anything else. i like the combo of temps, cm, cp, opks, and ovwatch myself. when they all match up, i have to think it's safe to say that is what is happening.

[contactmaya]

What do you think of the ferning (which indicates estrogen) occurring in the first few days after a period, but without any other correlating signs?

Do you ever use that ferning microscope? Does the ovuwatch do the same sort of thing?

Yes, i agree with you about correlating signs....

[karmab]

estrogen dominates the first half of the cycle, so i dont think it's unusual. i havent used a microscope myself. i think it is normal though to see some ferning just after and just before your af. i know from cm, a lot of women get a patch of it mid-luteal phase (often with a temp drop) from a secondary estrogen surge, and then sometimes the day before af. estrogen is a little different in every woman, so maybe that is your normal, you may see that pattern every month. is your luteal phase normal? i have heard some women if they've got a little extra estrogen are more likely to have too little progesterone- the balance gets out of whack.

[contactmaya]

Actually, my luteal phase is shorter than usual, which i attribute to breastfeeding. I dont know what the relationship of estrogen is to breastfeeding, i just know that there is more prolactin than usual, but not enough to suppress ovulation. I intend to use progesterone supplements because my luteal phase is a little short. I did
this last time i conceived for the same reason.

[HulaJenn]

and it isn't just a single temp spike but the sustained thermal shift that indicates O (which again if accurately temping I would trust over u/s)

[contactmaya]

The person i spoke to said that she had sustained temp increases over months but her u/s showed no ovulation.

[karmab]

i dont know maya. not sure what that means- sustained temp increase over months, meaning months long? that would be a baseline not an increase! i have seen ladies, well, at least one i can think of off the bat, whisk through here and be pretty delusional about their charts. umm, if you discard all the high temps on the first half of your chart, and all the low temps on the second half, yeah, it can look pretty convincing, but that doesnt make it real! not having seen this person's chart, can't say that about this case, but i promise you i have seen that here too. and u/s can be wrong too.

to answer about ovwatch- it measures a chlorine ion shift that precedes the lh surge.