Has anyone tried the saliva ovulation test? - Page 2

[BBMom]

The charting isn't working for me either...I take my temp when I've already been up (walked from the bed to the bathroom).

I am glad I found this thread...I am going to buy the Ovulens...although I missed this month...I will see how this works. I knew about this type of thing months ago, but I thought I could chart and have no problems...HA!

[EnviroBecca]

When my period started on Tuesday, I told myself, Okay, this is a new cycle, and this time I'm going to get it right! I ordered my Ovulens that morning, and it arrived yesterday. What a cute little gadget. I observed my dotty saliva this morning and am looking forward to seeing some ferning in a couple of weeks, I hope!

[Allison]

I'm nursing a 2 yr old and TTC. I don't temp but I try to pay attention to what my CM looks like. I know that a breastfeeding woman's CM is confusing in that fertile-type CM comes and goes throughout her cycle and it's difficult to tell when/if she ovulates. Does anyone know if this is also a problem with the saliva test? I.e. can the ferning pattern appear and disappear several times during a cycle, or will it only happen if ovulation is definitely on its way?

Thanks.

[boobear]

EnviroBecca & BBMom, I really like using Ovulens. It's part of my morning routine.

Good luck Allison. I am BF my 18 mo old and my cycles (temp/ferning/CM) are going to be hard to chart, too. I'm going to keep figuring out my most fertile days and go for it.. what have I got to lose

I started out avoiding charting.. my days are already too full of enough things to do. But I realized I should take my temp before I got up. And, it doesn't take much more effort to note what my CM is like.

I'm enjoying learning more about my body. I feel so much more empowered when I have the need to talk to or see a doctor.

[EnviroBecca]

Boobear, any tips on getting enough saliva first thing in the morning? During the furnace season, I always wake up with a dry mouth, but the instructions say to take the sample before drinking anything! I can work up some saliva w/effort, but then it's foamy which they say not to use, and the one time I did the sample was unreadable. When I don't have enough saliva, it dries in narrow streaks that I can't see.

I've already got a morning routine that involves several uses of the snooze-alarm.: What if I get up for a drink of water on the first alarm, then get my sample at the next alarm? Will those 8 minutes allow my saliva to overcome the diluting effect of the water? My assumption is that I'll be able to tell if the sample is too diluted because it'll be blank instead of dotty or ferny--but I'm not sure if that's correct or if there are enough minerals or other things in my water that I might get a false result.

[boobear]

EnviroBecca, I wish I had advice on that.. there's some mornings that my mouth is fairly dry. I typically get a decent sample after I use the bathroom, sometimes I just run the slide part under my tongue a few times until it looks like I've got something.

If the air is really cold by you maybe a humidifyer might help..??

If you can remember, try to get a sample 2 hours after you eat/drink anything (before lunch?).

Good luck!!

[EnviroBecca]

Hmm, I hadn't thought of sticking the thing into my mouth--I've been trying to collect the sample on my finger as shown in the illustration. Even when my mouth seems wet, it's hard to get much. Oh, and I learned quickly that scraping my finger on the edge of the slide to make sure all the saliva comes off, or rubbing or patting in an effort to distribute it, only makes it into sort of ridges that are hard to read!

This morning I think I saw transition or ferning! But it was all in one spot, but that might be the one spot that got any saliva.... The rest was pretty much blank. (Why isn't there a "crossed fingers" smilie?)