What do you trust more: Temps, CM, or OPKs?

Temps. While for some women they may not be reliable... thats estimated to be less than 10% of women. Progesterone really DOES raise your temp once it is in your system. Ask any woman who has used progesterone... if they dont use it as of O day (its best to wait to confirm O before using it anyway as progesterone before O can hold off O and cause you to be anovulatory) they will see a temp rise once they start using the progesterone, likely a second temp rise after the one they already had from O.

EWCM can be there but not be visible. It doesn't matter if you are gushing EWCM like Niagara Falls... it doesnt matter if its all around your cervix when you check inside either... all that matters is its up in your uterus to guide those spermies where to go (and once you start DTD some EWCM from in your uterus will leak out to help clean off and guide the spermies... even if there was no sign of it pre-DTD.

OPKs only tell you if your LH is surging. You can miss the surge, surge and ovulate 3 days later, or you can surge and not ovulate at all. They are a good warning sign that ovulation may be coming but NOT something to trust as a sign that ovulation happened or when.

Because I'm still nursing I don't put alot of faith in the OPK - I've gotten + and not Od before. I do enjoy performing bathroom diagnostic tests on myself hence I use OPKs.
When we used NFP as BC I only went on CM and it work for us...for years.

I'm just annoyed at FF right now to be honest.

I'm probably going to piss someone off but I don't temp... and I never have. I tend to pay more attention to my cm and my sex drive.

Quote:
Naw... temps arent NECESSARY for conception...

but if you want to pinpoint ovulation down to the day they are more reliable than anything else.

what a great question, finnegansmom. i hope more ladies add their thoughts, cuz i want to hear too.

i do share your frustration with ff this month! i am trusting that i o'd when i think i did based on some o pain and ewcm. ff waffled on me between 2 different dates on different settings. the second possible date, i have to agree, looks like a contender, but i was dry as the dessert. at the first date, i had ewcm- not niagra falls worth, mind you, but good enough. if it really was option b though, i think we did not time it well and my chances are not that good. hoping it was option a. i started prog after that, so like mae said, now my temp is up up up, and there will be no more o'ing this month no matter what, so i hope i got it right. i've got a slow rise, which is part of the confusion, but also part of the reason i've got the prog afterall!

i tried opks for the first time this month, and i think i started them too late and missed it. i think a lot of people miss it though, based on just what time of the day you test. the surge can come and be long gone within 24 hours, so you just might not catch it.

anyway, i'm confident enough that this isnt going to be the month that i just ordered an "ov-watch" for next try.

can we add, what about CP? Though I am still not all that familiar to say for sure when it is high or soft, I am getting better about knowing when it is low and firm. If I really got a handle on CP I imagine it might really improve my charting accuracy.

Quote:
well we did too - that plus a ballpark "middle third" of the cycle as being unsafe. till very recently I thought ewcm day = O day (since I only get it once in the cycle), but learned that it actually preceded it last time I conceived.

Quote:
join the club. I am still not sure when I O'd

Quote:
That's what I do. I trust my body first (CM, CP, sex drive) and then use outside information, like temps and OPKS, to confirm my hunch. HOWEVER... I have a very regular cycle and obvious EWCM each month, so that makes it easier. Women with bodies that work differently may have a different answer.

Quote:
This is what I do. Though I do have wacky cycles but I can still get a good enough idea. I was actually using OPKs the month that I got pg with DS, they said I never O'ed.