Body basal temperature

[andvr]

Hello

I am a very curious person, so like 6 months ago I found out that I could know if I ovulated by charting my body basal temperature, I've been doing this for six months, I'm not obssesed with it, but I do try to take my temperature at the same time, when I wake up, without moving too much, etc. Every cycle is very normal (My cycle is about 30 - 31 days), when my period arrives my temperature is low (30 ºC - 33 ºC), at the middle of my cycle, it rises to 36 ºC - 37 ºC, and it stays that way until my next period arrives.

This cycle, my temperature was low at first, and at the middle of my cycle the temp was high for like one day, when I woke up the day 19 of the cycle the temp was 36 ºC, so I said that I already ovulated, but since then (three days ago) my temperature have been low like at the begging of the cycle, except for today, that was 36 ºC again

So, I wanted to know, Did I ovulate or not?? My temp was high that one day, can I count that as an indication of ovulation??

I know you guys are going to tell me this is not a way to prevent pregnancy!! I know that, but since I had some anxiety issues on december I'm not sexually active since then, I do this just to "know" my body a little bit more

[Sam W]

Hi andvr,

Glad to hear you've been charting your temperature and that you're finding it interesting to do so! Have you been tracking your cervical fluid and changes to your cervix?

[Redskies]

Also, andvr, something isn't right with how you're measuring or reading your temperature, or with how you wrote it here. 30C - 33C isn't a normal body temperature, it's much too low: anyone with that temperature would have significant hypothermia.

Shifts in basal temperature throughout the cycle are measured in tenths of degrees, rather than whole degrees, because that's how small the overall variation is: within one degree or so, at most.

[andvr]

Hey, Redskies!, thanks for the reply

Yeah, in the country where I live theres no bbt thermometer like in US, I asked my doctor when I first started charting and she said that it was okay if I used a regular digital one.
About my temperature, I'm sure it's pretty normal, actually I checked the instructions of the thermometer and it's in the rank, and I've checked some sites about bbt and I've seen my temps are pretty normal, did you take in count that I'm talking about Celcius? I dont know if you think its Farenheit.

Sam W, thanks for the reply.
About my cervical mocus, I don't do it every day, I do it only when I know I'm about to start that "fertile week", that confuses me a little bit, it's not very abundant, but I did have seen a day where I can stretch my cm between the fingers and it doesnt break, also it was transparent, other days the cm is darker and thick.
About the cervix... I dont think I know how to check that

[Heather]

In order to chart fertility, you simply have to do it every day. You cannot get the data you need to see patterns over time -- the patterns that are what can tell someone when ovulation is and isn't likely to them -- only taking basal temps or checking cervical mucus some days, but not on others. That's just how charting works. And once you DO check cervical mucus every day and take notes, you will then be able to better differentiate between what is and isn't cervical mucus.

[Redskies]

I know you're in Celsius (we use Celsius a lot over here in Europe, too and 32F is freezing point!), and I can only say that 30 to 33 C, as a core body temperature, is within the range for hypothermia, not the range for normal core body temperature. http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Hypothermi ... ction.aspx (To be clear, I'm not suggesting you have hypothermia when you're getting those readings: you'd be getting a whole bunch of other indications that you were ill. I'm saying that those readings are extremely unlikely to be your actual body temperature.) If your thermometer isn't taking your core body temperature, it's not going to be accurate enough to give you accurate information about your cycle's temperature shifts.

If you'd like to chart your cycles more accurately, we've got information about how to do that: Get With the Flow: All About FAM

[andvr]

Oh my god. I just read muy post, I meant to say that my lowest temperature was 36,0 to 36,3. IM SO SORRY

[Heather]

Whatever your temps may have been, we can't tell you when you have and haven't been ovulating. That's something only you will be able to make estimates of yourself if and when you do chart daily, and then can look at all that data over at least a few months (assuming your cycles were pretty regular), then analyze the patterns in that data.

The FAM link already provided here gives you both more specifics on doing that and good book resources, as really, charting fertility as accurately and well as possible takes some substantial education, not just a couple online articles.