# No LH surge - help!



## Bella_donna (Feb 26, 2008)

Hello everyone!

I hope you are all well and enjoyed your trip to Stratford. I have taken a step back from the message board/talking to friends and family about my options and plans as I was getting very down and upset by it all. I think I was grieving the loss of "the big fairytale" and from what I understand from these boards, that's fairly normal. A few weeks ago I was crying myself to sleep at night. I thought I was going a bit mad    so I chose to (try!) and switch off from it all for a month of two.

That said, I have been using an ovulation kit this month - just for peace of mind really - but it seems I have only wound myself up further as I haven't been able to detect my LH surge!!  

I have tested on 6 days (days 9-15) but nothing. No smiley face - just a lot of empty circles that are reminding me of my nearly empty ovaries!!  

Has anyone else had this problem? I know you must all be testing your LH surge for your treatment. 

Is there any truth that you shouldn't use "morning urine"? Can you miss it by testing at the wrong time of day?

When I went to the LWC for my consultation the doctor said she was in no doubt I was ovulating because of the regularity of my periods but yet it looks like I'm not  

Any advice you could give me on this would be great. Sorry - I'm aware I haven't given any of you any support recently and here I am asking for more support for me  

Mellabella x


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## Violet66 (Dec 28, 2007)

Hi Mellabella 

I first posted in this section a few months ago as I was considering TTC as a single woman with donor sperm. In the end I decided it wasn't the way I wanted to do things so I do completely understand the emotions you currently experience. It's completely normal - I bet we all thought we'd do things in the traditional way: fall in love, get married and have a family. 

When I first thought about IUI I, like you, started monitoring my cycles and using OPKS and also never got a positive result - and was convinced I wasn't ovulating even though my day 21 test had a very high progesterone level and indicated that I was. It turned out I just wasn't taking the tests at the right time of day for me. 

The best time for me to test is between 6-8pm. whenever I tested in the morning or at lunchtime I never got a + result. I also drink a lot of water and very dilute urine can also make it hard for the test to pick up the LH hormone. 

I still use the clearblue digital as I prefer them even though they are expensive - if you pull the test apart you can see the two lines so it's possible to see the surge getting stronger. Although I've had no sign of a second line on one day and then a very strong line the next - so it isn't always gradual - sometimes it's just 'wham bam' I'm here.....


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## ♥JJ1♥ (Feb 11, 2006)

I one didn't have the smiley face till day 18 and had given up hope. would you old friend consider being a known donor for you? 
L x


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## suitcase of dreams (Oct 7, 2007)

Hi Mel,

Glad you're still there - was wondering how you were doing.....

Big   to you - totally understand your feelings. My first IVF just failed and I have found that this has brought back all of those feelings for me. This so wasn't the way I wanted my life to turn out - and going through the disappointment alone (although of course all the girls here have been fantastic support - by alone I mean without a partner...) has been doubly hard. 

But we have to make the best of what we've got and a life without children is for me worse than a life without a partner. So am trying to be tough and make myself look forward to the next IVF rather than getting stuck in the downward spiral of negative thinking about lack of partner etc. Is really really hard though so I very much understand what you have been going through.

Anyway, back to your question re LH surge. I only monitored mine for 3 months - first month picked it up perfectly on day 14. Next 2 months, nothing at all, despite numerous tests. When I started IUI I was so concerned about ability to pick up surge that I went with monitored cycles - more expensive but gave me peace of mind. Basically means that you have regular scans to monitor follicle size and they then time the trigger injection accordingly rather than relying on you picking up your surge. Interestingly on at least one month my IUI was timed for day 17 which suggests that I surged on day 16 or 17 - if you tested days 9-15 you may just not have continued long enough...maybe try from day 8 to day 18 just to be sure?

Lots of luck with it and don't feel that you can't post/talk about how hard the decision is to go it alone - it's not insensitive at all - as you say, we're all feeling it - just at times it's stronger than others I guess. But if it helps to talk about it to help you work out what is really right for you, then pls do - we all understand here....

Take care
Laura 
x


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## Roo67 (Feb 12, 2007)

Just thought I would add by experience of LH surge.

My clinic asked me to collect 4 specimens a day, first at teatime, then night, first thing in morning and then lunchtime. I would then test the lunchtime one and if negative disregard the others, when i got a positive at lunchtime i would then test backwards until i got a negative I would then be able to pinpoint surge to within a few hours. it was time consuming but virtually always worked for me.

I usually used clear blue digital, I did try cheap internet sticks but had to really squint and hold up to light to see 2 lines  - sometimes clearblue digital was positive and sometimes negative, so didn't really have too much faith in the cheapies, but I have heard of others that they were no problem for.

Hope I've not confused you even more !!!

roo xx


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