Duofertility review

It took me a while to decide to get the duofertility monitor as it is a lot more expensive than anything else that I have tried.

But I am so glad that I did!
I bought it when we had been trying for 17 months. We had gone through all the tests and everything was normal. We had unexplained infertility. The doctors were talking about IVF, but it costs so much that we had decided to save up for it.

So it is a fertility sensor that you sick under your bra on the side of the body and it checks your temperature all the time at night. Then you check your fertility level on the monitor (or your computer) and it tells you when you are fertile and confirms ovulation. What is awesome with it is the support you get.
I could speak to your advisor when you want, they are always friendly and helpful. And they didn't seem to mind me asking them lots and lots of questions. Bless them!

My chart was clearer than the one I did with my BBT thermometer, but I was still glad that I could just pick up the phone and speak to someone about it all.

This is how it works:

 

 

I found another great review here, Helen is a pharmacist and she said that this was the best thing for them after testing all the products in her pharmacy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HosHZ-eNXQw&list=PL75352D652CF6FBDD

 

 

There are some medical publications showing that it is effective and that it can even help couples who have had IVF. http://www.touchobgyn.com/authors/oriane-chausiaux

 

These are the claims they make on their site:

 

"Fertility specialists will monitor your data via our online fertility service. You can contact us to discuss your cycle patterns and get tips to increase your chances of pregnancy.
An assisted fertility treatment with an at home solution to avoid numerous visits to a clinic.
An unmatched natural conception rate for Infertile couples, equal to the success rates of IVF."

 

I don't have any photos of my own, as I gave it to my sister in law who got pregnant after 3 cycles using it.

 

 

* Reference: http://www.duofertility.com/

 



Fertility friend review

I have then heard about Fertility Friend on the Mumsnet forum, and I decided to try it out!

So I took my BBT thermometer out of the drawer, and started using it again.

This is what Fertility Friend claims to do:

Free Interactive Ovulation Chart: Pinpoint Your Fertile Days
Comprehensive Chart Analysis and Advanced Ovulation Detector
Fully Featured Ovulation Calendar: Your Cycles at a Glance
Dramatically Increase Your Chances of Conception
Caring Expert Support
Join Thousands of other Women with the Same Goal


The reality is that they have a great site with a lot of information, but the tool is not that good. If your temperature is variable, it will not be able to predict when you will be fertile and sometimes tell you that you ovulate on different days!
What they call a comprehensive chart analysis is true - you have lots of information to hand, but  that only became useful after a few months of use.... to be fair I don't think that anyone wants to wait several months before something is useful.

The "dramatically increase the chance of conception" is a bit vague, and as they are not regulated by the FDA, I do not know if I want to trust their claim ( my understanding is that they can say what they like!).

Caring expert support - basically is a few women hanging on the forum and providing you with pseudo medical advice while being completely unqualified. I have been to my doctor with some of the comments for further advice, and he told me that this was not true. So I would take this with a pinch of salt!

I used it for several months and I didn't have a single cycle look like ever!

But that is a nice theory ;)

Mine looked more like the one of biogirl:

Fertility Friend, which is the app I am using to keep all my temps in order, does not see this chart as promising. When I click on 'Pregnancy Monitor' it informs me that it can't even be calculated because no ovulation was detected. When I click on 'Fertility Analysis' it gives me a red light and says "Probably Not Fertile". I realized later that is for the individual day, not for like my entire life. But still...it basically says it all. Probably not Fertile.

Saliva microscopes

So after using the OvaCue monitor, I didn't yet realised that electrolytes in the body (saliva or cervical mucus) were not great markers of ovulation, so I bought a fertility microscope.

It sounds quite technical, but it looks like a tube of lip balm.

At the time, I read quite a bit about it, as I was getting a bit more sceptical about all of this...and found very compelling evidence. "98% accurate at telling when ovulation happens!" (I didn't do enough research!).

The theory is similar to that used by the ovacue monitor: when you ovulate, there is an increase in oestrogen levels ( before ovulation), which should happen around the same time as your LH surges (as measured by the ovulation tests). The salts (also known as electrolytes) increase in your body at the time the oestrogens increase, and that salt should be visible on the microscope.

As you can see on the photo, you are supposed to see inside it (against the light) patterns when your saliva dyes up on the slide. This is about as easy to do as reading the future in tea leaves!
It is convenient in the sense that you can use it at any time of the day, so it doesn't get in the way of baby making...but it is completely unreliable!

According to their website:
It is an easy-to-use, saliva-based ovulation test that allows you to predict ovulation with 98% accuracy – days in advance. It works by allowing you to identify your “estrogen surge”, the characteristic surge in estrogen that occurs before you ovulate. Ideal for women with both regular or irregular menstrual cycles, Fertile-Focus offers you a natural and affordable way to increase your chances of conception.*

I have not been able to find the study allowing them to claim 98% accuracy at detecting ovulation. A suspiciously commercial looking Doctor's website claims something slightly different: For women who are trying to conceive, Fertile-Focus is 98% accurate in aiding the prediction of fertile periods.
The accuracy claim is based on testing methodology (research on the saliva microscope testing method of ovulation prediction).**
To me it sounds like they have not run the tests on the product themselves and they are using someone else's studies... but I didn't find that either - so I cannot be sure!

Again, the online reviews are mixed:
"I was so excited about using one of these as I had never heard of them before and it sounded easier and more reliable than sticks (it's easy to get your hopes up with these things!). It's early days, as I have only been using for 3 months. What is odd is that for the past 2 months I have had positive readings from fertility test strips, but at the same time absolutely NO difference at all showing on the ovulation microscope results .. just dots and blobs, no sign at all of any "ferning!" How can that be? For me the microscope shows the same thing, day-in and day-out, just blobs and dots. I always use it first thing in the morning and let it dry thoroughly, but to no avail do I ever see "ferning"! Frustrating!" (BigRed on Amazon)

This lady on the video is more positive:

*Reference: http://www.fertile-focus.com/
** Reference: http://www.johnleemd.com

Ovacue monitor review

Looking online, I then found the Ovacue monitor and decided to buy it.

I only used it for two month. I didn't like the vaginal probe, and the mouth reading didn't do anything valuable except for counting my fertile days around an ovulation date of day 14. My cycle is 34 days long and I now know that I do not ovulate on day 14.
The vaginal probe is a lot bigger than on the photos and is very unpleasant to use - if you are trying to get pregnant in winter, well think about the temperature of your bedroom...and think about how that feels "in there" first thing as you wake up. A real turn off for any morning romance!

The OvaCue is a saliva-based electronic fertility monitor designed specifically for trying-to-conceive couples. With the OvaCue, you can predict your ovulation date up to seven days in advance by measuring changes in the electrolyte concentration*.

 

I have not manage to convince myself that this fertility monitor does anything more than count days, but the reviews are very mixed...maybe it only works for people with regular cycles. I have added 2 reviews from  other users below.

I used this item for several months and got to realize that it always indicates the fertile days based solely on your cicle length. It's a lie that it measures electrolytes in your saliva to detect the fertile days.
I used this and another ovulation detector at the same time and the OvaCue kept telling me that my fertile and peak days were between day cycle 12 and 17. The other one said I was on fertile days...but not marked any peak until day 28, when it detected the ovulation day (I had irregular cicles during the last 3 months and the OvaCue always said my fertile days were from 12 to 17). Finally I got pregnant that very long cycle on day 28 or 29 (which I confirmed on day 30 with a raise in my basal temperature). Obviously, had I kept using the OvaCue I had never gotten pregnant. So, don't waste your money and invest in a serious fertility monitor (the other one I used it for only two months, the second one I got pregnant). Gaby Castillo (Mexico - Amazon review)


A more positive review comes from the Harper family:

She got pregnant using it, and she took some useful pictures ( I wish I did, but at the time I was mad to have it not work and I sold it on Ebay... for $25).

The photo below is the screen of the monitor, in blue are your fertile days, and in pink is your supposed ovulation date.

 

 

She very helpfully took a photo of the mouth sensor in action. I will spare you photos of the vaginal probe in action...but for comparison the mouth probe is small!

 

And looking at the Medical journals, I couldn't find any articles published showing an increased pregnancy rate. That makes me doubt the quality of it.

*Reference: http://www.ovacue.com/

Ovulation tests

After 6 months of trying, I decided to buy ovulation tests and I was puzzled by the number of them in the shops. They are all different, claim different thing and are a real mine field.

The ovulation tests measure the level of LH in your urine.

The luteinizing hormone is always present in your urine and increases 24-48 hours prior to ovulation. The LH surge triggers ovulation, which is the release of an egg from one of your ovaries. Ovulation is the most fertile time of your cycle*.

Some tests will claim 99% accuracy. This doesn't mean that you are 99% likely to get pregnant! It doesn't mean that they are 99% accurate at detecting ovulation either! Don't be fooled!
The way the test is conducted to get such result is that they select healthy young women, then do a blood test, select only those who have a strong LH signal in their blood. And get those to test the test. In which case 99% of those had the test detect the LH surge in the urine the same day as the blood test showed the LH surge.

So as a summary, the numbers on the box mean very little for women like you and I trying to get pregnant!

You can buy the Ovulation Tests from big brand from ClearBlue and First Response, but they do the same job as the cheaper ones. You can also find very cheap equivalent online which are those that are used in labs.

The only useful information to look out for is the sensitivity - that means the level of hormone that they detect. You can buy 3 different levels: either 20 mIU, 30mIU or 40 mIU.

If you have regular cycles and no known problems then, the Normal 30 mIU sensitivity are the ones you should have and the ones we recommend. We have given more detailed information further down the page about why you may need different sensitivity ovulation tests and how to discover if you do**.

I used the 30mIU.
But I only used them for 3 cycles as they didn't work for me.

The other choice you have is to get digital tests, or analogue test. The digital one have a mini computer inside with a camera, and they tell you what the result is instead of you having to analyse it.

This video clearly show that not all Ovulation tests ( or OPK) are giving results as easy to read from one to the other...if you feel unsure, the digital ones are best, and will give you more of a peace of mind. But they are also more expensive.

*Reference:http://americanpregnancy.org
**Reference: http://www.homehealth-uk.com

BBT - Body basal temperature

The first thing that I did was to take my temperature in the morning.

Basal body temperature (BBT) is your temperature when you first wake up in the morning or after at least three hours of uninterrupted sleep. Before you even get out of bed to brush your teeth or start your day, pop a basal thermometer (available at drug stores) into your mouth. This thermometer shows minute incremental degree changes, unlike a regular thermometer. Most basal thermometers come with a temperature-plotting chart*.

Initially, it was fun as it meant that I woke up 30-60 minutes before my natural waking time and gave us plenty of time for baby making before going to work. However, it soon became clear that this was making me very tired and by the end of my cycle, I was incapable of concentrating.

The chart was a mess,  I couldn't really be sure of when I ovulated ( or if I had). And I ended up more worried than ever.

This is the Body Basal thermometer that I bought.

This is a video which I found very helpful to get started:

 But I wish I had seen this one...it would have made me feel better!

*Source: http://www.babycenter.ca/

Fertility Monitor Review - the start

I am now blessed with a baby girl, but my journey there was not a short one. I have experienced a lot of emotions, and in retrospect, I feel that a lot of it could have been made easier if I had been told about how to help myself.

As most women (probably) I thought that I would get pregnant as soon as we started trying. We were 36 years old, healthy, didn't do any of the things which can delay getting pregnant, so we thought that this would be a breeze!

After my 4th cycle, I decided to get some help, and I read lots of reviews about fertility monitors from lots of different women. And I ended up trying quite a few myself and finding out that they may not have worked. Chloe was conceived after 19 long cycles.

I now have a little bit of time on my hands over the next few weeks, and I wanted to give back by sharing my insights in the hope of helping other women make the right choices.

The long journey can be shorter - I am sure. And it is worth every tear...