Multiple LH surges during a cycle

[starbell]

My husband and I have been trying to have a baby for 18 months now.  We had a miscarriage about 5 months ago, and are currently on our third round of Clomid.  During the first two rounds of Clomid, we followed our doctor's strict instructions (take Clomid days 5-9 and have sex days 9, 11, 13, 15, and 17).  Since I started on Clomid, my cycles have been 28 days - which is extremely unusual for me since I am usually highly irregular.  This month, we increased the dosage of Clomid from 50 mg to 100 mg per day.  I also decided to take a more proactive approach by charting my rising temperatures each morning and taking an ovulation predictor test daily.

I was surprised to get a positive result on the OPK on day 9 and day 10 since it was a few days earlier than expected. But my hubby and I were delighted that I was having an LH surge at all, and we assumed this meant that I was ovulating soon, so we took full advantage of this "fertile" time window. Like expected, on days 11, 12 and 13 the OPK results were negative.  But then today, day 14, I received another positive OPK result.  This means that this is my second LH surge this cycle.  After a little research I found that this is common for women with PCOS, which I have.

So my question is, is it possible that I have ovulated TWICE this cycle (I know that multiple births are more common with fertility drugs like Clomid - though I'm not sure it works like that), or does it mean that I am likely not ovulating at all?  Or maybe just ovulating during the second LH surge?  What tests can be done to determine what's going on?

Your thoughts would be very appreciated!

[starbell]

oh thanks heather!  that makes perfect sense - and takes a lot of the worry out of it.

[Heather5]

Wow! That is interesting... I've always heard that you only ovulate once during your cycles, and if more than one egg is released, they are all released within a 24-hour period...so the longest amount of time from the first egg is released to the last would be 24 hours.

BUT, I think I do have the answer to your original question. Clomid can often cause a false positive if taken too close to your last clomid pill, and since you got a positive on the last day of your pills, I would assume that was not actually positive, but just cause by clomid. I bet you had a real surge on CD14.

I guess you're suppose to wait for a couple of days after your last pill before you start testing. That way, you won't risk getting a false positive.

Best of luck this cycle!

[starbell]

ok, so I guess I'm answering my own question here, but I just found something interesting online... though I can't vouch for its validity.

What's it mean?

A Canadian study concludes that many women ovulate more than once per menstrual cycle.
10% of the women studied released two eggs in the same month.
A growth wave of 15 to 20 egg-carrying cells called follicles occurs before ovulation.
100% of the women in the study had at least two of these "waves".
30% of the women had three "waves".
The "waves" don't always lead to ovulation, however.
In the study, within 6 weeks, 50/68 women only ovulated once.
6/68 women ovulated twice.
7/68 women didn't ovulate at all.
Most of those "waves" came after they had ovulated, but some had the potential to ovulate immediately after their menstrual period.
In some cases, follicle development didn't reach the point where the egg would normally be mature enough to release.
The researchers don't know whether the pattern for each woman is constant, or whether it changes from month to month.