Implantation Dip Myth (for most people)!

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Implantation Dip Myth (for most people)!
3
Sat, 10-04-2003 - 9:08am
I've seen a lot of talk here lately about implantation dips and such. Although it is possible to have an implantation dip when pregnant, it is very possible not to have one as well. You can also have "implantation dip" and NO pregnancy. I don't have my copy of TCOYF right now, but it seems like Toni addressed implantation dip either in the book or an article somewhere and said it wasn't true. That is just in my memory, which raised red flags when people kept posting about it. Now I have the old edition of TCOYF, so if she addresses it in the new addition, I haven't seen it and would be interested in what she says.

Then, I found the following info on the web:

http://conceivenow.netfirms.com/bbt/implantdip.htm - This web site shows a chart on what women's hormones do during their cycle. Because estrogen overtakes progesterone after ovulation, that can cause temps to fall again between 2 and 9 dpo. It has a chart, although the words are a little fuzzy. Anyway, it says the drop is not an indicator of pregnancy.

http://my.webmd.com/content/article/66/79823.htm - This features a chat with a doctor. If you scroll down, you will find the following conversation :

Member: What is implantation dip?

Grunebaum: It's a myth. Some claim the temperature goes down a little during implantation. I looked at thousands of pregnancy charts. Most pregnancy charts had no dip, and often times when there was a dip there was no pregnancy. What this is about is that many women just want to know early on if they are pregnant. There are simply no specific enough early pregnancy signs or symptoms to show you conclusively that you are pregnant. There is only one way: a positive pregnancy test. Every thing else is simply hopeful wishing.

Now Fertility Friend did an analysis of charts here: http://www.fertilityfriend.com/Faqs/Implantation_dip.html and states their analysis shows the implantation dip was more likely with pregnant charts than non-pregnant charts. Here were the results:

Here is what we found:

11% of charts that showed ovulation but did not result in a pregnancy displayed this pattern.

23% of charts that showed ovulation and did result in a pregnancy showed this pattern.

Of the pregnancy charts that showed this pattern, the most likely days for the dip to occur were between 7 and 8 days past ovulation.

That means 89% of people that are NOT pregnant do NOT show the pattern, and 77% of people that ARE pregnant do NOT show the pattern. Of course, they don't address any other factors such as maybe women that have those type of charts are more likely to get pregnant, etc, they just ran the numbers.

All I'm trying to say is don't overanalyze the implantation drop because it is not a good indicator. According to FF (and from what I can find FF only as a documented source), you are slightly more likely to be pregnant if you have dip, but it is still very possible you aren't pregnant. Most of you may already know this, but I just wanted to inform the ones that don't.

Good luck to everyone and hope this is your cycle!!!

Chanda

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-30-2003
Sat, 10-04-2003 - 10:26am
GM Chanda!
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Sat, 10-04-2003 - 1:34pm
Connie,

I agree it is fun to look for every possible symptom, etc., to guess if you are preggo or not. I was just worried that those who aren't aware of the facts might put too much faith in it (such as "I had an implantation dip and I am NOT pregnant. It makes me so mad." You get the picture), particularly for those who don't think of TTC as fun anymore. People may think that the "chart" failed them and quit using it, when it can be a very informative tool. I think people should look at the "implantation dip" like the Chinese Gender Calendar, stuff like that. Besides, I wanted those who don't have to dip to have a positive spin!

Hugs,

Chanda

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-23-2003
Sat, 10-04-2003 - 3:16pm
Thank you for the very useful info. You have helped me so much these last few days. The websites helped bunches.

veronica ++++++++vibes to all.