Question about piss sticks please, fairly desperate actually...sadly.

I never had a positive on the ovulation sticks and go pregnant straight away.

if your cycle is normally 35 days, its likely you dont ovulate until CD 21, given that a normal luteal phase (time from ovulation to your period starting) is 13-14 days. I always get -ve OPK until about 3 or 4 days before the surge, then I start getting faint lines, and then on the day of the surge it goes from almost invisible line to fully positive in about 6 hours! so it can happen very quickly.

I never got a positive on an OPK (used them for 4 months pre TTC to check cycle length etc). Was v depressed

Decided to TTC for 6 months anyway to see what happened, and got pregnant straight away. Dates suggest I ovulated day 16 (so a bit late but still fairly standard).

Asked Obs about it. She said some surges are really quick (so unless you're testing every couple of hours you might miss it) or just your hormone levels dont get that high. She said it was possible that i wasnt ovulating every month but that it would be unlikely to get 4 no ovulation months in a row and then suddenly get one, especially if periods are regular.

User error is also a possibility but I got an A in Chemistry GCSE so I have ruled that out

Have skimmed so sorry if I am repeating...

OPK's are notoriously hard to read (see thread upon thread on here!) because the luteal hormone differs from woman to woman. Some women get positives all month and some women never get a positive despite ovulating normally.

Think about what time of day you are testing - you should amke it around midday or afternoon to allow LH to build up in the body (unlike pregnancy tests which need first morning pee). If you get a faint positive, perhaps try testing late in the evening as well?

Bear in mind that +OPK is only an indicator that yoru body is getting ready to ovulate, and it may not happen until up to 72 hours later.

In my experience, you should keep an eye on the other indicators such as ewcm, cervical position, ovulation pains.

All the very best.

If I were you I would start taking asprin (make sure they are enteric coated as this stops you from getting a stomach ulcer). Secondly I would get yourself to see a consultant asap! Also if you can afford it maybe a course of IUI.

I am 40 this year. Going to start IUI on 1st March. Had 2 consecutive miscarriages (3 altogether) and have been told to take asprin every day. If I do get pregnant I will be given progesterone pessaries to support the pregnancy. They won't stop a miscarriage if the baby would never be viable but they make the lining of the womb much more comfy environment for the foetus to embed into.

Also I wouldn't use cheap opk's use clearblue if you can as they are more reliable.

Good luck.

i'm afraid i don't know much about the causes of m/c or the investigations but i really think you have to be strong when you see the gynae and push for answers from them.

i know how you feel - i sometimes wonder if the ectopic was my only bfp but those are the down days - other days i think well if we can do it once...
i think you should try to get an idea of your cycles, find out as much as you can so that you're not fobbed off by the gynae but it sounds like that's where all this started from!

Er activate it is absolutely right.

The luteal phase (LP) which is the time from an egg being released through to period is generally 14 days. Some woman have a longer LP (up to 16 days) and some shorter (as low as 10) To be outside these frames is extraordinarly rare.

Some woman do not ovulate at all but they are very much in the minority hence I used the phrase the "vast majority".

My LP is 11 days and considered by my consultant to be sub normal.

To know that you ovulated aprox 14 days before your last period helps if there is a general trend to the length of your cycles. If the OP cycles are all between 30 -38 days for example, she really doesn't need to worry that she hasn't ovulated until much later in her cycle (days 16-22)

Anyway I digress because the thread has moved on.

OP you have had 5 m/c so you need to be looking at the reasons for those rather than conception itself. Have you seen your GP? Could you afford to see a consultant privately? Make an appointment asap.

I know how shit it is to be desperate and I am sorry you are going through this. Does there seem to be an obvious link with your m/c's (what stage do they occur at?) have you ever been investigated?

Good luck

you're not mad at all - it's totally natural to want to know why these things happen (or don't happen)
have you tried temping to look for ov? i found that the single most useful thing to learn about my cycles.
btw 6-12 months to fall pg is perfectly normal, though i understand your need to understand it all.

cantthink - i liked the smiley ones too and got smiley faces at the right time. but when i peed in a pot and dipped both the digi one and the ebay cheapy i got a smile on the digi and only a feint line on the ebay ones so i think digi is the way forward (despite the cost)

or horrible even

I spent so long typing that you all shot ahead of me!
meatntattypie - you need to get referred for more m/c investigations. two is too many, three should trigger investigations and five is just horible

The same thing happened to me! I always got smily faces on the clearblue digital opks so knew I had a surge, but on the sticks with the lines I never got a proper positive. I always got no line at all, followed by a single faint line around thew time I should have been ovulating.

I just assumed the single line was a positive, proceeded from there, and I'm currently 36 weeks pregnant!

activate - it's not much help on that cycle but over a few cycles it can help to get an idea of what is normal for you. the time between ov and period is called the luteal phase and i don't think it's often longer than 15 days? I know with temping if you have high temps for 16 days it's highly likely you're pg - implying a 15 day lp is the max? lp can be as low as 10 days and still result in pg, but i think 10 days is about the shortest as otherwise the embryo doesn't have the chance to embed.
none of this is from scientific knowledge just stuff i've picked up over the past few years of ttc

and you need to educate yourself.

google is your firend

www.sharedjourney.com/miscarriage/recurrent.html

but you are suffering recurrent miscarriages and obviously don't have a conception problem.

you need to go and shout at your GP

Surely after 3 miscarriages you get NHS investigation and support.

"The vast majority of woman ovulate 14 days before their period.

It is the time before ovulation that varies so greatly and is the reason for massively varying cycle lengths in different woman."

Sorry but that's not right. And even if it was, which it wasn't, it's of no help to know that you ovulated 14 days before you bleed. But it isn't right at all there is as much difference between time before ovulation as after it

Bit off subject, but I started trying to have kids late in life....went to GP in Oz for advice.....she said have sex on day 8,10,12,14,16 of each month, nothing else (and throw away the sticks).....worked ok for us......I used to use "piss sticks" prior to that (to avoid pregnancy).....they never gave me proper readings, I always thought my fertility was shot........but method above worked nicely for us.........good luck!