Please come and talk to me about using ov sticks for the first time

[VeniVidiVino]

DH and I are on cycle 4 of TTC #1 so I got myself some cheapie sticks to see if I am ovulating when expected. Started using them on Monday and until today nothing, got myself very disheartened and read horror stories about Yasmin (the pill I was on) online, DH telling me to calm down, sure it will be fine etc.

Anyway, just now I got a faint line on the ov stick - yay! I know the line needs to be darker than the control line to indicate a surge but surely this is good. Does it mean I will probably get the LH surge in the next couple of days? There must be some LH there to bring the faint line mustn't there?

Sorry for all the slightly mad sounding questions. I am getting myself in such a tizz about all this. If you have experience of using these sticks please will you share it with me?

I have a lot of experience of using these sticks. You can get a faint line at any time of the month, however I did find that when the LH surge came, the lines did get darker gradually the 2 days before. Useful, as it gives you early warning and you can start shagging sooner.
There is always some LH in your system all month long. It's the sudden surge that causes ovulation, but it isn't at zero the rest of the month.

Don't worry about having been on the pill. It will not have done any harm to your fertility. Stop Dr Googling. 4 months is not a long time of ttc.

I've been using ov sticks for the first time this cycle. From my understanding, you can only get 2 lines when LH is present in your bloodstream. The LH becomes present anything between 12 and 48 hours before ovulation, so the best advice says to make sure you have sex every day that the tests are positive.

I've just had my LH surge, so fingers crossed for us both!

X-posted with Kat! Listen to her, she knows her stuff

Thanks Kat I'm going to go with the idea that LH surge must be coming based on no line at all the rest of this week and it being CD15 today. You are so right about google, can dig up bad news about anything if you try hard enough

Fingers crossed!

X-posted with you CaveMum, I will take all/any advice willingly and keep shagging for victory!

If you are doing cheapies, I recommend twice a day testing as soon as the time is getting near, especially if you have gone from no line to faint line.

Perhaps that is just because I was addicted to pissing on sticks though!

My first month of trying these (and coming off the pill) I got no lines. Baby is due in 7 weeks so don't stress just yet!

Thanks Kat and london perhaps this will be our lucky month...

When I first used mine I was worried that I never got surges so after a couple of months I pissed on them EVERY SINGLE DAY. Turns out I was about 5 days off from when I thought i ovulated and got my BFP that cycle.

I used these last cycle, along with charting my temperature. I didn't get my two lines on the stick but my temperature shows that I did ovulate. If you?re not already then I suggest that you try charting your temperature too. An LH surge tells you that you are gearing up for ovulation but from what I have read online that it is possible that you can get a LH surge but not ovulate. Only a shift in basal body temp will tell you if you really did ovulate.

Get yourself a basal body temperature thermometer and take a look at www.fertilityfriend.com/ There are handy apps for your smart phone that make it dead easy to use for recording your temp each morning

Good luck OP
I'm using these too and jus began...confusing isn't it..I keep getting fairly decent lines but not positive yet, I mean not darker than the control.

I'm supposed to ovulate tomorrow (day 14) according to FF and just about every other calendar in the internet world. But no CM at all so far and I think the lines are getting lighter

Keep us posted..! Oh and don't test first thing in the morning as it won't show up, apparently.

Ive used these for 2 months.

Only got a positive when I used cb digital and that was on day 18. I dIdnt wee or drink for 4 hours beforehand and tested at 2.30.

Good luck.

I used cheapie Superdrug own brand ov sticks last month, and didn't get an official 'positive' at all - around day 13-14 I did get a line but it was not as dark as the test line. However, the rest of the month I got no line at all, so I wonder whether that weak line was my surge??

In any case, I had an early MC the month before, so expect my cycle was all screwy anyway, and perhaps didn't even oulate at all.

Am fed up (already! after one month!) with trying to analyse the faintness of the lines on the cheap tests so have splashed out this month on the CB digital ones with the smiley face. My only query with these ones is it says in the instructions you can use your first morning urine, whereas all the other brands seem to say do not.

Anyone know whether using 1st morning urine with CB digital works?? It's certainly more convenient than having do POAS in my office toilets ...advice much appreciated!

Hiya...it says on Peeonastick.com that with most ov sticks you're meant to use them in the afternoon, but the exception is the CB digital so that's correct, you use FMU for that one.

Good luck!
I'm also wondering if my decent line was in fact my surge as I've done three today and they've all been really faint.

Which means I missed the surge by starting testing too late I think.
Hmm...

It's def worth getting the cb digis - much easier than trying to analyse the lines.

Oh but trying to justify the ££ to myself is not that easy

I went in superdrug today and nothing was on offer. Must have missed them!

so wilkinsons 5 for £2.77, well, cheap thrills eh

and I agree about temping. I just found a digi thermometer I got a few years ago, and never used (together with diary - they were a kit on the clearance shelf in Boots!) and have started using it, it's actually really easy.

Sadly started charting temps too late this month but I think I'm addicted now. As long as DP doesn't get funny about having a thermometer under the pillow.

Get the cheapies in bulk off the internet. Don't waste loads of money on the shop ones.
I bought them 100 at a time from home health website, but they are exactly the same on amazon or ebay. Guilt-free stick pissing, twice a day if I felt the need.

When I got a surge it wasn't actually darker than the control, but because I had been using them a while, I got to recognise what my "best" result looked like. If I hadn't have conceived the month I did, I probably would have ordered my next batch in the higher sensitivity rather than the standard. Worth thinking of doing if you aren't sure you are identifying your surge.

Thanks Kat&Kit, that's really useful - I didn't realise some people can not get a positive and still ovulate.

These seem to be 20miu so is that fairly sensitive?

That was my issue - trying to figure out if the line was darker than the control line.

I buy the CB digi ones from Amazon, £12 for 10.