Ovulation help - I'm confused!

[sophieroberts91]

Hi,

I've been try for 3 months after 5 years on the implant.

We haven't really been tracking anything, just DTD when we fancy like we always have.

This month I decided to buy some ovulation tests sticks (the cheap dippy ones) and they've not shown any lines except the test line. I'm confused because I feel like I should have/ be close to ovulation already.

I have EWCM too which makes me feel I should be fertile. Can anyone help/ give any advice.

Should I stop the stick tests as they're stressing me out?!?

I stopped testing because I had the same issue.
It took 8 months to conceive, although I did use the ovia app to keep track of periods/fertile times.
Now TTC no 2 and still not testing, although I am looking out for ovulation pains as a guide.

@sophieroberts91 what time of the day are you testing? Those dip ones don't work well first thing.

I’d keep testing until at least the end of one cycle. If you have a short LH surge, you can miss it if you are only testing once a day. Best results are usually from 2 tests a day, one in the middle of the afternoon and one before bed. So you may have missed it. Or, you may ovulate later than you think. I tend to have two LH surges per cycle, one around day 10 that doesn’t quite give me a decent positive, and has a bit of EWCM but doesn’t seem to lead to ovulation. Then 10 days later I have another, stronger surge, some more EWCM and AF makes me think this is when I actually ovulate.

Advice is generally just to dtd every two days throughout your cycle. Apparently that has about a 33% success rate, whereas every day during your FW takes you up to about 37% (wish I could remember where I read that!).... so tracking ovulation isn’t completely necessary if there are no underlying health reasons, unless there is a reason why you can’t dtd throughout cycle.

If you’re tracking more to check that you are ovulating etc after your implant, temperature charting is a more reliable way of pinpointing ovulation than OPKs. However, it tells you AFTER you ovulate, so doesn’t help with timing dtd.

Good luck whatever you chose to do!

Thanks all. I'm just so new to all of this. Im going to stop and then just see what happens.

I think these groups are amazing, but I find myself reading things and getting worked up that I'm not 'doing it' properly. I haven't really given it a proper chance yet either!

Do you mean you can only see the control line or there is no control line?

If no control line then the test is invalid.

If you’re struggling I’d suggest trying Clear Blue digital tests even if only for a cycle or two to get used to them

Or order a new batch of cheaper OPKs. I find the One Step ones ok