Ovulation sticks - am I being stupid?

[Fanciedachange1]

Hi everyone, I bought some ovulation sticks and I’m confused! It says on the instructions in order for it to be positive the test line must be as dark or darker than the control line. It states that the hormone is always present in low amounts during the month so a faint line is a negative.

On the packet however it shows that a negative could be either a faint line or no line.

I’ve done a few over the last few days and they have all only showed a dark control line.

Does this mean that I have 0 of the hormone and am not able to ovulate, or is it simply a case that these tests don’t have faint lines, just strong positive and negatives or are faulty?

Short background, I’m 32, no previous pregnancies. Was on the mini pill from 18-32 (no periods during that time). Came off the pill at easter and periods still a bit irregular.

Is it still too early for my body to have settled down ready to conceive?

Sometimes I've done LH tests that have showed a 0 too! Normally for me it was using too diluted wee, or doing it too early in the day. Have you tried mid afternoon (when you've not been drinking too much liquid before!)? Also are you using an app to read the lines?

I agree it's a lot easier with an app to interpret and log (I rate Premom). I would have faint/no lines most of my cycle then around CD10-12 would start getting lines that weren't dark but we're definitely more there. Then, boom, when you get the positives it's usually really obvious, the pictures taken by the app do it qualitatively and find the peak for you. You could do it by eye as well, you'll know when it's positive or heading that way as the lines will be clear.

But having very little to no line was quite normal for me for most of my cycle. The more you track the more patterns you see especially if you aren't textbook in your cycles- I ovulate slightly late and have a short luteal phase, it turns out.

So my advice at moment would be an app if you want to, keep testing and logging either way and see how the patterns change, if you get darkening lines at the right sort of time even if you don't get a peak this next month or two you know you're back on your way to 'normal' at least.

Thank you for the replies :)

I am doing them in the afternoon although I do try and keep hydrated so maybe that is the problem! I did try one with my first wee of the day just to see if that made a difference but it was the same.

I’m not using an app atm. I just bought some cheap strips (they are the brand one-step I think) to try. I have also ordered some lube that is recommended when ttc.

My plan was to see how it goes and if after a few more months there’s no progression I will try another brand or another method.

@Fanciedachange1

Thank you for the replies :)

I am doing them in the afternoon although I do try and keep hydrated so maybe that is the problem! I did try one with my first wee of the day just to see if that made a difference but it was the same.

I’m not using an app atm. I just bought some cheap strips (they are the brand one-step I think) to try. I have also ordered some lube that is recommended when ttc.

My plan was to see how it goes and if after a few more months there’s no progression I will try another brand or another method.

I'd say the same as the other poster - the Premom app is great! You can use any branded strip with it (just scan under the "other" section) it really helped me. Check the strip instructions too, mine said not to drink too much in the 2 hour window before testing good luck!

@Fanciedachange1 I used One-step and had only one line before. The closer I got to O the more apparent the second line became. My peak was when the two lines were pretty much the same.