Ovulation tests - reliable or not?

[Nellie1027]

Hi everyone :)

My husband and I are trying for our first baby after sadly having a miscarriage in January.

That pregnancy wasn't planned so I've never used ovulation kits or paid much attention to my cycle before.

Prior to even thinking about having a baby I've always thought I've known when I'm ovulating as I get these stabby pains on one side. I am getting these pains today and my discharge is quite watery and stretchy.

However, I've been testing using ovulation sticks and it's negative. I am on day 12 of my cycle. I have been using the Easy at Home ovulation strips and the PreMom app and they are always measuring low since I started testing. I bought some of the Clear Blue digital ones today and that's saying I'm not ovulating or near ovulation either.

Does anyone use these ovulation tests and do you think they are accurate? I'm not sure whether I should just stop using them and concentrate on my body. Or maybe I just ovulate late and I need to be patient?

Thanks in advance!

Hi @Nellie1027! First of all, I am very sorry for your miscarriage. I hipe you are alright! We have some threads here with women who experienced the same if you want to join.

Yes, they are very reliable in picking up lh hormones. If you just had a miscarriage, it is certainly possible that your cycle isn't regular and it might take longer for ovulation to happen. Just keep on testing.

Hi OP, I’m sorry to hear about your MC I use a combination of the easy@home OPK’s and clearblue digital tests and find they’re accurate at detecting my LH rise (I use Ovusense to confirm ovulation). It may be that because you think you’re ovulating today you’ve already missed the LH peak? Or you may ovulate later than you think? Since I started using Ovusense I found out that I ovulate a lot later than I originally though (normally around CD20) x

@Bundaberg84 thanks for replying :)

I am ok thank you, it was a big shock but I have lots of very supportive friends and family who have helped a lot over the past month or so.

We are just keen to try again now! I think you're probably right that my hormone levels might just take a bit of time to get back to normal again. I'm just so impatient and that doesn't sit well with me. I'll keep on testing, thanks :)

@BlueForYou3 thank you for replying :)

I've been testing using the Easy at Home ones since I stopped my period and it's always low everyday so I think it would have picked up if I had ovulated if they work well? I hope that maybe I just ovulate later than I think.

Do you track your basal body temp too? I haven't started doing this but I might try it next month if we aren't successful this month.

@Nellie1027 I use Ovusense to track BBT. It’s a little more expensive to use but I get a much more accurate reading. You need to be consistently temping at the same time everyday for a normal BBT thermometer to work, my charts were all over the place with it x

I’m sorry for your miscarriage. 💐
The ovulation strips are useful for confirming that your other signs are there, but really the biggest visual giveaway that you are fertile will be cervical mucus.
The fertility awareness method might be something you are interested in if peeing on sticks gets a bit expensive/tiresome.

Good luck 💐

@BlueForYou3 thank you, I will have a look into this :)

@Soundby thank you for your reply. I'm trying to be more aware this cycle with what's going on with my body but I think it will take a few cycles for me to be confident with what's happening. I am quite sure my cervical mucus at the moment is saying I should be ovulating so I'm just going to go with it for now and see what happens in the next few weeks. Thank you :)