Newbie ovulation help please

[Fluffypenguin1]

So I’m new to all this and came off Depo 6 months ago.

I thought I was falling back into a cycle but after my last period about 2 weeks later (2 weeks ago) I had a few days of spotting, was due on over the weekend and nothing has happened. I did do a test over the weekend although not with a morning wee and was negative, could be too early to show I guess but also no sore boobs etc. I would expect if I was pregnant and also the spotting 2 weeks ago didn’t look like what I’ve seen of implantation bleeding it was more a mini period I think.

I haven’t been tracking as just going with the flow while my body gets back to “normal” but I thought I’d get some ovulation tests just to see if anything’s going on and I’m so confused…does this mean it’s negative as it’s not as dark as the control line or is it like just before a peak? Would there be no second line otherwise? I know this may sound stupid but I really don’t get it as I’ve seen other people post faint line ones.

Thank you so much!

For an OPK to be positive the test line (on the left) needs to be as dark as or darker than the control line (on the right). We have LH (the hormone that OPKs test for) in our system at most points in our cycle so there will usually be a line on the left hand side whenever you test - sometimes this will be very faint, sometimes it will be quite dark but not as dark as the control line so not yet positive.

I am currently on CD6 and not close to ovulating and my tests look like the one you have posted. For me they stay at around that level until about 2 days before my peak and then darken quite quickly over 48 hours or so, but some people have a more gradual rise or even multiple rises and dips before a positive. Pick a time of day to test and test daily and see what happens - hopefully you will be able to see a pattern and spot your return of fertility. Depo can take a long time to leave your system as I'm sure you know (7 - 10 months on average and potentially up to 18 months) so it may be a while until things regulate.

Best of luck!

That’s really helpful thank you! I did do some a couple of months ago but I did one a week so will start doing them daily and see if anything’s happening, yes I’ve read a lot about how long it can take after Depo but think I got a bit excited after 3 periods because they were all around 4 weeks apart so thought I was starting to regulate but maybe not!