Ovulation confusion!

[Merzy13]

So after I had my son, and my cycle had regulated, I noticed a sharp ache on alternating sides of my abdomen every month. It didn’t take me long to work out that it was linked to ovulation, as I was also doing the Clear and Simple Ovulation tests each month to get to know my cycle in preparation for baby #2. 3 months in of TTC and we decided to get the ClearBlue digital ovulation tests and to my surprise, the results were all ‘low’ during the 2 days which I got my usual pains. What’s going on?! I’ve read up a bit that only 20% of women experience these ovulation pains, and that it is possible to feel them a few days before you ovulate, but it doesn’t seem likely - why would you have pains linked to the egg being released, but then it’s not released until 3/4 days after that?! So in a nutshell, CD 13, I had ovulation cramps (but a low result) and CD 14, 15 and 16, I’ve had the flashing smiley (high fertility). Today is CD 16 so I’m hoping to get the peak solid smiley later on, but what I’m really wondering is, are there other women out there who get the cramps a few days before they ovulate? Or have I not released an egg this month? Or perhaps I have, but the hormones weren’t strong enough? I’m very confused!

Hi Merzy
I don't know the ins and outs of ovulation but just from my experience, last cycle I had ovulation pains about 5 days before my OPK gave me a positive :-)

That’s really helpful! Thanks 😊

How are your results for the two days before you get cramps?

not sure how the digital ovulation works but the regular opk sticks give you a pos about 36 hours before ovulation.

I get these ovulation pains very obviously. It's so obvious I could track ovulation purely by then alone without using anything. For me, the pain builds up over usually about two days and is most severe on the day of ovulation - usually several sharp pains and then they subside. So it's always ovulation day. I've never used the digital tests though and honestly don't especially trust them because the digital pregnancy tests aren't especially sensitive. I would be covering all bases and make sure you're having sex all of those days to be sure.

Day 11 and 12 were also low.

Mindutopia, this is what I’m saying - I thought the same as you, but apparently not. Regular ovulation strips test the LH, but the Clearblue digital tests the LH and oestrogen, both of which surge when ovulating. Something to be aware of if you’re TTC.