I am so confused! ovulation?

Question

I took an ovulation test a few days ago, and the test line was darker than the other line..

Today i look another one and it was the opposite, with a lighter line...

if i was ovulating a few days ago and not today, wouldn't I have started my period? My period is due the 22nd.

I am confused about all this ovulation stuff.

Answer 1

If you ovulated then you would get your period 12-16 days later.

Answer 2

OPKs are looking for the LH surge that occurs about 24 hours before you ovulate.  Basically, your body is always producing some LH.  But when it's time to ovulate, it suddenly releases a relatively large amount of LH.  This high level of LH tells your ovaries to ovulate.

For most womem, the surge of LH starts suddenly and rapidly shuts hours later.  So they usually experience only a single day of high levels of LH.

Now some women do have gradual increases and/or gradual decreases in LH in their system.

But in either case, you are looking for the day when your LH levels go from less than the reference line to more than the reference line.  That's the day your body has signaled the ovaries to ovulate, and ovulation should occur within about 24 hours.

After ovulation, the exact levels of LH are meaningless (because you can't ovualte twice), and like I said, for some women the LH levels drop rapidly, and for other they drop slowly.

From what you've described, is sounds like you took the 1st test AFTER the initial LH surge, so you really have no clue when you ovulated (had the surge happened that morning and you will then ovulate within 24 hours, or did the surge happen yesterday, you've already ovulated, and the LH hasn't disappated from your system enough yet to go back below the reference level).

So to be effective, you really have to use OPKs starting at least two to three days before you expect to ovulate.  But the same thing can still happen to you if you happen to ovulate early.  So to ensure the OPK is going to work, you have to start several days earlier.  Then if your ovulation gets delayed that month... well you can see that using OPKs can quickly become expensive.

It can be a lot less expensive if you read the book "Taking Charge of Your Fertility" and buy a thermometer for taking BBT.  The book will basically teach you to track the signals your own body produces to let you know when you are about to ovulate, and when you've already ovulated, and when you should take an HPT.  There is not cost month after month.  You just have to be willing to take the time to educate yourself and the few minutes a day to track BBT.

Answer 3

Your + OPK meant that you would ovulate within 12-36 hrs of getting the positive.  Today's negative means that you're LH surge has passed.  Now you are the dreaded two week wait (could be anywhere from 11-15 days typcially) for your AF to arrive or be able to test.  Hope that helps!