Help this ovulation stick newbie out

[Anonymous]

We bought a big pack of ovulation tests from Amazon and we have been using that. But clearly it is not working. What are we doing wrong in this scenario? Used a stick every day that my app Flo told me I'm the most fertile. There was light second line, definitely not dark, for a good six days. We had sex every one of this days because despite it being light, Flo was telling me I'm highly fertile. After the six days, DH had to go out of town. I retested on ovulation stick three days later and it was super dark, despite Flo saying minimal change of pregnancy since period is so close. The stick was dark for another two days, all of which we had sex. The day after the stick was light again.
Every month is some variation of this. Are we reading the sticks wrong??

[Anonymous]

It's hard to guess exactly what's going on (especially without knowing what kind of test you're using or what the results look like), but I'd suggest two things:
(1) buy another brand of ovulation test, preferably one with a clearer display
(2) start charting all the markers, including cervical mucus and basal body temperature. There's a decent chance that you're just not ovulating when your app says you should be, so watching the other signs will help you know when you're ovulating.
Oh, actually, that's a good strategy (3): get another app. The first time I was TTC, I was using an app called "My Days," which listed my fertile days starting with day 10 (probably assuming I would ovulate around day 14, so should start having sex around day 10). I stupidly thought it was saying I would ovulate on day 10, so I started having sex before that and then was totally burnt out on sex by the time I ovulated. So, if you're currently using the app called "Flow" (you say "Flo" above, so I'm not sure), I think it assumes you'll ovulate on day 14, which was typically true for me, but may not work for you.

Good luck! It took me six months of trying the first time and seven months the second time. In both cases, there were 3-4 months of me charting inaccurately. (Don't know why I didn't learn after the first time!)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's hard to guess exactly what's going on (especially without knowing what kind of test you're using or what the results look like), but I'd suggest two things:
(1) buy another brand of ovulation test, preferably one with a clearer display
(2) start charting all the markers, including cervical mucus and basal body temperature. There's a decent chance that you're just not ovulating when your app says you should be, so watching the other signs will help you know when you're ovulating.
Oh, actually, that's a good strategy (3): get another app. The first time I was TTC, I was using an app called "My Days," which listed my fertile days starting with day 10 (probably assuming I would ovulate around day 14, so should start having sex around day 10). I stupidly thought it was saying I would ovulate on day 10, so I started having sex before that and then was totally burnt out on sex by the time I ovulated. So, if you're currently using the app called "Flow" (you say "Flo" above, so I'm not sure), I think it assumes you'll ovulate on day 14, which was typically true for me, but may not work for you.

Good luck! It took me six months of trying the first time and seven months the second time. In both cases, there were 3-4 months of me charting inaccurately. (Don't know why I didn't learn after the first time!)

I denitely agree with #2 and 3. I'm not sure what the Flo app is, but unless you're tracking other signs that the PP mentioned, the app is going to give you a generic fertile window that may not correspond at all to when you actually ovulate. You'll have a much better chance if you use ovulation tests and also track your basal body temp. I also find that cervical mucus is a pretty good indicator as well.

[Anonymous]

Read taking charge of your fertility