My Journey with Fertility Testing Part One

Test: Proov Complete Full Cycle Fertility Insight

Average read time: 20 minutes

Welcome to my mind, as I learn more about over the counter fertility testing!

This journey began with my utter shock to learn, at the ripe age of 34, that my body was giving me clues into my overall health, and that I could track these clues over time to get to know the unique patterns my body creates! Why had I never been taught this? Why has my ob/gyn never mentioned anything? Why hadn’t other people with uteruses? Why hadn’t my mom (sorry mom! You’re the best!)?

As I started to learn more, both about myself and about cycle tracking in general, it became clear to me that many people are discovering this information on their own, and then having to piece together information. On top of this, many people are in this journey after they decide that they want to become a parent. They are turning to many resources to figure out what’s happening in their body, and with the many options available out there, I wanted to make sure that I understood as much as I could in order to help people navigate through their own fertility and health journeys*. 

Over the past year, I have noticed two significant oddities within my cycle patterns: 1) I have brown spotting for 2-4 days after my period ends and 2) I don’t consistently have a positive LH test each cycle. According to FEMM (the fertility awareness education method I track with and am trained to teach), I had a hunch my brown spotting could be attributed to low progesterone, since brown spotting is a sign of old blood. I’ve also learned through tracking that my cycle has some beautiful parts,  specifically, a lot of stability. My luteal phase is 16 days (the range considered “normal” is 9-18 days), and my full cycle lasts 30-31 days (the range considered “normal” is 24-36 days). 2024 was a really intense year for me personally, so the questions I have are, “Am I actually ovulating? Or is life getting in the way of my body doing its thing?” Now, this could also be… dare I say it… age? But I decided to try a few fertility tests first to see what I could find out on my own!

This blog is part one of three. Part one focuses on my experience using the Proov Complete Full Cycle Fertility Insight test. Part two will focus on the Natalist Women's Fertility Test (at-Home Test Kit) by Everlywell. And part three will be a conversation with a fellow cycle tracker and doula where we discuss our own experiences and what support we can give to our clients. Because these tests take full cycles, I decided to write these posts primarily in journal-blog format. I wrote a little on each of the days I interacted with the test. I hope this allows you to see how these tests played into my daily life and my more authentic responses through each part of the tests. Of note--I took these tests to answer my (above) questions about my fertility: I am not currently trying to conceive (TTC). However, I tried to consider how a person who is TTC might experience these tests throughout the process, as reflected in my writing. So, without further delay….

Starting Proov:

Proov is a one-cycle fertility test, which uses urine to track your four basic fertility hormones over the course of one ovulation cycle. They brand themselves around fertility and perimenopause support, specifically for women (this is the language they use on their website). I’m always nervous with anything that has me input my health information into an app. I read through the Proov privacy statement carefully, because I always worry about what data they are collecting (and potentially selling) and why. Their statement says, “We will not sell, distribute, or lease your personal information to third parties unless we have your permission or are required by law.” This second part scares me, as laws in this country are quickly changing under the current presidential regime. If a law changes and Proov is required to hand over my cycle data, will they do so willingly? Will they communicate beforehand? I just don’t know that I trust my privacy is actually secure in the current times we are living in. And yet, here I am inputting my information into this app… I guess this is on my shoulders now. 

Once you download the app, you input a bunch of your health data. It asks you questions about the average length of your menstruation, generally how long your cycle is, and your age and other demographic markers. I was glad that I already track my cycle so that I know this information about my body. There are many people who may not know this information about their fertility cycles, and that might impact their experience as they begin using Proov. 

The first test is on day 5 (day 1 is the first day of your period). You are required to use your first morning pee, which took a bit of planning for me. I am someone who drinks water constantly throughout the night, and I generally wake up around 4:30 to go to the bathroom. I made the decision that this would be my “first morning pee”. One thing I wish I had thought of before starting these early morning tests is that I could pee in a cup and then leave it on the counter for when my brain is working better! Instead, I was peeing in a cup, dipping my stick, then waiting the 10 minutes before I could read my results.. And doing all this before I was actually awake! So pro-tip: if you’re taking a test that requires first morning pee, the actual test can wait until later!

The first test is actually two: one test just for your FSH (follicle stimulating hormone) and one Multi test, which tests your E1G (estrogen marker), PDG (progesterone marker), and LH (luteinizing hormone). These are the four major hormones at play throughout one cycle, and they have different levels depending on where you are in your cycle. For example: at the beginning of your cycle, your progesterone levels should be fairly low since you haven’t yet created a corpus luteum (which produces progesterone). (Want more information on tracking your personal biomarkers and learning more about hormones throughout your cycle? Reach out to schedule an intro lesson with me here!) 

Day five is supposed to give you what Proov calls a “baseline”. Since it tests for all four of your major hormones, it’s able to give you details on where you fall within an “optimal” range. Take a look at the table below to see what they define as optimal, and where I fit in on day 5:

After that first day 5 baseline test, you take two more FSH tests, on day 7 and day 9. My levels stayed within optimal range, and I didn’t think much more about it. 

However, I also track my cycle according to FEMM fertility awareness methods (which, by the way, I’m trained to teach! Interested in learning more about cycle tracking? Click here!). One of my mentors, the wonderful Mel Haley (Wyld Garden Chicago Doula | Melissa Haley) is also doing Proov cycle tracking at the same time as me, and mentioned that they had started doing the multi-test on the first day they noticed cervical mucus. According to more traditional tracking methods, the day that you start seeing moisture is the day you start to assume your fertile window is open. Cervical mucus is a sign of fertility because it is a sign that estrogen is on the rise: estrogen sparks the body to create cervical mucus. 

I decided to follow Mel’s advice and start taking the Proov multi-hormone tests the day that I started to notice cervical mucus. That day for me was day 12. I took a test, and immediately got a pop up that said “high fertility”! My estrogen was lower than it had been on day 5 when I took my baseline test (178.44), but what threw me off more was that the app was now telling me that my estrogen levels were within “optimal” range. However, when I clicked into more info, the level for optimal hormone balance is 50-150 ng/ml. It seemed to me like my estrogen was high… why am I being told “optimal” all of a sudden? 

Day 13 was the first day that Proov wanted me to start testing for the multi-hormone. I took the test right when I got up in the morning, and once the app read my results, I immediately got a pop up that said, “low fertility” with the info below stating: “You are not in your fertile window yet. We are looking for a rise in estrogen marker E1G to open it.” What’s confusing today is that my estrogen DID rise… from 178 on day 12 to 230 on day 13. Again, I received “optimal” with my estrogen levels once I clicked into the app. 

The other thing that threw me from day 12 to day 13 was a drop in my LH levels. On day 12, I was “optimal” at 11.06, but then when I clicked in to get more info, it said that LH levels should be between 25-50 to be considered positive during the fertile window. As a reminder, on day 12, I received the pop up “high fertility”, so why, all of a sudden, am I seeing an LH level that’s below the range of “positive” for a fertile window? 

Let me throw another wrench into the mix: day 13’s LH DROPPED! If I’m in my fertile window, I should be seeing a rise in LH, culminating in a peak 24-36 hours before ovulation. Why did my levels drop from 11.06 to 4.38? So many mysteries that I do not yet understand. 

Shock of the century - on day 14, I took my multi-hormone test, as instructed by the app overlords, and guess what! I’m back to “high fertility”! 

Day 15 I missed… I was traveling and it totally slipped my mind! I’m worried it will impact my test results. When I realized, I went on the FAQ on the Proov website, they just said that I needed to use first morning pee. No instructions on what to do if I missed that first morning. I threw away the paper instructions because I wasn’t going to bring them to Montana with me. It felt really confusing, since I know that other LH test strips encourage midmorning pee, and they can be tested really at anytime. I decided to just skip the day, since I didn’t want to mess up the results more by using daytime pee. 

Day 16/17/18 have been confusing. Each day, I get the “high fertility” pop up, but each day, my hormones are all over the place. For example, on day 16, my LH was on the rise, but my estrogen was the lowest it’s ever been. Then day 17, my LH dropped but my estrogen was on the rise again. I know that both need to rise to peak levels for ovulation to occur. So I guess let’s wait and see. If I was doing this test for pregnancy reasons, I’d be completely frustrated at this point: it seems impossible to find my ovulatory peak. 

Day 19 - apparently I’m peaking! However, the data is messing with me. My estrogen is off the charts (400, when the optimal is between 50-150), but I’m not experiencing any cervical mucus, and haven’t for two days. My LH rose, but it’s still under the average for “positive during the fertile window” (25-50 ng/ml). But I got the notification after my test this morning that I'm ovulating. What exactly are they basing this on? Just the estrogen? The rise in LH? Based on this data, I’m supposed to stop testing and not test again for 8 days. I’m going to continue to test, as I already have the tests and I want to keep seeing what my hormones are going to do. 

Day 20 - Took the test again, even though it wasn’t protocol. My LH has skyrocketed (and now is within “optimal” range according to the app - 45.5), my progesterone is rising, and my estrogen has stayed the same at the insanely high number of 400. I am not experiencing any cervical mucus, but I did have some cramping. I tend to have mittelschmerz, which is cramping during ovulation (I’ll write a whole other blog post about how I was gaslit for years about this feeling by different gynecologists). Because the app determined that my peak day was yesterday, the data didn’t change at all from their point of view. But because I know that LH surges 24-36 hours before ovulation, I feel like this data is completely skewed. If I was trying to conceive and was using this test to achieve pregnancy, I would potentially have stopped having sex when the app told me I peaked. But that would have been misleading. Also, if I was using this to avoid pregnancy (not something they recommend, just something to consider), then I might be fertile right now and would still need to be cautious. 

After day 20, I decided to stop testing until the next “official” day to test, as I was running out of tests, and was going to need them for days 26-29. Honestly I was grateful to stop; this test has been stressing me out, with all of the ups and downs in my hormones. Not testing for a few days gave me a bit of separation, which felt really needed. 

Alright, it’s day 26, which was the next day of the process to start. I took the test in the AM, and found out that I have high progesterone markers. On the app, it states that this is my “implantation window”, meaning this is the time that if an egg was fertilized by sperm, it would be exiting my fallopian tubes and attempting to embed in my uterine lining. Progesterone needs to be high for this to happen, because progesterone is responsible for developing a thick uterine lining for the fertilized egg (called a zygote) to implant in! If I was using Proov for pregnancy purposes, then this would be helpful information. But because I’m doing it to test my hormone levels as a vital sign of health, this feels a bit exclusionary. I wish that I could select why I’m taking this test before I begin, so that the language is tailored to my purposes. 

Day 27, 28 and 29 had me take the multi again. Watching these hormones do unexpected things is a weird feeling. I’ve looked at so many charts of what an ovulation chart “should” look like (see image below), and mine is just all over the place. Why aren’t my hormone levels doing what they “should” be doing? Is the test off? Am I? I’m almost at the end of this cycle and I’m really dreading the end of cycle report.

Image Credit: FEMM

Blue line: Estrogen

Pink line: FSH (follicle stimulating hormone)

Grey line: Progesterone

Yellow line: LH (luteneizing hormone)

On day 30, without warning, I got my final hormone report. I figured that they’d go until I said I got my period, but it came without warning on the 30th. The report makes little sense to me, it had lots of data reflecting my numbers but little explanation of their “why”. 

First off, it didn’t change the data about my ovulation to match my elevated levels the days after it claimed my peak day. My LH levels (the blue line in the graph) continued to rise after their stated peak day, which I wouldn’t have known unless I kept testing. My estrogen level (in teal on the graph) also stayed high the day after my peak day, before dropping two days after. So it feels like they were inaccurate with my peak. There’s no explanation of why they kept my peak where it was besides that I had reached their “optimal” levels on peak day. I am glad I kept testing. It made me skeptical of what Proov was trying to tell me about my body.

Secondly, the report states that I possibly have a diminished ovarian reserve. There is NO explanation of this: it just shows my estrogen and FSH levels underneath the statement (see image below). 

Regardless of my purposes for taking this Proov test, seeing that my ovarian reserve is possibly low was really hard to read. It made me feel like my body was decaying with age (which, yes, I know will happen), and it scared me. Putting myself in the shoes of someone who is actively trying to conceive or wants to have children someday, seeing this information would have completely devastated me. The fact that it doesn’t have a further explanation feels like the test is telling people that they can’t have children or that their chances are dropping quickly, but without anything else to go on. If getting pregnant was my goal, I would absolutely start to spiral. 

Overall, this experience was incredibly disappointing. I felt like I didn’t learn anything about myself or my hormone levels from this test because it was so wildly inconsistent. It’s difficult to feel like my results have meaning with so much variance between days that, in most peoples’ cycles, would not exist. It would absolutely not be something that I recommend to clients who are trying to conceive or to learn more about their hormone levels. I’d instead start them with cycle tracking, and then recommend them to FEMM trained doctors to work with individually to figure out, using blood tests, what’s going on with their unique bodies. Part 1 -- Proov: no thank you. 

Interested in learning to cycle track? Contact me! Talking about ovarian cycles is my love language <3

Next up is part 2 -- Natalist Woman’s Fertility Test by Everlywell. I’m curious to see how my results are different, especially since Proov was a urine-based test and Everlywell’s test requires blood samples. Stay tuned!

*Please note that I am not a doctor and this blog is not intended to give any medical advice. It is just my experience using an over-the-counter fertility test.