u/pettymel

How are you using your LH strips at work? Do you have any tips?

For reference, I work in a public school and all the bathrooms are single person, gender neutral bathrooms. There are also only 4 adult bathrooms for the whole school so spending 5+ minutes in the bathroom isn't feasible. My office is just around the corner from the bathroom - do I pee on the stick and somehow sneak it back into my office? Do I bring a disposable cup into the bathroom every single time?

My cycles are long and I get false positives (thanks PCOS) so I'll likely literally be testing every day after CD 10 until I either get a positive or my period. If anyone has any suggestions if they've been in similar bathroom situations as me I'd really appreciate it!

This whole process makes me feel stupid and useless. In 2025, I lost weight and my cycles were regular and I was feeling great. Late 2025 my husband and I closed on a house and renovated it entirely. Feb 2026 work hit the fan and I ended up taking on double the responsibilities. That with renovations stressed me out and I gained weight back. Work was so stressful and my cycles went from being regular to being long. Started trying in February but I thought my cycles being regular up until that point I’d be ok. I feel so stupid. I feel like my body is betraying me.

I feel even more stupid for not understanding that my period was “late” but that I hadn’t actually ovulated. So my ovulation was late. It made me realize how little I understood about my own cycles.
I had a period June 29, LH spike documented on July 18, but no period or positive pregnancy test at the end of July. Went in to a fertility clinic and based on the bloodwork I had recently ovulated. Couldn’t tell me when. Negative HCG blood test. Now, 3 days after the visit, I’m spotting.

I’m furious because I likely missed the fertile window because I thought I had already ovulated July 18. I feel so dumb for not continuing to test and not continuing to keep having sex. I feel so stupid for not understanding my own body and cycles. I feel so bad. I feel guilty for not trying in October as soon as we closed on the house because the only thing stopping us from trying was finding housing. I just feel really down on myself.

Over the past 2 years I’ve done many extended 3 or 5 day fasts but this one seemed to impact me the hardest. All my 5 day fasts have started as 3 days fasts but because I felt so good, I extended it.

This morning I woke up weak, shaky, a little dizzy and nauseous. That’s unusual for me so I took that as a cue to break my fast and had 3 eggs. I’m not feeling dizzy and nauseous anymore but I’m still feeling weak.

This fast was different from my other fasts because I was home and spent a lot of the day napping or engaging in light cleaning around the house, so very little energy expenditure. In my other fasts I’ve always been at work and since I work at a school, I’m always up and walking around and talking and being animated and active. I’ve even done a 3 day fast while on my period and working and I don’t ever remember feeling THIS horrible.

While I’m happy with the fast overall, I’m curious what the reason could be. Do you think that maybe being sedentary impacted me? Curious as to what you think.

Fasting protocol for all my fasts: 1 scoop keppi electrolytes in water, 100floz of water a day, 1 black coffee, and sleepy time herbal tea at night.