Written by: Dr. Amy Beckley, PhD, Founder and Inventor of the Proov test — the first and only FDA-cleared test to confirm successful ovulation at home.
Hi, my name is Arden Cartrette and I am a longtime fan and user of Proov Confirm kits.
I first was introduced to Proov and to Amy Beckley through Instagram in 2018. I had been trying to conceive for about a year and a half with my husband and just had month after month of negative tests. I felt at my wits end. I felt afraid that growing our family was never going to be possible.
I didn't have any living children at that time, and Amy introduced me to so much knowledge about my body just from this little test. It's little and compact in size, but it gives so much insight into your cycle, and it also makes you feel less alone with the information that you learn.
In 2018, I did my first cycle with Proov and learned that I never had a rise in PdG, meaning that I either didn't ovulate or didn't have sufficient ovulation.
And this was the first time that my fears were really confirmed because I had brought this concern to my doctor once before and was totally brushed off because I had a monthly bleed, which we assumed was a period.
And so they just kind of took my body's word for it — that it was ovulating — but that wasn't necessarily happening. After doing two cycles of this in a row, getting negatives both times.
I took the photos [of my tests] to my fertility doctor and was finally heard and put on progesterone in my next cycle. We did ovulation induction medication [previously] and because I had done that and had negative tests with Proov, I advocated for having progesterone suppositories added into my cycle.
I now have two living children! My fertility history is with infertility, but I also had recurrent pregnancy loss. I had one before learning about my low PdG, but I also had one after the fact. And I still felt like I had so much knowledge about my cycle that it made me feel confident in my body into that pregnancy — as confident as you can be with experiencing pregnancy loss.
So with the information that I've learned from my two cycles of Proov, I now am a bereavement doula and I recommend it to literally every person that I talk to because I truly believe I wouldn't have my two living children without the information that I've learned through using this kit. Like that you can have a monthly bleed and not necessarily have healthy periods, healthy cycles, cycles that could result in you getting pregnant.
I also learned that a lot of the symptoms that I've been experiencing for most of my adult life go along with having low progesterone and low PdG. And having those negative tests really confirmed a lot of that for me.
It felt like I finally had some insight on why my body was the way that it was and why I maybe react to those things with physical symptoms like tiredness, like heavy bleeding and heavy periods, sometimes spotting with pain during intercourse and ovulation. Different things that — tiredness, that's a big one that I felt like I have tested my thyroid multiple times and never got anywhere.
And learning about low progesterone and having low PdG on my Proov tests confirmed that for me, which I feel like having this named as the Confirm kit is just the most on-brand thing because it literally confirms ovulation. It confirms that what needs to happen within your body to make a baby is happening and it gives you more insight. That way you can advocate for yourself with your doctors and bring actual results from a really trusted test to your doctor's attention.
So that's my experience with Proov. Like I said, I owe, I owe my two children to them in some way or another. And as I navigate towards the rest of my journey — even though I am done with my fertility journey — I want every woman to know that this information exists. It exists at an affordable price, and it is invaluable information.
