OPK Question: Four Days of Positives?

[Anonymous]

30 day cycle. I've been doing OPK this week and had negatives on days 11 and 12, faint positives on days 13 and 14, a darker positive on day 15 and a solid positive today (day 16). Is this typical? Or should you only see a positive result only one day a cycle? (Basically, I'm asking whether this might be a sign of a problem.)

[Anonymous]

Just to be clear, and maybe I'm misunderstanding you, but there is no such thing as a "faint" positive on an OPK -- if it's AS dark or darker than the test line, it's positive. If you see faint line, it's negative. I'm thinking your only real positive was today, day 16, which would make sense if you have a 30 day cycle.

[Anonymous]

Got it. That's helpful. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Totally agree with PP- you are supoosed to disregard any line that is not AS DARK or DARKER than control line. Then stop testing.

[Anonymous]

It is possible to have 2 days of positives but more than that is either a sign of a problem or a sign that the tests are bad or a reason to question whether or not you are reading the tests properly.

[Anonymous]

Op, not sure what brand you're using, but that might have something to do with it. For months and months, I thought I was getting 4 days of positives with the cvs test strips. Finally tried a digital test, which involved no analysis on my part, and only got positives for 1 1/2 days (2 months in a row).

[Anonymous]

Stop testing after a positive. It only makes things more confusing if you don't.

[Anonymous]

It is possible to have 2 days of positives but more than that is either a sign of a problem or a sign that the tests are bad or a reason to question whether or not you are reading the tests properly.

I agree with PPs that maybe OP wasn't reading them correctly as there's no such thing as "faint positive" on an OPK, but some people do get true positives for longer than a day or two. My most recent cycle I had 5 positive OPKs in a row (and then I just stopped testing). They were definitely all positive. I have been at this TTC thing a long time and I know how to read a positive v. negative OPK. I also chart BBT and CM so I knew when I ovulated, which was the day after the first positive OPK. (These were First Response test sticks, not those crappy Answer strips.)

I think that's why the directions say to stop testing after you get a positive. But it's possible to start to surge/gear up to ovulate, not ovulate, then surge again and ovulate later in the cycle. I think that's why some people continue testing after the first positive OPK, just in case. But if you are using them in conjunction with charting, your temp shift will tell you if you actually ovulated.

In any case, the fact my OPKs were positive for so long wasn't a sign of any problem - I ended up getting pregnant that cycle.