best ovulation predictor?

[Anonymous]

I am TTC for a second baby, and I am a really new and somewhat reluctant user of ovulation predictor kits/sticks, etc. I think it is a little bit of denial and a little bit of laziness - my DD was conceived the first month after we stopped using birth control, so I always assumed #2 would be easy as well. However, my cycles seem a lot different and I can't tell when/if I am ovulating anymore. I used to be able to pretty much pinpoint the day just by how I was feeling and the cervical mucus.

So I bought ovulation predictor sticks (the CVS brand) and I took a test today. There seems to be a super thin line in the indicator window, but per the instructions it seems the line needs to be thicker and darker. Is this like with pregnancy - a line is a line? Or do I need a line that looks the same as the one in the reference window?

My next question is - what is worth investing in? Should I get one of those digital kits for $150?

thanks for any advice!

[Anonymous]

There are a couple threads on this topic. Search "opk" in this forum and you should find what you're looking for.

[Anonymous]

I purchased the monitor for 150 and it was worth it. The CVS brands never clearly showed a line for me.

[Anonymous]

An OPK test line must be as dark as the control line for it to be positive. It's not read like a pregnancy test where any faint line means it's positive. You need to read the directions carefully, b/c it's not the same as testing for pregnancy. For OPKs, you do NOT want to use first morning urine, you want to wait until late morning/early afternoon when your LH surge will be detectable in your urine, and you will want to reduce fluid intake/hold your urine for a couple of hours before testing.

I never invested in a monitor and didn't feel I needed one. I've used BBT charting and OPKs very successfully in the past and am on my 4th pregnancy now. I highly recommend BBT charting along with using the OPKs. It's pretty easy once you get into the routine, and it gives you a lot of useful information about your cycle.

If you want to go the OPK-only route, I would recommend the First Response tests. I think they come in a pack of 7, in purple wrappers. The Answer test strips (I think in a pack of 20) totally suck & never worked for me. I haven't tried the CVS brand but they may be the same as the Answer strips. If you want to splurge, you can go for the digital smiley face ones - those are certainly easiest to read.

[Anonymous]

Clear blue easy digital smiley face ones are the best because you don't have to interpret the results. That being said, I conceived DD using CVS brand. Now at 43 with two losses this year, I am pretty anxious to get pregnant again, so I bought the fancy monitor. I am also using OPKs. I am finding that the fancy monitor shows on "peak" day on the day my OPK is positive and one of the "peak" days on the monitor is a day AFTER the OPK is positive, but my OPK is no longer positive. I don't know what that means yet, but I can tell you that in all three of my pregnancies where I used the OPK, the last day we tried each cycle was the day the OPK was positive.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all the advice and information! It looks like I need to do some more research and maybe try a few different things. Good luck to everyone trying!