OPK Question

[Anonymous]

I am so confused by OPKs...I wish I would have gotten the smiley face ones, but the store I went to only had some off brand (lesson learned for next month)! Anyway, I tested yesterday morning with fmu (day 12 or 13 depending on whether you consider spotting to be day one or not) and the test line was almost the same darkness as the control line--both were dark, but control was slightly darker. I tested again in the evening (it had been at least 4hours since I had peed) and it was definitely negative. This morning I tested with fmu again and the control line was very very faint and the test line was faint, but darker than the control. Here are my results in an easier to read format:

-Yesterday fmu - control line: dark; test line: dark, but very slightly lighter than control
-Yesterday evening - control line dark; test line non-existent
-this morning fmu - control line very very faint; test line: faint, but slightly darker than control

Does it sound like my surge ended yesterday or am I still surging? Is it normal for the lines to be so faint? So confused...help!

[Anonymous]

My RE said that the OPK sticks don't work as advertised for many women, and that you should just go with your darkest line as indicating ovulation is coming if you don't get a line that's as dark as the control line. You got a positive enough test yesterday morning. My RE said not to worry if this is the case--it doesn't mean anything is wrong with you. Best wishes!

[Anonymous]

Op here--thanks for the quick reply! I guess I'm just watching these ppl so closely because we are on month 6 of ttc and I'm getting super frustrated!!

[Anonymous]

Are you temping and checking CM as well? I found the OPKs to be helpful, too, but more often than not I also wound up feeling confused and frustrated! I had success when I tracked temperature and CM in addition to using the OPKs. I also just used any sort of indication from the OPK as a signal that I was going to ovulate soon, so like PP said, you could assume that first dark line signaled that it is coming. Good luck!!

[Anonymous]

I haven't been temping but since we started ttc, I have a hard time distinguishing between cm and semen (sorry tmi), so I can't use t as an indicator. I guess I need to start temping. Ugh this is so frustrating! I didn't have to do any of this when DS was conceived...and now 6 months of trying later and I'm ready to try anything!

[Anonymous]

Get the smilies - I could
Never read the others. 2 kids later.. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Yeah I can't believe the store I went to didn't have the smileys. It was the 3rd store I went to and I was already at day 12 so I was desperate to get something. Smileys next month for sure (how sad that I'm already discounting this month and I don't even know if I've O'd yet). Seriously hope that I don't have too many more months of this...getting tired of sex and that's pretty sad. Has anyone here tried SMEP? I feel like it might make me dislike sex more, but if it's a successful method, I'm up for anything. That age gap is growing and growing (DS is 2).

[Anonymous]

Op here. Tested again this morning with fmu and it's just as positive as 2 days ago! Ahh so confusing!

[Anonymous]

Hey, OP, if you're not successful this month, I'd start temping next month. I was anti temping for a while, but found it a much clearer indicator than OPKs. It doesn't confirm ovulationt il after it happened, but at least you have something to corroborate your OPKS. I read SMEP but didn't follow it exactly. Also make sure you're following the direction se xactly for your oPK - some don't want you to use FMU and want you to test between something like 10am and 4 pm after holding your pee for at least four hours.

FWIW, I'm pregnant now. I also found charting CM to be way too confusing. This last month I got a clear positive on OPK exactly when expected, midway though my cycle, but didn't get a temperature spike indicating ovulation, so I kept temping and using OPKs. Got a positive on the OPKs about two weeks later (still in same cycle) which correlated with a temperature spike. Had I not been temping, I would have stopped using the OPKs after the first positive because I would have assumed I had already ovulated and then would have potentially missed my actual fertile time and been really confused when my period was super late but pregnancy tests were negative. Pregnancy test turned positive DPO, but well after two weeks of what I would have thought to be a late period (but that want really a late period in relation to actual ovulation day).

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

I used the OvWatch and found it worked better for me than the OPKs. It gives you a longer lead time before ovulation. It's a bit pricey, but I found after about 6 months or so I knew my cycle well and knew when our "go times" were.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hey, OP, if you're not successful this month, I'd start temping next month. I was anti temping for a while, but found it a much clearer indicator than OPKs. It doesn't confirm ovulationt il after it happened, but at least you have something to corroborate your OPKS. I read SMEP but didn't follow it exactly. Also make sure you're following the direction se xactly for your oPK - some don't want you to use FMU and want you to test between something like 10am and 4 pm after holding your pee for at least four hours.

FWIW, I'm pregnant now. I also found charting CM to be way too confusing. This last month I got a clear positive on OPK exactly when expected, midway though my cycle, but didn't get a temperature spike indicating ovulation, so I kept temping and using OPKs. Got a positive on the OPKs about two weeks later (still in same cycle) which correlated with a temperature spike. Had I not been temping, I would have stopped using the OPKs after the first positive because I would have assumed I had already ovulated and then would have potentially missed my actual fertile time and been really confused when my period was super late but pregnancy tests were negative. Pregnancy test turned positive DPO, but well after two weeks of what I would have thought to be a late period (but that want really a late period in relation to actual ovulation day).

Good luck!

+1000. Do both. And if I had to pick between the two I would go with temping! In fact I did after TTC for so long using opks. Got pregnant second cycle using only temps. In my experience, the fertility friend app was wrong about which day I actually ovulated (based on first ultrasound) BUT it was crystal clear that it had happened by the raise in temperature and I was able to leave my husband alone for a few days!

[Anonymous]

I had success with OPKs, but it took a few months to actually figure out that I was ovulating about a week after what they predicted to be the time frame. I bought extra tests and just kept testing one month until I finally saw a positive result. After that, was able to get pregnant twice after TTC for six years.

[Anonymous]

Ok so I've been testing still with these off brand OPKs because I just want to finish them up so I can buy the smileys for next cycle. I am still getting freaking positives...this morning (cd17) was a really strong positive I think, because the test line was way darker than the control line. Ugh Dh and I are SO tired of having sex every freaking day, but we don't want to miss our chance this month...getting so anxious after 6 months of failures.
4 days of positive OPK and one really positive on cd17!! What gives?! My cycles are between 28-30 days.

[Anonymous]

I am sorry you are dealing with this but it makes me feel better that we are not the only ones super confused by OPKs. We have been using paper strips that keep showing the test line about equal to the control line and digital tests that keep saying "no." Unlike you, we're using donor sperm, so no ability to just keep having sex every day...we pretty much get one ($2000) bite at the apple each month.

Our doctor suggested bloodwork and a sonogram tomorrow to see if we did miss ovulation this month. She said for some people, the digital (yes/no or smiley) tests just have too high a threshold and people can ovulate with LH too low to trigger a yes on the OPK. We feel like total morons not to be able to figure this out and it is so frustrating. So no advice, just sympathy from someone who's in a similar situation.

[Anonymous]

Thank you, pp for your sympathy! It is so frustrating but good to know that I'm not the only one going through this. I'm waiting for the RE to call me back and hopefully he'll have some answers or at least schedule me for some tests to try to figure it out. Good luck with the donor sperm...it looks like my dh has a low count, lowish motility and zero morphology, so we may end up there if we don't get some miracle soon!