I have a bad habit of getting up at 3am to pee. OPKs never work for me then. I get a little better at an 8am pee. But I never get a "positive" like one expects to. I just keep testing and save them so I can visually compare to determine if the lines are getting darker; if they start getting lighter then I know the surge happened.

It's possible that LH peaks for me in afternoon, but since I work late I can't test; all I know is that I've only gotten one actually positive according to the instructions OPK in a year+ of testing. But blood tests are very clear that I am ovulating.

here is my most recent batch:
http://imgur.com/o1Hs3Nt

Top two my LH was around 12.5 based on bloodwork, doctors said I would likely ovulate in the next day. the third is the closest I got to a positive. I'm going to guess it was around 27. Last one was the next morning, and I had definite ovulation pains that afternoon.

Sometimes you just have to make do with suboptimal tests. If I weren't going to monitoring with my RE I would have missed it entirely; the second test was on CD10, which is more than a week before I normally ovulate. But the sono showed I had a 26mm follicle, so we could guess that the 12.6 was leading up to an actual surge.

Anonymous wrote:I frequently have EWCM about 3 to 4 days before I get a surge, and then I ovulate a day or two after that (per temps). I test at least twice a day when approaching likely O, so as not to miss it.

This. At times I've taken three OPKs a day to make sure I'm catching the very start of the surge. I ovulate quickly afterwards though, so I always wanted to know. I'd take one when I woke up (least reliable, but would sometimes clue me in I was close), when around 10am/11am, and one in the evening anytime between 5pm and 8pm, depending on my schedule.

Try to limit liquid intake at least an hour before, if not a bit more. You want your pee a bit concentrated. If your pee is clear, that might not give you a very good reading.

I never got my wondfo's to cross the threshold for ovulation. They would get dark, but never darker than the test line. 3 kids later, I'm pretty sure I ovulated

It gets darker as you get closer to O?

Anonymous wrote:With wondfos you def want to test both morning and night/

+1 Also, don't drink too much water in the hours leading up to the test. I hardly ever get a positive, but if I test 2x a day I can at least see when it is getting darker vs. lighter

does EWCM stop when you actually surge/O, is it always before?

With wondfos you def want to test both morning and night/

I frequently have EWCM about 3 to 4 days before I get a surge, and then I ovulate a day or two after that (per temps). I test at least twice a day when approaching likely O, so as not to miss it.

I have had EWCM today and yesterday, but the wondfo sticks still show a very light line. How brief is the surge in terms of how often do I need to test. Also, how long may you have EWCM before you actually O?