OPK's

jchow009 · January 2012

I apologized in advance that might be a silly/simple question. But I am just confused after I read these products description online.

I am thinking to buy OPK to track my ovaluation. My first day of my period was 1/17 and it seems like it's too late for this month because it passes my 5th day. Is it correct? How is OPK generally work?

Country Girl in the City · January 2012

It depends on when you ovulate. When doing natural cycles I don't usually ovulate until around day 20. Some people will ovulate earlier than that or later than that. If you take your temperature then you can get an after the fact idea of when you ovulate. You can click in the links at the bottom of people's posts and go to fertility friend. It will give you tutorials about temping. Since you are only one day 8, there is a good chance that you did not ovulate (although you may have). You can start using OPKs now and should catch your surge.

I think however, that you might be talking about a fertility monitor. It will ask you for test sticks starting with a certain day of your cycle. You can only start that before day 5. I used the fertility monitor and I found it much more useful than OPKs. Good luck.

MrsNukem · January 2012

OPK's look for a surge in your luteinizing hormone (LH) to predict when you are about to ovulate. If the first day of your cycle is 1/17, you are probably on cycle day 8 as of today. Do you know how long your cycles typically are? Most women ovulate mid-cycle (but obviously not always the case). I don?t know how many OPK?s you have (cheapie strips or expensive digitals). If you have the cheaper ones I would start testing now or in the next couple of days; you may find your surge within the next week if your cycles are typically 30 days for instance.

OPK's won't confirm that you ovulated though; only by tracking your basal body temperature to confirm a thermal shift after ovulation (most of us use Fertility Friend to track our cycles). (I am on my 4th day of +OPK's and still haven't ovulated per my temperature chart).

jchow009 · January 2012

I haven't bought any yet. I just started to TTC and so is OPK can come in stripes as well as a monitor? I know First Response has something that can detect your ovaluation, and they said you only can use it starting day 5. So is that consider OPKs? I feel so stupid but I just don't know.

Country Girl in the City · January 2012

jchow009:
I haven't bought any yet. I just started to TTC and so is OPK can come in stripes as well as a monitor? I know First Response has something that can detect your ovaluation, and they said you only can use it starting day 5. So is that consider OPKs? I feel so stupid but I just don't know.

Country Girl in the City · January 2012

jchow009:
I haven't bought any yet. I just started to TTC and so is OPK can come in stripes as well as a monitor? I know First Response has something that can detect your ovaluation, and they said you only can use it starting day 5. So is that consider OPKs? I feel so stupid but I just don't know.

Don't feel stupid, we were all in your shoes once. There are OPK strips that you can buy on line or in the store. You use them once and then throw them away. You can buy ones from frist response or other companies that will give you a Smile when it detects an LH surge. You can also buy ones that come with two lines (much like a pregancy test). When the test line is darker than the control line then it is considered positive. You can get very cheap ones on Amazon.

There is also a fertility monitor. I used clear blue easy. It is a little machine. Every day you check it and then on certain days (for me, I think starting on day 11) it asks you for a stick. You pee on the stick and then cap it and put it into the monitor. It gives you a low, high or peak fertility. I liked that the best because it told you when to use the tests unlike the other tests where you decided what days to test. Some people don't care for them because they are the most expensive.

Does that help?

gundy21 · January 2012

jchow009:
I haven't bought any yet. I just started to TTC and so is OPK can come in stripes as well as a monitor? I know First Response has something that can detect your ovaluation, and they said you only can use it starting day 5. So is that consider OPKs? I feel so stupid but I just don't know.

I checked out the First Response website for their OPKs - https://www.firstresponse.com/using-ovulation-test.asp

It shows a table of recommended start dates for testing based on your cycle length. If you have a short cycle, you start testing for O earlier than someone with a long cycle. Do you know about how long your cycle is? Hopefully this helps.