Calling all users of digital OPKS!

evabear123 · June 2015

*apologies in advance for the essay*

Hi ladies,
So I'm new to the clear blue digital dual hormone opks... Recommended by my doctor as I never seem to get a clear positive on the cheap ones.

My cycles USUALLY sit at around 32-38 days and I usually O around CD18-24...But my cycles are irregular so I thought I'd go by my shortest cycle (26 days) not to miss my surge. Bear in mind my longest cycle was 48 days... (Yes I know my cycles are crazy irregular and yes I'm getting that looked at).

Tested yesterday CD7, empty circle.
Tested today CD8 - low and behold, flashing smiley.

I'm pretty unconvinced I'm entering into my fertile phase so early, and after reading on the clear blue site it suggests that beginning testing too early in your cycle can give many days of "high fertilty".

Chasing advice - do I press on and accept I'll have many days of high fertilty, but hope the digital is more sensitive to my LH surge, so just wait for a solid smiley?

Give up on the digital for now and start again closer to my " average" O day and hope it's not a freakish short cycle?

Or just accept the digitals aren't for me? Boo. I like the smiley face idea.

bsckgb7 · June 2015

What is your temp doing?

PugsandKisses · June 2015

Yes, what is your chart saying your O days via temps.

What about your CM?

evabear123 · June 2015

CM definitely not fertile now, although I don't get a lot of obvious CM - this is the reason I started with the OPKs in the first place.

Obviously no temp shift as even if the OPK digi was right I'd be pre LH surge even, so at least 4 days off O?

PugsandKisses · June 2015

Ok, so you do chart. Good.

evabear123 · June 2015

PugsandKisses said:

Yes, what is your chart saying your O days via temps. What about your CM?

Just to clarify - are you asking what my temp says each cycle? I get a clear shift each cycle, just on a wide range of days!

For the most part I get a temp shift between CD 19-25, so O 18-24, but I've had a few longer and a few shorter.

PugsandKisses · June 2015

Damn fat fingers hit the reply button and now I can't edit.

Some times my OPK would never give me a positive, but I was ovulating. Try increasing your water (a lot), that can help with the minimal amount of CM.
also, trying checking internally, especially after a BM. Or try kegels to get the CM out.

bsckgb7 · June 2015

You can multiple LH surges in one cycle. Maybe it's a "false alarm"? The OPKs are just secondary O signs. You can always HIO just in case.

evabear123 · June 2015

Yep I do all these things - but may try upping the water more this month, that's a good tip!

Also sometimes not 100% about whether it's CM or leftover semen...

Think maybe I'll just ravish hubby daily this month and take a test around CD 50 if AF hasn't shown...haha

evabear123 · June 2015

kgbbsc7 said:

You can multiple LH surges in one cycle. Maybe it's a "false alarm"? The OPKs are just secondary O signs. You can always HIO just in case.

Actually - the dual hormone digital OPKs detect an oestrogen surge prior to the LH surge - the flashing smiley is oestrogen. So it's telling me I'm in "high fertility" but until I get a solid smiley face it hasn't detected an LH surge.

didi0308 · June 2015

The clear blue advanced test can have flashing smile faces for 9 days. Keep testing. Chances are you will not see a solid smile in 2 days.

The flashing smile is not your LH surge it's just an increase in estrogen before your LH which happens just before ovulation. Also, understand that it could take days after that solid smile for you to O. Personally, i have had 6 flashing smiles, then a solid, then i ovulated 3 days later which was confirmed by temping.

Beegey33 · June 2015

I would let CM help guide your choices. Safest answer is to get it on. It cannot hurt either way and is great for your body to orgasm

the thing that's sucks about those digitals is that the peak fertility guys hangs around for 2 days. So testing again at that point isn't possible. For funsies maybe test cheapies along with CB to compare results (I've read don't look at the CB lines. I guess the darkness doesn't always mean something).

Really watch the CM and temp!

PibbleMom · June 2015

evabear123 said:

Yep I do all these things - but may try upping the water more this month, that's a good tip!

Also sometimes not 100% about whether it's CM or leftover semen...

Think maybe I'll just ravish hubby daily this month and take a test around CD 50 if AF hasn't shown...haha

EOD is fine. If I had sex daily I don't think I'd be able to walk

evabear123 · June 2015

didi0308 said:
The clear blue advanced test can have flashing smile faces for 9 days. Keep testing. Chances are you will not see a solid smile in 2 days.

The flashing smile is not your LH surge it's just an increase in estrogen before your LH which happens just before ovulation. Also, understand that it could take days after that solid smile for you to O. Personally, i have had 6 flashing smiles, then a solid, then i ovulated 3 days later which was confirmed by temping.

This is very useful, thank you very much!!

bsckgb7 · June 2015

Wen you use the regular OPKS, how many times a day are testing? Lot's of people test 2-3 times a ay until they see a pattern of what time of day they can turn a Wondfo (assuming you can see a pattern). Have you tried that with the regular OPKs?

Andie41 · June 2015

Thanks for this thread OP. Super informative! I just got my first box of CB Digital OPKs this month. I had used the cheapy Target brand last month, which worked fine, but I am still here obviously so I'm getting out the big guns this month

Do you all use the digital OPK in the afternoons? The instructions say to use them with FMU but that doesn't seem to make sense with what I've learned about LH, which is that it starts in the morning and then surges later in the day.

Thanks!

Beegey33 · June 2015

@ Andie41 I use them all throughout the day. When I first start testing OPK around CD 8 I do it at noon just once a day. As I get darker lines I bump up my testing 3 times a day, maybe 4. I have a hard time catching my surge because it is short. I also use CB to confirm once I see much darker lines.

SparkE82 · June 2015

I use CB advanced digital. Some months I get a flashing smiley relatively early, with a solid smiley a day or two later. Other months I have had upwards of 5 or 6 flashing smileys before I got the solid smiley. I only used FMU to test, like the instructions indicated. The instructions have you start testing based on your shortest cycle to ensure you don't miss you surge. So if you are having a cycle that you happen to ovulate much later in, you will have several days of flashing smileys.

I still temp to confirm ovulation dates.

sarahmsoda · June 2015

Andie41 said:

Thanks for this thread OP. Super informative! I just got my first box of CB Digital OPKs this month. I had used the cheapy Target brand last month, which worked fine, but I am still here obviously so I'm getting out the big guns this month

Do you all use the digital OPK in the afternoons? The instructions say to use them with FMU but that doesn't seem to make sense with what I've learned about LH, which is that it starts in the morning and then surges later in the day.

Thanks!

I always take OPK's around 2pm (trying to hold it for a bit so its more concentrated) and that is when I have got +'s.

carroetchen · June 2015

You can definitely have more than 2 days with the flashing smiley. I had 6 days before I saw the one that indicates actually ovulation and got pregnant that cycle (it was also the first time I used this OPK). So I would just keep using it and trying with your husband.

ljwisniew · June 2015

Can you get a

after ovulation?

roadspeckle · June 2015

I used CB Advanced this month, and I've gotten a flashing smiley since Friday. However, on the cheapies I bought, I got positives Friday and Saturday which I *think* was confirmed by temp, but this is only my first full month temping... one of my friends also used the CB advanced and got 10 days of flashing smiley, so bought a new pack and got a O.
It's all so confusing.

CalebsHabibi · June 2015

ljwisniew said:
Can you get a after ovulation?

@ljwisniew - yes. LH (the hormone that OPKs are testing for) is similar to HCG (the hormone found in pregnancy and that HPTs test for). So similar in fact, that OPKs will turn positive if you are pregnant because it picks up the HCG and thinks it is LH. If you get a smiley more than 7 days after ovulation, you should take a pregnancy test.

roadspeckle · June 2015

I used water on the advanced OPK this morning to test it out since I've been getting flashing smileys for almost a week... and with water I still got a flashing smiley.

ljwisniew · June 2015

@calebshabibi you just blew my mind. have a billion questions now

bsckgb7 · June 2015

rachelnjacob said:

I used CB Advanced this month, and I've gotten a flashing smiley since Friday. However, on the cheapies I bought, I got positives Friday and Saturday which I *think* was confirmed by temp, but this is only my first full month temping... one of my friends also used the CB advanced and got 10 days of flashing smiley, so bought a new pack and got a O. It's all so confusing.

You can't start with the CBA during the middle of a cycle. It does some kind of baseline levels to determine the circles. So if you start a new pack in the middle of a cycle, it will assume that is your baseline. At least that's how I understand the "advanced" OPKs to work.

roadspeckle · June 2015

kgbbsc7 said:

rachelnjacob said:

I used CB Advanced this month, and I've gotten a flashing smiley since Friday. However, on the cheapies I bought, I got positives Friday and Saturday which I *think* was confirmed by temp, but this is only my first full month temping... one of my friends also used the CB advanced and got 10 days of flashing smiley, so bought a new pack and got a O.
It's all so confusing.

You can't start with the CBA during the middle of a cycle. It does some kind of baseline levels to determine the circles. So if you start a new pack in the middle of a cycle, it will assume that is your baseline. At least that's how I understand the "advanced" OPKs to work.

I didn't start the middle of my cycle.

evabear123 · June 2015

Thanks so much for all your advice ladies.

I actually got a solid smiley this morning on my digi, and I whipped out an internet cheaper and got as close to a positive as I've ever seen on that...

I'm only CD10/11 which is way early for me - so I'm just going to wait it out and see if I get a temp shift early or if everything settles down and I go through this all again in a few weeks!

Temps aren't even reliable this cycle due to me up all night with tummy bug CD 5-8 and 1 year old waking super early the last two mornings, and CM inconclusive.

Guess I'll just jump hubby a few times, pee on some more cheap OPKs and see where I end up! I have a pelvic ultrasound booked next week to rule out any nasties from my last wonky cycle so maybe some answers there.

Cheers again guys, I love this site

evabear123 · June 2015

Andie41 said:

Thanks for this thread OP. Super informative! I just got my first box of CB Digital OPKs this month. I had used the cheapy Target brand last month, which worked fine, but I am still here obviously so I'm getting out the big guns this month

Do you all use the digital OPK in the afternoons? The instructions say to use them with FMU but that doesn't seem to make sense with what I've learned about LH, which is that it starts in the morning and then surges later in the day.

Thanks!

I take them with FMU as instructed. Because the digitals keep track of your previous day's result, it gives you a reading based on your OWN hormone levels. So unlike the basic two line ones, which require your LH to be at a certainly level to read positive (so you have to catch your surge at a certain time), the digital will give you a positive if it detects your LH is significantly higher than the day before, same with your oestrogen with the flashy.

That's why it's better for people like me who never seem to catch the peak of the surge to get a postive on the line tests.

Everyone I know who uses them get's good results with FMU - plus super easy, just keep the pack next to the loo and pee first thing every morning!

concreteayngel · June 2015

I had the advanced CB digital OPK and ended up switching back to the basic one because of those damned flashing smileys. I would get 4 or 5 days of them in a row (which really isn't information you need) before I would finally get a solid smiley. By the time I finally got that solid smiley, me and DH were so burnt out on sex, I missed O day once or twice! I believe the flashing smiley indicates increased estrogen, while the solid smiley indicates an LH surge, which you can have multiple times in a cycle. I suggest when you run out of sticks, buy a basic CB digi OPK. I find it much less frustrating to either get a positive or a negative, none of this flashing in-between business.

ETA: In response to the above comment about FMU, I had the exact opposite experience. I would test in the morning and get an empty circle, and then test later on in the afternoon and get my smiley. I've read that your body creates the LH later on in the day and then it builds up in your system, so you are more likely to get a positive if you don't use FMU.

bsckgb7 · June 2015

rachelnjacob said:

rachelnjacob said:

I used CB Advanced this month, and I've gotten a flashing smiley since Friday. However, on the cheapies I bought, I got positives Friday and Saturday which I *think* was confirmed by temp, but this is only my first full month temping... one of my friends also used the CB advanced and got 10 days of flashing smiley, so bought a new pack and got a O. It's all so confusing.

You can't start with the CBA during the middle of a cycle. It does some kind of baseline levels to determine the circles. So if you start a new pack in the middle of a cycle, it will assume that is your baseline. At least that's how I understand the "advanced" OPKs to work.
I didn't start the middle of my cycle.

Rachel, I was explaining why your friend got the empty O. I sounded like SHE started with a new "holder" in the middle of the month.

Andie41 · June 2015

Wow, I had no idea that the "advanced" tests were truly so advanced...as in, the holder keeps track of your own levels! Cool!

I got a couple of flashing smileys and then a solid smiley yesterday evening. I grabbed the holder again this afternoon and there was still a solid smiley. Does this mean the holder is essentially "locked" since the directions say you don't need to test anymore after a solid smiley?

I have learned SO much in this thread! Love all the knowledge on this board. I am good with temping but haven't used OPKs until this go-round..I love that there is always something new to learn!

bsckgb7 · June 2015

Yes. The directions actually say that the solid smiley will stay for 2 days.

evabear123 · June 2015

Andie41 said:
Wow, I had no idea that the "advanced" tests were truly so advanced...as in, the holder keeps track of your own levels! Cool!

I got a couple of flashing smileys and then a solid smiley yesterday evening. I grabbed the holder again this afternoon and there was still a solid smiley. Does this mean the holder is essentially "locked" since the directions say you don't need to test anymore after a solid smiley?

I have learned SO much in this thread! Love all the knowledge on this board. I am good with temping but haven't used OPKs until this go-round..I love that there is always something new to learn!

Yep as PP said, you can't use that holder for 2 days - at which point it resets!
I've actually been using some cheapie internet opks along side just to monitor my surge. They never show positive for me but theyre quite dark so it's interesting to see!

Once my holder resets, I'll be starting to test all over again to check for multiple surgessurges!

Malibu45 · June 2015

I also am using the CB advanced digital OPK's (as well as the cheap Wondfo's because someone gave them to me after I purchased CB). Yesterday was cycle day 12 and I got a negative result on both tests (FMU and afternoon). Tested this morning, cycle day 13, and got negative Wondo and high peak fertility for CB. Just wondering how the CB went from negative straight to high.

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