ovulation testing confused

[keally]

Hi
I have been testing a few days with the cheap opk's off ebay and have not got a postive but last night shortly after midnight I had what I thought was a positve with both lines more or less looking the same in depth of colour.
However I am also testing with the clearblue monitor and tested with that at 8.00am this morning and it only gave me a high reading.
I feel so confused is it possible that the lh surge came and went in between midnight and 8.00am this morning so that the monitor missed it.

[keally]

please anyone

[AttilaTheMeerkat]

Hi keally

This is precisely the problem with such kits; they can be misleading at best and wrong at worst. These kits work on two misleading principles; namely that a rise in LH is immediately followed by ovulation and that there is only one rise in LH every month. Both of these are simply not true.

I would stop using the kits (they can also be confusing to interpret) and have blood tests done instead to see what your hormone levels are like particularly if your menstrual cycle is irregular in nature.

[engelbart]

Hi Keally, I'm using the clearblue monitor too and also confused. I'm coming up to my peak time now and yet the monitor is giving me a high reading rather than a maximum peak reading. I knew before I bought the thing I'd be obsessing- almost wish I hadn't bothered! I'm worried the monitor isn't going to give me a maximum fertility window which means I'll worry that I haven't ovulated this month, there's something wrong with my cycle etc etc

I've read loads of fantastic reviews about the clearblue monitor though so hanging on to the hope that it knows what its doing. How long have you been using the monitor. It takes about 2 cycles to be effective (from what I've read).

[pinkpeony]

Hi, I used the clearblue monitor and thanks to it am now 38 weeks pg. But it did take a few cycles for it to work properly, as it adapts itself to your cycle for the first couple of cycles. In the beginning, it would show high days for a very long time, before showing a peak. After you have used it for a month or two though, it becomes more reliable and shows you only a few high days. I fell pg on my last high day on the monitor rather than a peak day! I found it much more reliable than using OPKs as it gets to know your cycle and tells you when to test, also was easier for me to use first thing in morning than early afternoons with OPKs (when I was also at work so hated going and sitting in office loos to pee on stick and wait for result). Temping and EWCM-spotting also didn't work for me as they sometimes seemed to be all over the place, but the clearblue monitor definitely worked. Just give it at least one cycle to kick in, and if possible try to BD every 2-3 days anyway regardless of where you are in cycle. Good luck!

[engelbart]

Pinkpeony- thanks that's made me feel better and reassured me I haven't wasted loads of money on the monitor!