OPK positive yesterday, negative today...HELP!

[cheechymunchy]

What's going on? I'm due to ovulate this week and am using OPKs. Got a positive yesterday so got down to some good ol' loving, but test today came back as negative. Has anyone else had this problem? I've got DH on my back (not literally, although almost!).

[fruitful]

Thats what they're supposed to do. You get one day where it is positive, and you ovulate within 36 hours of the positive test. So probably today. So keep at it!

The test was neg today cos the hormone surge has finished. It will still have stimulated your ovaries to send the egg out though.

[cheechymunchy]

This is so confusing, fruitful. I thought from reading the leaflet that you get positive results 24-36 hours before ovulation which then extends until period. So...(bear with me), I had a negative on Tuesday, positive yesterday and back to negative today. This means that the LH surge was yesterday (it lasts just one day???), and that ovulation will be 24-36 hours after yesterday's test? Thanks so much for your response though x

[AttilaTheMeerkat]

cheechymunchy,

OPK's work on two misleading principles; namely that a rise in LH is immediately followed by ovulation and that women only have one rise in LH every month. Both of these are not true.

A women can ovulate earlier, later or not at all in any given cycle. Generally speaking you are more likely to be ovulating regularly if your periods are regular. If periods are irregular then ovulation is less likely to be happening regularly.

[fruitful]

Sorry, running up and downstairs with a toddler who thinks he is not sleepy.

Yes you're right. My test instructions say that, on average women ov 36 hours after a positive OPK. But the surge can last from a few hours to a couple of days, and depending when you test, you could catch it right at the beginning or right at the end. So its all guesswork.

[AttilaTheMeerkat]

Hi Londonlottie,

Why is it misleading to state that opk's are not without their problems?. I would certainly mislead someone if they had for instance an irregular cycle and I said, "yeah go ahead and use these things". OPK's are certainly not a foolproof method of predicting ovulation as you correctly surmise. I would agree with your there and will take that into account in my future postings re this.

From my reading of these kits these do assume only one LH surge a month. A person though can easily get more than one LH surge a month. LH is not static and can and does change throughout the cycle. So does FSH and these kits do not measure that.

(Also you can have a temp rise in the second half of a cycle when an egg has not been shed but that's a different matter entirely!).

Only around 12% of all women have what is a "normal" 28 day cycle so for the majority OPK's are not ideal. Women can be mislead by such things. Also there is no real evidence to suggest that OPK's really do help women to conceive any quicker; these can also rely somewhat on a women's desperation to conceive. And that is why (apart from the cost of the things) I also dislike them.

[AttilaTheMeerkat]

Hi Londonlottie

We shall have to agree to differ and that is fine by me.

You are correct to surmise that a "normal" cycle length is between 21 and 35 days or (this is important as well but sometimes forgotten) with less than 4 days of variation from month to month.

If a women is getting 2 LH surges a month this discounts the original theory which states that a LH surge is followed by ovulation. Women could question this, they may ask themselves if they are using the kit correctly.

Many gynaes do not like temp charts and the like primarily because they are so unreliable.

[goingfor3]

I was had a positive fours days in a row. Does this mean my body is having problems releasing the egg?

[Ready]

Ladies... This may be slightly off on a tangent... so please forgive the hijack, but... The majority of the time I have a 28 day cycle, and I chart my BBT... I was shocked to read that it is possible to have a temperature shift without releasing an egg How is this possible? And am I now to assume that my charts are useless, and that I might not even be ovulating? It's a worry!!

[fruitful]

Goingfor3: reasons for getting several + OPK -

1. its not really +. Is the line as dark as the control line? I get a few days of "nearly as dark as", getting darker each day, before I get one where both lines are the same.
   
   
2. tests not working (unlikely I think)
   
   
3. See here - having trouble releasing the egg
   
   
4. you're pregnant... (OPKs pick up HCG too)

[goingfor3]

Thanks for that fruitful. I use digital ones to make sure that I detect the surge correctly. Maybe I detect it right at the start and when it's tailing off so thats why I have a positive for three days or so. I will se how I go this month then maybe talk to my GP. I have just started spotting again, my period stopped on wednesday and I'm pretty sure there was nothing there yesterday. I had toooo much wine on wednesday and felt so hung over yesterday and still feel pretty rough today maybe that's having and effect on my cycle!

[lindafrost1963]

Hi going mad but hear goes
done pregnant test fri 19th came back very faded line but positive
sat 20th done a clear blue dig and came back with a big fat positive pregnant
done 2 mon 22nd and both came back negative fri 26th had blood test came back as not pregnant
tue 30 did another test on clear blue dig came back as negertive
seems odd as iam getting all the sign of being pregnant as this is not my first my body is changing
getting systoms such as tiredness boobs sencative eating funny hours than normal peeing a lot more and though the night back acke
feeling sick afew times consterpated
Done abit of research its not a chemicail pregnancy I would just like to know 1 way or another and also in my early stage of menopause so could this help with my hormones going up and down that's why I got some positive and some negertive
just thought I would ask thease questions to see if anyone else has had this type of experance also iam next due on the 7th October
another reason why I think iam pregnant is had sex on the 2nd September then came on but it only lasted a couple of days then stopped completely which is strange as it normaly last aweek
can anybody help in my situation anybody gone though this

[TheOnlyOliviaMumsnet]

Hi Linda
Sorry to hear this - do start a NEW thread and paste your post into it and you may get some more answers
Kindest
MNHQ

[PiliPala35]

Not sure if this will be helpful to anyone but this is nt first month charting using OPK and my experience was as follows:

8 Days after period was negative OPK
11 days after period Cervical Mucus & faint line on OPK
12 days = positive OPK
13 days = positive OPK (approx 24 hrs later)
14 days = faint line
Tomorrow is Day 15.

On day 13 I had ovulation pains starting overnight and only now easing (suspected endo as pain when opening bowels etc).

I am now in my two weeks of waiting.

For those that asked, the days of DTD were days 8, 11 and 12.

Fingers crossed !! Hope it was enough.

[hewisek1]

hi can sum1 help me ? i got ovolation test postive i think not sure ? x but negativ epregnancy test but pragnancy test the control line was too dark i dont know what that all mean or what i have to do pls help x ( with the blue ovolation test can any1 see the lane ?)

[hewisek1]

and this is negative pregnancy

[Emma2803]

That ovulation test is negative sweetie, it has to be super dark to be positive as there are low levels present most days. It's the rapid rise in the lutenising hormones you are looking for which triggers ovulation to happen 12-36hours later.

Pregnancy test also negative.

What cycle day are you? Do you have a vague idea when you might ovulate?

[hewisek1]

not i dontknw and what cycle mean ? when i can become pregnant ? x

[Emma2803]

Ok so your cycle is your monthly cycle from the start of one period to the start of the next.

You count the first day of bleeding as cycle day 1 and count all the way up until your next period arrives. So for example you get all the way up to 28 and then your period arrives the next day your cycle is 28 days long.

For most people ovulation occurs 12-14 days BEFORE their period arrives so of you roughly have your period after the same number of days each month you can guess when you might ovulate.

You can then start doing the ovulation test a few days before you think you might ovulate and when you get a positive test your body tends to release the eggs 12-36hours later.

Sperm can live about 3-5 days after sex but an egg can only live 1 day so if you have sex between a few days before and the day after ovulation you are most likely to get pregnant.

Hope this helps!

[hewisek1]

thank you xxx ma period finish like 10 day ago so when u rhink am gona ovulating ? but why i have those moods and ma belly pain and headache and those think? sumtines feel sick x

[hewisek1]

what do u mean by this ? x

[Emma2803]

Bit unnecessary Dahlia.

The best thing to do hewisek would be to download a period tracker app on to your phone. There are lots of different ones, ovia, flo for example. I use flo as it's quite simple. So you put in the date of when your last few periods were and which days your were bleeding on. It will work out for you roughly when it thinks you are going to ovulate and gives you days when it thinks you are more likely to get pregnant if you have sex. It works best if you put in the dates from a few months so it can work out a pattern. And you can start using your ovulation tests a few after your period ends to make sure you don't miss the positive. I found I got better results when I did the ovulation test in the evening time at about 8 at night but some people also do them at 2 in the afternoon too when it's coming near the day you should ovulate.
The pains, moods etc are caused by your hormones sweetie as they change throughout the month.