Do Ovulation Test Kits Work?

[littledetails]

Hi Does anyone know if ovulation test kits work? I have just had a mirena coil removed and havent had a period for approx. 6 months so I thought I would get some ovulation test strips. I had the coil removed last Fri and got jiggy with in on the Fri night, tested on the Sat which was a +. I then had a period for abt 4 days. We again got jiggy with it last night and today I have had ovulation pains. I have just done a test and again its +. Can this be right two + tests in 8 days? I am following the instructions exactly. Do they really work?

Hi there - I used them this month and they did not work for me, I got lines everyday, but none darker than the control line. I have attached some information that was posted on ovulation sticks to me from
AttilaTheMeerkat (she has loads of knowledge on fertility)

Hi Rahrah,

The problem with opk's is that they 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!. It is certainly possible to have more than one rise in LH every month and such a rise is not immediately followed by ovulation. OPK's are certainly not of any use if for instance polycystic ovaries have been diagnosed.

The surest way of knowing whether you are ovulating or not is to have blood tests done on a regular basis.

It is quite possible to have periods without ovulating. Ovulation can occur earlier, later or not at all in any given cycle - its not always the 14th day.

Even a normally fertile woman would have the occasional anovulatory cycle.

Also it may take time for your body to adjust to having the coil removed. You should have a surge, ovulate and then have a gap of 12-14days until your period. (as above this does not happen for everyone)

littledetails hiya!

ov sticks did not work for me i had days of v.faint lines then about 3 ays of a bit darker and then some more v.faint lines all very confusing and frustrating!

i scrapped them and started using an ovatel ovulation microscope which is re-usable and last 2 months of using it have been very accurate or i seem to think it is anyway.

i dont know technicak details but just thought i would share my experience.

good luck for the future x

Hi My instructions doesnt say anything about the line being darker than the control line. But thanks for the info, I think I may just have to wait and see what happens...thats easier said than done!

I used the clearblue digital tests (smile/no smile) as I got very confused at how dark the second line had to be to mean ovulation.

The clear blue digital are a bit more expensive than the standard line ones but as I knew the approx day I ovulated on I just tested around that time. I am 5 months pg and it took a couple of months.

Congratulations Incy...

I have also been using the clearblue digital. It showed I was fertile excactly when I thought I was. Even if it didn't work this month at least I know I'm in tune with my body, so though it was expenisive it was worth it.

Thanks rarah - they are good for establishing when in the month you are most fertile - although for a lot of people it is day 14, for me it was day 19 each month. Once you have established this it is much less expensive as you only have to test around that date.

Worth it in my opinion...

incy - how long were your cycles?

I was going to get one of those spitting kits... (not sure what they are called) The ovulation kits did not work on me, how does the clearblue digital test work? Is it on the same principle as the ovulation sticks?

I am also going to take my temp from next month. I really need to establish my ovulation time to make things a bit easier and less rigid.. At the moment I've made my DH have sex every other day since CD8, least if I know my ovulation time we can have sex normally and then just make sure we have it at 'fertile' time aswell... Hopefully taking some of the pressure off and make it enjoyable

Hi, I've used them succesfully for about three pregs. With this preg however, the line was always fainter than the co ntrol line, indicating that I was not ovuating. We got down to business anyway and I got preg that month. I don't understand why the tests said I wasn't ov when I obviously was , now 30 weeks preg. I guess no method is 100%.

That's good to know, I have been panicking in case I'm not ovulating.

Congratulations......

just wanted to add quickly that opks should be used in conjunction with checking cm i.e if get lh surge on last days of fertile cm very likely that ovulation is imminent. must point out that none of the fertility indicators are a absolute guarantee that ovulation has actually taken place.

Normally the hormone that they test for is produced by the body first thing in the morning and takes about 4 hours to show up in your wee. So if you test before lunchtime, you may get a faint line (no surge showing up yet) and then a faint line again the next day (surge been and gone).

If you have irregular cycles its worth buying cheap tests off ebay (25p each) so you can test twice a day (noon & 8pm) for weeks... If you record your temps and cm as well, you have a chance of working out what is going on that way! No point doing OPKs until you are starting to get egg-white cm though.

I just went for a scan today and Im on CD19 and they advised I have not ovulated yet... so explains why the kits have not worked... lol

Plus I was testing first thing in the morning, so best to test a different time.

there was a whole thread dedicated to users of the isisscope ovulation microscope which ended up very disheartened as there are so many things that can affect them i.e. if you drank the night before/if you've cleaned your teeth ... that sort of thing. I do have an isisscope though which I bought but never even got out of the box so if anyone is interested I'd be happy to part with it - was going to sell it on ebay anyway.

I'm interested, can send you a cheque.. It's worth a try... as was told if have pco then ovulation sticks don't work, as your hormones are more unbalanced. Does this apply to the microscope thing...