OPKs lying to me- this happen to anyone else?

[duchesse]

OK, so: I have about eleventy-thousand opk strip tests (the cheapo clinical ones off Ebay).

They systematically tell me I'm gearing up for ovulation about a week before I get any symptoms of ovulation, and tell me frankly negative on my most likely days based on all other symptoms, including retrospective examination of data at cycle end.

Does this sound like a hormonal imbalance to anyone else? Especially as my libido is dead asa a dodo on what should be my most fertile days, as has been the case since having the damned Mirena out, 3.10 years ago...

PS: extra info: am very mildly (subclinically and untreated) hypothyroid, in case any endocrinologist or other very clever person is out there about to hit "reply".

tumbleweed blowing through, spooky whistled theme music

I guess it really is just me, then...

Not sure, suspect the thyroid thing may be skewing your readings, but I'm no expert.

How long have you been TTC?

I would just crank up the libido! ( I sympathise with that one )
And go for it when all other signs are good.

Hi duchesse - I haven't had exactly the same but I am finding OPKs to be somewhat unreliable. I have used all sorts (cheapos, digital - you name it ) and sometimes they worked ok but I have had no positive sign at all one month and the month just gone I was using cheapies and got faint lines for a couple of days and realised I had OV because I had pains - no dark line.

So, I don't think OPKs necessarily work as they should (or maybe my body doesn't - I am having tests to check I am OV but I think I am....).

That probably doesn't help !

i hade this and although i do not have the 'syndrome' i DO have policystic ovaries and they cause these 'gearing up' rises

Duchesse I've found the same problem with those cheap dip type ovulation tests. A couple of months ago they were blank then got gradually darker but nothing like a positive, so i did a clear blue digital and it was positive, used the same urine for a cheap dip test and it was completly negative

I don't rate them much to be honest and have never got a proper positive off them even though blood tests have shown i've ovulated.

I'd try a couple of mid flow ones before worrying you've got a hormone imbalance

Hey duchesse - I have managed to get them to "work" for me (I get a good dark line around a 24-36 hours) before OV but then again stil no BFP so they be just be a load of old bol*@cks

When do you test? I always test in the afternoon 2-6pm and then if they start to get darker I test again before bed around midnight? I can't remember what the link is between LH and FSH or even if there is one? but I know if FSH levels are high in the first week of your cycle then it means the ovaries are working harder to get an egg out I think???

TBH I think most of it a load of old tosh and you can quite easily have all the perfect signs of OV, BD at the correct time etc etc and still not get a BFP, at the other end some people can have none of the indicators, BD at a seemingly rubbish time and still get a baby
It is just a cruel trick our minds and bodies play on us - like - "lets make her think she has some control over this" - Ha Ha

duchesse

They are not treating your hypothyroidism, this is bad!!. It goes without saying that this needs treating, it will certainly cause problems otherwise. Have you had any blood tests done recently to check your thyroid level?.

LH and FSH are very important homrones; these two are the hormones that start the whole ovulation process. If the levels of these two are awry (a common problem with polycystic ovaries or PCOS) then ovulation will be problematic as well. OPK's are not any good to use at all if cycles are irregular in nature, infact I would go as far to say that these kits do prey somewhat on the desperation of women to conceive. The kits also work on two misleading principles; namely that women only have one rise in LH every month and that such a rise is immediately followed by ovulation. Both these statements are simply not true.

Thanks all.

Attila- yes I have had TSh and free T4 tests and antibody tests.

The results were:

January; slightly high TSh (5.05), essentially "normal" T4: 14.5 (although on the lower end of normal)

February: TSH 4.45 (ie back within the NHS non-treatable range, but way higher than the American standard upper limit of normal, 2); T4 12.5, so only just withing the lower end of "normal"; but no antithyroid antibodies, so even if I feel like shite, no treatment... If I had antibodies, I would be on treatment even with these relatively "normal" levels.

In the Uk you seem have to be practically dying to qualify for treatment for hypothyroid. It's so frustrating.

Bubble99- I had my Mirena coil removed in June 2003. We started actively ttc in July 2003. I have had one confirmed pregnancy since then, that ended at 13 weeks in a miscarriage.

It's been a long haul, and I haven't yet managed to get a GP to take the infertility seriously. The only thing the senior GP did take seriously, and order the tests for, was the hair loss I'd been experiencing- quite possibly the least problematic of all the things wrong with my stupid body.