OPK experts needed!!

[MagicalCreatures]

Hi everyone.
I was using OPK’s back in November - December, got a positive surge on the tests, got pregnant, and then suffered a miscarriage.
It was a long drawn out miscarriage and I only had the last of the pregnancy tissue removed 2 and a half weeks ago.

I finally got a negative pregnancy test 2 weeks ago and thought I’d do some testing to see if I could work out when to expect my next period. ( still not ready to start ttc again as found the whole thing totally traumatising )

But now, I can’t remember how to use the blooming things. I know that FMU isn’t best so have been testing late morning- afternoon.

But for a few days, about 5 days after the procedure, I got some faint lines on the OPK’s. And then after experiencing some pains in my lower belly on the 8th March, I did a test on the 9th and it was positive but the line didn’t come up straight away. It was faint after a few minutes but didn’t come up strong for about 10-15 minutes.

Now I know you’re not meant to do that with pregnancy tests but I’m not sure about OPK’s and it’s been 3 months since I got my positive before and I can’t remember how long that positive took to show. Whether it was instantly or not.

also with a 30 day cycle, if I did ovulate on the 9th - 10th March then that would coincide with when my HCG finally hit zero.
Please shed some light for me.

Bump

Hi OP. So sorry to hear of your recent loss

Would love to help but I'm not sure I follow your post - what are you unsure of?

If it's the timing of when the opk went positive I think the test instructions would specify. I use internet cheapies and they say the line should show up within 10 mins but throw away after 30 minutes. I guess if it became positive within 10-30 minutes I would look at other factors (cm for example) and decide from there.

As I'm sure you may know, an LH surge doesn't mean you ovulate for sure anyway so you might want to start temping too, if you really want to know. Though I appreciate it might be a bit much to start doing that at the same time right now.

So sorry for your loss. Not sure if this is helpful or not. But I found that opks since my mc have been totally messed up and in fact not so helpful. But only since the erpc. So take it with a pinch of salt for the next couple of months. I'm hoping as my body levels out the opks will start to work with me again. 🤞 sending hugs.

8DaysAWeek
Sorry I should have probably explained it abit better. But you were right. Yes I was trying to ask about timings. I threw the bit of paper away ages ago that my tests came with. I too have the internet cheapies.
I never notice a difference in CM but I definitely had what I usually suspect as ovulation pains over those 2 days. And I’m sorry if I’m being totally dense here but what is temping. And Thankyou for getting back to me.

Cakelaur
Yes I’ve heard that about OPK’s from a few threads on here. Especially after miscarriage. And I also was getting weird up and down surges for a week before I got that positive the other day.
I guess I’m just really wanting to get my life back and having my periods come and my cycles return to normal is a way of closure over the last 3 traumatic months.
Thankyou for replying x

Not dense at all! I've just read so much about ttc that all the acronyms and words are normal to me now 😂

Temping is using your basal temperature to pinpoint ovulation. Have a google but essentially you use a basal thermometer (a very sensitive one) to take your temp every morning when you wake up before doing anything else. In the first half of your cycle your temp is low, it then rises by about half a degree (on average) after you ovulate and remains high for the rest of your cycle. When people see this spike in temp change they can confirm ovulation.

Oh wow that’s incredible. Thanks very much. I’d heard about people mentioning basal body temperature but I didn’t realise what it was or how to test for it. Thankyou very much. I’ll do a google x