OPK Question and reality check

[Lala87]

I'm so annoyed I tested at 9 DPO.

It's negative.

I got my positive with my DD in 2020 on the evening of 9 DPO.

Now I feel like I'm out even though I know it's early.

Please talk some sense into me. Give me a reality check. I get disheartened when I see other people getting theirs at 9/10 DPO and I dont.

Also, I have a question about DPO and OPK testing - if you test and get a peak can one assume that you can ovulate anywhere between 12 & 48 hours later? Is that from the first or the last peak test? Once it's gone negative, can you assume you have ovulated?

I usually get a slow steady rise and an obvious peak before it drops off again. Different this cycle though. I had strong positive OPKs over 2 days.

The 12 to 48 hours is what the manufacturers say. But that really varies between women. I read on here somewhere about someone who ovulated (confirmed by scan) before she got her peak opk.

I think mine is sooner that too. I get ovulation pain as soon as I get a high/peak. I had an ectopic earlier this year where I started bleeding and excruciating pain about 3-4 hours after the ovulation pain started. That would have been the embryo implanting in my fallopian tube.

@Lala87 there are lots of early testers on MN and for all the 'I got a positive at 9dpo' you'll find lots who didn't get one until later. As for getting and early one in your first pregnancy, I wouldn't have thought that necessarily means anything. The egg can take anywhere between 6-12dpo to implant and HCG wouldn't probably show until a couple of days earlier at the latest. So although your daughter may have implanted at 7dpo, any new baby could take a few days longer. If they're only implanting today, you wouldn't be expecting to see a positive until at least 11/12 dpo.

Someone on here showed a really useful chart of percentage of women who get their positive on different days that is a good reality check. Unfortunately I didn't save it!

Currently 11dpo here and not testing until AF due which will be Tues/Weds... these last few days are dragging but knowing early wouldn't actually change anything other than give me longer to worry about a chemical (which I had last cycle and because I tested at 14dpo I only had 5 days of excitement to get over rather than over a week).

As @Confusedddddddd said, the peak opk stuff isn't always as clear cut as the manufacturers say. Opk going negative again doesn't mean ovulation is over. My peak tends to be extremely quick and returns to baseline within 12-24 hrs usually but I could still ovulate for another day. I believe the peak just detects the surge of hormones happening that mean ovulation is imminent. Of course depending on how quick you peak, when you test etc, you can never be sure you've pinpointed the exact peak. As long as you manage to dtd a few times before/around and probs day after your peak result, you should be in with a chance.

Good luck!