OPK's - which one to buy?

[tigerbear]

Hello, having spent the last 18 months TTC (with one mc along the way), I'm ready to try anything to speed up the process. I want to try using an OPK, however I saw them in Boots for £100, plus £20 for the sticks.

This seems like a lot. Although I'll pay that amount if I have to, does anyone know of a good internet site / store I could buy one more cheaply? Or is this the average price for an OPK?

TIA

Anyone?

Some people will tell you not to use them and some will tell you that they worked really well. I concieved DD2 13 years ago on them and i am trying them again for number 5 atm.

I have tried the clearblue ones - they have lots of fans as you dont have to spend time differentiating on whether a line is darker than the other one but they are expensive and i have heard (and am doing this myself) that you should test twice a day incase you miss your surge as it can quite often come and go in the space of 24 hours.

I have used some ebay cheapies for the second test of the day combined with the clearblue ones as i think they are much of a muchness if you are confident in telling the lines apart.

Im 38 and dont think that i had a surge this month as nothing happened till day 18 (then i gave up) buy there are people on here who will also tell you that they are pg after using opk's and (apparently) having no surge so they cant be totally reliable.

Think they might be good in conjunction with other fertility methods (i havent branched out that far yet as this is my first month of trying) but i am going to get some ebay cheapies for next month and give up on the clearblue ones. I will also continue to test twice a day. HTH

Thanks Rosie - so is it the Clearblue that's £100?
I don't really understand the whole process - do you buy the machine thingy, then you can use any sticks with it?
Sorry for all the questions (clueless emoticon).

No the one thats really expensive is the clearblue fertility monitor (there is a thread in conception about it) you not only have to buy the monitor but you have to buy the sticks to use with it at an extra £20 too.

You can buy a few types of clearblue opk's, a basic one that has the two lines and you have to wait for one to be darker or the one or the one that i used which has a smiley face if you are about to ovulate (thats around £20.00) but i still think that given that you can buy ones that are supplied to the nhs for less than a fiver on the net (or ebay like i do) and come in packs of 10 or 20 that you are better off with these especially if you are going to be using them twice a day iyswim.

Ohhhh, I see! I thought you had to buy the fertility monitor AND the sticks (I thought they were all one and the same, iyswim?). Didn't know you could just use the sticks. Thanks for the info - I'm off to buy some on Ebay!

Be careful to buy just the opk's and not the fertility monitor sticks, they can look the same and be listed in a similar way, the clearblue ones are listed as clearblue digital ovulation tests but as i have said i wouldnt waste my money on them if i were you, just get some generic ebay ones - or both like me Good luck.

Hi tigerbear,

I'm going to be of those people who will advise you to forget all about buying these things and below is why.

Given both your ttc and gynae history it may be that there is a fertility problem with either one or both of you.

At 18 months and counting of ttc you are well beyond the stage of using such things anyway.

Apart from the expense of the things they can be difficult to interpret too. Also they are not worth using if the menstrual cycle is irregular.

I'd be looking to visit the GP and requesting a referral to a gynae.

Attila i think that she has concieved though, I tried for my DS and had a MS 11 months into TTC it took another three for my AF to get back to normal then i tried before conceiving another 9 months later so in total it took me 23 months or so to have a successful pg. If OP has been trying for 18 months and has had a pg then surely she can keep trying for another 6 or so without worrying about ability to concieve?

Tigerbear i take it you know all about best days to conceive ect? Have you had a look at fertilityfriend.com?

tigerbear, I'm just going to answer your question about what OPK's other women here have used (obv there are big issues around them, but I'm sure others will cover that well) -

I used bundles from zoombaby (just google them), after someone on MN recommended them, in fact.

I found that after a couple of months testing that the hormone surge these sticks measure sometimes happened v quickly with me -

And if I used just one stick a day, I could miss the surge quite easily. Getting a cheap large bundle meant I could pee on a stick 3 times a day if necessary without it costing a huge amount.

I'm sure the ebay cheapies that a lot of women use here are the same - I just daren't register on e-bay in case I succumb to an online shopping frenzy.

The sticks from zoombaby are very basic - they just involve waiting for 1 or 2 lines to appear on a strip(v like a pregnancy test). However, you do have to work out whether the second line is lighter or as dark as the test line (unlike a pregnancy test), and this can drive some women a bit mad.

If this is the case, then the more expensive sticks that give you a smileyface! and mean you don't have to worry about squinting at lines might be less stressful.

Thanks everyone who has posted!
Attila -shit, really? You think it's time I went to see the docs? Is 18 months about the time most people start having investigations?
When I had the mc, we had been trying for 10 months, amd mc'd very early on (approx weeks).

I've got an application on my phone which is supposed to tell the most fertile days, and we've been using that since last November, with no result yet. I'm not convinced that an app on a phone is going to give the most accurate results, therefore want to use the OPK's too.

I'll have a look at Zoombaby...

tiger Don't spend money on OPKs without educating yourself first. And even then, those sticks are evil and frustrating! IME you will get much better results from observing your basal temperature. Are you doing temperatures? Have you read Taking Charge of Your Fertility and got to grips with charting your ov signs? (Sorry, obvious questions and you may hit me over the head if you wish.) Fertility Friend .com does basically the same thing too. All you need to buy is the thermometer.

Thanks pony - it's all so confusing!!!!!
No, I haven't done the temperature thing yet - does it really work?

Yes it really does. When TTC #1 we took over a year of concerted effort, using ov sticks. The sticks never seemed to show a sensible result, and my cycles were always a different length so I couldn't just count days. When TTC #2 we tried for a few months then started charting after buying the TCOYF book. Conceived the first month of using it! If you are lucky it is really obvious on the chart when you ovulate, though you have to make some other observations too (cervical fluid is remarkably interesting). It is a pain taking your temp first thing every morning to two decimal places, but my god it was worth it.

If you are interested you can buy my TCOYF book for cheap as I don't need it anymore.

Gosh, this TTC lark is a right carry on isn't it? Never thought it would be so hard
Right, I'm going to get the thermometer and the book next week, nay, tomorow!
Thanks for the book offer Pony, but once I've decided I want something, I want it NOW won't be able to wait for it to arrive!

tigerbear

You do not give your age but if you're now over 35 I would be thinking about going to the GP. Some simple investigative tests can be done on both of you (blood tests for you, semen analyses for him).

Both of you should be tested in tandem.

BTW charting is only really beneficial if the cycle is regular in nature. If the cycle is irregular give this a miss. Would not use for any longer than 3 months and do bear in mind it is not infallible.

Forget the phone app with the most fertile days; ovulation is not an exact science and a woman can ovulate earlier, later or not at all in any given cycle.

I know how tempting it is to know when you're ov'ing etc.

But in the meantime whilst you're trying to decide what to do - it might be best to go with what Zita West said at the Fertility Show. She said we should just have sex every 3 days to ensure that we don't miss the ovulation time.

I know it's hard to make time for that much sex but it might be worth a try whilst you're waiting to temp or poas or buy a book.

You might just catch the egg at the right time and not need to worry about when your ov'ing.

Good luck.

Ponymum - could I be very cheeky and express interest in your TCOYF book?

Think I'm very slightly more patient that Tigerbear (only very slightly )

I've been debating OPKs or not and had come to the conclusion not this evening and was about to order a copy of the book on Amazon.
Sounds like your copy has brought you success

montifer So do you think I could sell it at a premium since it is a lucky book? No problem - if you are interested email me on see jay are pee sixty at googlemail dot com (letters and numbers, no spaces). £5 plus postage?

Thanks Attila and hippy and everyone else for the advice.
Attila - I'm 33 this year. You're right, the phone app can't be that accurate, as atm it is displaying that I am in the fertile window now (starting yesterday and ending next Saturday). However, I'm still having my period - they tend to be quite long - and sorry for TMI, but still having a heavy flow so wouldn't really want to TTC in the next day or so. According to the phone app, the most fertile day will be Friday.

Interesting what you were saying about not ovulating at all within a certain cycle - I never knew that could happen, and just assumed everyone ovulated every single month.
To think that I've got to the age of 32 without knowing all this...

at Pony's 'lucky' book!

tigerbear I ttc for 16 months before getting pregnant, and the first month I used OPK's I got pregnant, so I would recommend giving them a shot (I used the £20 tests rather than getting the £100 monitor).

I was already aware of roughly when I ovulated from TCOYF, but the test gave us extra encouragement to have sex lots at that time and it worked!

I would recommend going to the dr now though, not because there is necessarily anything wrong, but the process of getting tested can take quite a long time (we had just seen the doctor 3 weeks before I got my BFP and he had referred us for tests and explained the process). I also wonder whether going to the doctor might have helped me 'relax' a little, by making me feel like we were making progress. At 15 months ttc the doctor was very happy to start investigations, despite the fact I had long cycles / missed periods for many months last year due to a very stressful time at work. The GP also insisted I try opks and gave me the push to finally fork out for some. I'm not suggesting they'll be a miracle cure for you too, but I am definitely glad I tried them