Natural frozen cycle - when to test??? (opks)

[comebacksunshine]

Hello ladies.

Apologies if this has been covered elsewhere, I'm new to this thread.

I am due to start a natural cycle next month. It took years and years (and rounds of ivf) to have my little girl who is 4. I am back to ivf now as we'd love another baby and I'm petrified to be starting this rollercoaster process again.

We have 2 frozen embryos (planning to use 1) and have been advised that a natural frozen cycle may be a good option as I'm regularly ovulating. At my clinic you literally just let them know when you ovulate so you use opk sticks. I'm paranoid about missing my surge and I wondered if anyone else has recently done a natural cycle this way? I can see myself going insane and testing all times of day.

I mainly wondered if anyone is due to do a natural frozen cycle soon, so we could hold hands together, or, if you have done this already, I wondered (and sorry for the list):

-how many times you tested a day?;
-at what times of day you tested?;
-what brand of opk you used?; and
-if you had any advice about the process

I know it's imperative to get the timing right so am already paranoid about it all!

That was long! Sorry.

Wishing all those on this journey lots of luck!

Your clinic just asks you to use an opk? They don't scan you, at all? I was scanned I think 3 or 4 times in the lead up to my ovulation as they check the lining and the size of the lead follicle - when those two match then you do your trigger shot/ovritrelle.

They did say just for my own reassurance that I can use an opk around the time it looked like I was ovulating. They told me to use a digital clearblue, the one with the smiley face.

Good luck!

Well, I've not had to use OPKs for a transfer, but my regime for home insemination (where timing is pretty critical) was clearblue dual digital in the morning + internet cheapies throughout the day when getting close. Ideally you'd want a couple of months practice to feel confident with this, though.

A note on the clearblue ones - the dual hormone thing is really handy as you know when you're getting close, BUT be aware that if you get too much urine on them you can occasionally get a false positive, so best bet is to dip and keep them with the absorbent end pointing downwards (I used to prop them up inside a loo roll), rather than wee on it and lie it down. Also, I understand they work by comparing against the last result to see a change, so you do need to stick to one time of day with those ones or they'll get confused. Hence the internet cheapie backup, you can see exactly what's happening on them to double-check, and you can do them every time you go to the loo, if you like!

Hello Again and Persipan,

Thanks so much for your messages!

I'm only being scanned once after AF is confirmed with them (also have to have a saline scan on day 8) and after that it's just the opks hence the worry!

Internet cheapies is a good plan. I was going to use clearblue as at least there's certainty and no trying to interpret lines! I did use the dual hormone before but they never seemed to work properly for me (they flashed even when I had my period? And once flashed for 17 days straight ). If I have the back up of the ICs I can test with impunity . Great tip about keeping them facing down- thank you. I think I may have flooded the tests a few times (sorry tmi).

Thanks again and wishing you both lots of luck if you need it and congratulations if not x