Dumb Q: How to use OPK?

[butterfly23]

I dip it for about 10 seconds - long enough for the red ink to go all the way up. I use the sticks twice a day from about a week after AF, yet I have not had a +ve opk yet.

I read the OPK instantly and discard. Should I leave it for about 10 minutes and then read it? What am I doing wrong?

 

[SilverWillow]

I dip it for about 10 seconds - long enough for the red ink to go all the way up. I use the sticks twice a day from about a week after AF, yet I have not had a +ve opk yet.

I read the OPK instantly and discard. Should I leave it for about 10 minutes and then read it? What am I doing wrong?

The ones I use (internet cheapies) say to read after 5 mins and no longer than 30 mins. I find it takes 5 mins to show the result.

 

[PositiveUs]

I have been using internet cheapies and I find that they take a while to show accurate results; like a half hour. I realize this is probably not a good brand, but when I first think its a negative opk, I look back 20 min later, and its actually positive and all my charts account for this. I dip it in the pee for 5 seconds or so then wait like a half hour. I know the package says not to read after 10 min but if I did that I would miss every O. I even bought the expensive first response opk and it still took about 20 min or so to really get as dark as it was going to get. This works for me. Good luck to you.

 

[TTC First]

I would suggest going by the package. Mine are the internet ones and they say to dip for 3 seconds and read after 5 minutes. If you read it after what the package says it may not be valid.

I was testing once per day then I changed to twice. I test with the SMU and late in the evening. I found mine lasted one day. Some people got + OPK for a couple hours other got it for a couple days.