Unreliable OPKs or LH problem?

[LancyLass]

Has anyone had problems with internet cheapie OPKs giving false negative results? I've got no idea what's going on with my cycle this month and fertility friend can't figure it out either - see my chart.

At first it thought I'd OVed on day 13, which meant I might have missed the LH surge in the two days I didn't test, but that didn't match my CM. But as my temp has since gone up again it now reckons I prob OVed on day 15, because that matches my EWCM. But that would mean the OPKs were wrong.

Or does it mean I'm not getting a LH surge? This is the first month I've used OPKs so never had a +ve one. But if I'm not getting a LH surge then I wouldn't ovulate and if I didn't ovulate my temp wouldn't go up - but it does go up. So that can't be the case, right???

I know I could wait until next month and see if I get a +ve OPK, but I'm impatient! Any help appreciated! Thanks

 

[Sus09]

Hi LancyLass,
I have exactly the same experience as you have had, see my chart as well. Opks were negative but tems show i ovd. I think that as it was the first time i used opks, i used them in the wrong way. I have been told to go by temps as more reliable and that it might take me a couple of cycles to work out how and when to use my opks. Hope it helps.

 

[amommy]

I think the IC's tend to be less accurate.. Last month I used walgreen brand and I got definite darker than control line +++, this month i used IC opk's and it was really hard to decide if the line was dark enough, but my temps showed and my CM that I indeed ovulate! I would def go by your temps you had a nice thermal shift!

 

[LillyLove]

IC OPKs suck! I use Walgreen brand as well and they are fantastic. I even did an experiment using ICs and Walgreens simultaneously and I got a definite dark line and ICs were still lighter than control line.

 

[LancyLass]

Thanks guys, that's all really helpful.

IC OPKs suck! I use Walgreen brand as well and they are fantastic. I even did an experiment using ICs and Walgreens simultaneously and I got a definite dark line and ICs were still lighter than control line.

LillyLove that's really interesting because I did get a very faint line a couple of days before my probable Ov day. I thought it must be the LH building up and expected it to get darker but then it had gone the next day. So maybe that was it!

Guess I'll have to splash out on some others. The only ones I've seen in the shops are Clearblue and they're SO expensive (I'm in the UK). It's a costly business this TCC!

 

[LillyLove]

I guarentee that is what happened! The line on the day of my surge was SO faint, I kept thinking it was going to get darker and it never did. However on the more expensive brand there was no doubt about it.

GL girl! I hear you about the expense!

 

[NorthStar]

IC work perfectly well for me, I use the 20/mu sensitivity, but there are some techniques you might find useful:

Are you refraining from drinking liquids/peeing for at least 2 hours prior to using the opk?

Are you testing between 11:00 and 21:00 - the hormone can take a while to build up in your body during the day and when you are approaching O it is advisable to test more than once a day.

Also there are a few people who get a better result with FMU so you could try that as well.

You need to do a fair bit of testing the first couple of months until you get the hang of it and and what works best for your body.

 

[velo]

I've had several months of the OPK IC working just fine.. but this month I got all negatives and seem to have ovulated. I don't know if it was the IC factor, (I remember one day squinting at it as there was a slim darker part trying to figure out whether it was + or -, and the next day was a very clear negative) or not.

 

[Sus09]

Thanks guys, that's all really helpful.

IC OPKs suck! I use Walgreen brand as well and they are fantastic. I even did an experiment using ICs and Walgreens simultaneously and I got a definite dark line and ICs were still lighter than control line.

LillyLove that's really interesting because I did get a very faint line a couple of days before my probable Ov day. I thought it must be the LH building up and expected it to get darker but then it had gone the next day. So maybe that was it!

Guess I'll have to splash out on some others. The only ones I've seen in the shops are Clearblue and they're SO expensive (I'm in the UK). It's a costly business this TCC!

It is interesting indeed!! Maybe my faint line was a positive too, as i got it the day before my ovulatin, and then negative. Good to know!!

 

[NorthStar]

A faint line isn't positive - it just indicates that your body is potentially starting to gear up for ovulation, it's only a line as dark or darker than the control line that indicates a definite LH surge.

So if you get a faint line then it's advisable to start testing more than once a day to make sure you don't miss the surge.

 

[StarSign]

I've had several months of the OPK IC working just fine.. but this month I got all negatives and seem to have ovulated. I don't know if it was the IC factor, (I remember one day squinting at it as there was a slim darker part trying to figure out whether it was + or -, and the next day was a very clear negative) or not.

I had a similar experience this cycle (with IC's that seemed to work great the cycle before but never showed a surge). But! my AF came at Day 21, I've now concluded I was anovulatory- and I truly didn't have a surge just as the strips showed. However, although my LP was only 6 days, my chart still shows a nice shift and I still my 2nd nice solid AF flow which I hadn't consistently done since that first mc in Dec, 2010. So, I feel my line-building quality/ability is just about back up to where it should be. This cycle should be a good chance I think.

All that to say, your temps showed ovulation?

*SS*

 

[StarSign]

Has anyone had problems with internet cheapie OPKs giving false negative results? I've got no idea what's going on with my cycle this month and fertility friend can't figure it out either - see my chart.

At first it thought I'd OVed on day 13, which meant I might have missed the LH surge in the two days I didn't test, but that didn't match my CM. But as my temp has since gone up again it now reckons I prob OVed on day 15, because that matches my EWCM. But that would mean the OPKs were wrong.

Or does it mean I'm not getting a LH surge? This is the first month I've used OPKs so never had a +ve one. But if I'm not getting a LH surge then I wouldn't ovulate and if I didn't ovulate my temp wouldn't go up - but it does go up. So that can't be the case, right???

I know I could wait until next month and see if I get a +ve OPK, but I'm impatient! Any help appreciated! Thanks

Sometimes, the surge may be brief. Did you test several times during the day? Best practice seems to be in the afternoon/evening, but others read best with FMU.

*SS*

 

[LancyLass]

IC work perfectly well for me, I use the 20/mu sensitivity, but there are some techniques you might find useful:

Are you refraining from drinking liquids/peeing for at least 2 hours prior to using the opk?

Are you testing between 11:00 and 21:00 - the hormone can take a while to build up in your body during the day and when you are approaching O it is advisable to test more than once a day.

Also there are a few people who get a better result with FMU so you could try that as well.

You need to do a fair bit of testing the first couple of months until you get the hang of it and and what works best for your body.

Sometimes, the surge may be brief. Did you test several times during the day? Best practice seems to be in the afternoon/evening, but others read best with FMU.

Thanks everyone. All very helpful advice. I was doing it around lunchtime but only once a day. Interesting to hear some people find FMU works better and that should do it more than once a day. Good tip about not drinking or peeing beforehand too. Shall try again next month!

 

[Indigo77]

I don't have a problem with ICs...I use Wondfo....
As i get closer to my O time, I test 2x/day....@10am and @10pm...
I did miss a surge once when I first started testing, but knew I ovulated that cycle because of temps...

 

[LancyLass]

Well I was determined to get a positive OPK this cycle - following all your excellent advice! So I recorded all the tests to try to work out the best time (which seems to be in the evenings) but... still no +ve result. Here's a pic. You can see the strongest lines were in the evening of CD13 and it's looking like I Ov'd on CD15 so that would match up, but they're not technically +ve results - the test line is still lighter than the control.

(BTW, where the tests are stained really yellow - that's where my wee is going neon yellow from taking Vit B Complex!! TMI?!)

 

[NorthStar]

Your FF chart looks like it might draw the crosshairs at CD15 to me, rather than CD13, though it will need 3 days of higher temps before it's able to do that.

There's quite a few open circles on there, was that marked as disturbed sleep or was it that you took your temp at a different time? FF struggles a bit with that, I use the temp adjuster or days I need to get up early or sleep in and change my time to my regular getting up time, if you do this FF may close those circles (just a thought).

I think we'd really need to see a few more days of temps before calling it, opk on CD13 looks close so I would've thought you would O on CD14-15, I'm not sure what's going on with the opks on those days though, so maybe keep testing for another 2-3 days just in case.

https://www.whenmybaby.com/basalbodytemperature.php

 

[LancyLass]

Your FF chart looks like it might draw the crosshairs at CD15 to me, rather than CD13, though it will need 3 days of higher temps before it's able to do that.

There's quite a few open circles on there, was that marked as disturbed sleep or was it that you took your temp at a different time? FF struggles a bit with that, I use the temp adjuster or days I need to get up early or sleep in and change my time to my regular getting up time, if you do this FF may close those circles (just a thought).

I think we'd really need to see a few more days of temps before calling it, opk on CD13 looks close so I would've thought you would O on CD14-15, I'm not sure what's going on with the opks on those days though, so maybe keep testing for another 2-3 days just in case.

https://www.whenmybaby.com/basalbodytemperature.php

Yes, I'm sure it's going to be day 15 - temp gone up again today. So as day 13 was the nearest the OPKs got to being +ve that would match up as it's two days before. But will have to wait until tomorrow to be sure.

One of the open circles was disturbed sleep - CD13 I think - but the others were different times. I've done a bit of experimenting and I find different waking times doesn't make that much difference with me. If anything it tends to go down the later I wake up! So the temp adjuster would just throw it out more. I've experimented with putting the wrong time into FF and pretending it was the same time as usual and it didn't seem to make much difference to the interpretation so I've decided not to worry about the open circles!

If it calls it for day 15 then I think I'll try different tests next time. At least the useful thing I did learn from this is that testing in the evening seems to be best for me.

 

[StarSign]

Your FF chart looks like it might draw the crosshairs at CD15 to me, rather than CD13, though it will need 3 days of higher temps before it's able to do that.

There's quite a few open circles on there, was that marked as disturbed sleep or was it that you took your temp at a different time? FF struggles a bit with that, I use the temp adjuster or days I need to get up early or sleep in and change my time to my regular getting up time, if you do this FF may close those circles (just a thought).

I think we'd really need to see a few more days of temps before calling it, opk on CD13 looks close so I would've thought you would O on CD14-15, I'm not sure what's going on with the opks on those days though, so maybe keep testing for another 2-3 days just in case.

https://www.whenmybaby.com/basalbodytemperature.php

Yes, I'm sure it's going to be day 15 - temp gone up again today. So as day 13 was the nearest the OPKs got to being +ve that would match up as it's two days before. But will have to wait until tomorrow to be sure.

One of the open circles was disturbed sleep - CD13 I think - but the others were different times. I've done a bit of experimenting and I find different waking times doesn't make that much difference with me. If anything it tends to go down the later I wake up! So the temp adjuster would just throw it out more. I've experimented with putting the wrong time into FF and pretending it was the same time as usual and it didn't seem to make much difference to the interpretation so I've decided not to worry about the open circles!

If it calls it for day 15 then I think I'll try different tests next time. At least the useful thing I did learn from this is that testing in the evening seems to be best for me.

 

[crystal443]

IC's worked for me, I do have to test 2x a day when I'm close to O with this batch I have currently. Not sure if its the tests or me but I normally have a surge for 2-3 days and this batch I have a + for a few hours and its negative again. I test at about 11 and then about 7pm.

 

[NorthStar]

When I think I'm close to O I test about 12:00 and again about 18:00 and occasionally about 21:00 as well.

Lancy Lass you're getting to know your cycle and next month will be easier, it's all just a bit of a process, you'll figure out what works for you.