Why are OPKs so annoyingly expensive!!!!

[poppy]

I have bought a new batch of Clearblue digital OPKs - £22.00 - aaaggh!!

I want to know roughly when in the month I ovulate - especially as last month my period came two days early.

...but £22.00. Now I know you can buy cheaper, but I like the fact that on the CB digitals, they give you a definite smiley face thing when your LH levels soar. With those two line things, I probably would sit there for ages squinting at them and miss the surge altogether.

Does anyone know any websites that you can buy good opks cheaper, even better, digital CB opks?

 

[Samanthajane7]

I get mine from access diagnoses, they are much cheaper.

 

[Arcanegirl]

I got mine from Wobbles

 

[suzan]

AGREE!!
I mean, what the hell!! it's only ovulation! anyway, I stopped buying them, its great I decided to stop buying them, not bec they are expensive but bec it makes me nervous the whole testing for everything thing!!!!
I dont buy them only though so cannot help u sorry.

By the way, why buying a digital one? I think that the non-digital is fine and not that expensive, am I wrong?

 

[Arcanegirl]

Some people still get confused over the normal ones and find it easier with the digis.

 

[poppy]

Yeah, with the digital ones, a circle = no surge, a smiley face = surge detected (when you take the strip out of the machine, you can actually see the lines). With normal ones, you have to compare the two lines. For a surge to be detected, the line has to be as dark or darker than the test lines. This means lots of squinting at the lines trying to determine whether they are 'as dark or darker than the test line.'

 

[suzan]

Am with u in that. But isnt the normal ones cheaper?

 

[Wobbles]

ebaying in advance poppy! Can save yourself at least a fiver a time x

https://search.ebay.co.uk/search/search.dll?sofocus=unknown&sbrftog=1&from=R10&_trksid=m37&satitle=clearblue+digital+ovulation&sacat=-1%26catref%3DC6&sargn=-1%26saslc%3D3&sadis=200&fpos=LL208EP&sabfmts=1&saobfmts=insif&ga10244=10425&ftrt=1&ftrv=1&saprclo=&saprchi=&fsop=1%26fsoo%3D1&coaction=compare&copagenum=1&coentrypage=search

 

[Arcanegirl]

Yeah, with the digital ones, a circle = no surge, a smiley face = surge detected (when you take the strip out of the machine, you can actually see the lines). With normal ones, you have to compare the two lines. For a surge to be detected, the line has to be as dark or darker than the test lines. This means lots of squinting at the lines trying to determine whether they are 'as dark or darker than the test line.'

And if youre like me, you never get the test line darker than the control line. Just to add more confusion!

 

[Samanthajane7]

FF can detect ovulation without using opks anyway, so Im going to stop using them now I think.

 

[poppy]

By FF, do you mean Fertility Friend?

I think if your ovulation date is regular, it is probably quie accurate. However, last month it predicted that I would ovulate on day 18 and I ovulated around day 15/16 going by OPKs and temping. Normally I am 31 days(usually very regular), but this month 29 days. Maybe my cycle is changing? Or possibly just a blip -who knows! This is why I am OPKing this month again. Just to keep a check.

 

[lynz]

I Got Mine From Ebay, About £8 For Twenty Ovulation Tests And Ten Ultra Early Pregnancy Tests.

 

[marley2580]

Why not try charting your temp instead? It's free! If you take your temp with a digital thermomiter (sp) first thing in the morning, before you get up, and you monitor your CM you can very accuratly tell when you are ovulating. I used it as a form of contraception succesfully for months before ttc. Google natural family planning for more info.

 

[poppy]

Yes, but charting temperature tells you after you ovulate (as you get your temperature rise after you have already ovulated) not before, so if you were trying to catch your LH surge (which appears just before ovulation) you would have missed it.

 

[marley2580]

But the egg lives for 24-48 hours so the rise in temp can be a good indication, also if you also chart CM this can tell you when you are about to ovulate because it becomes thicker and like egg white.

Taken from the NFP website:

To conceive
For the normal fertile couple, conception is possible at any time during the fertile phase, but intercourse is most likely to lead to conception on days when highly fertile mucus is present, when there is a wet or slippery sensation at the vulva, and the cervical mucus is clear and stretchy like raw egg white. The most abundant fertile mucus normally occurs one or two days prior to peak day and is a time of very high fertility. Peak day, the last day when highly fertile mucus is present, frequently coincides with the day of ovulation. The temperature shift confirms that ovulation has taken place. At the time of maximum fertility, the cervix is high, short, straight, soft open and flowing with fertile mucus.

Aim to have intercourse during the fertile phase:

When highly fertile mucus is recognised
As close to peak mucus day as possible