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Ovulation Testing: How Ovulation Predictor Kits Work
Ovulation Tests - or Ovulation Predictor Kits (OPKs) - allow you to predict, with great accuracy, your most fertile time of the month. Easy to use, ovulation predictor kits can greatly increase your chances of becoming pregnant. To improve ovulation testing results, visit our Ovulation Test FAQ for testing tips. For more information on Ovulation and your Menstrual Cycle, click here.
Ovulation is the defined as the separation of a mature ovum from the ovary after a follicle has been formed.
For many women, ovulation takes place midcycle, around cycle day 14. Of course, irregular cycles and countless other factors can contribute to ovulation taking place either earlier or later. That's why we use ovulation tests and chart fertility. In fact, "normal ovulation" can occur as early as day 8 or as late as three weeks into your cycle. When ovulation occurs is a coefficient of menstrual cycle length, so women with long cycles will ovulate later than women with shorter cycles.
To provide a brief overview of ovulation, the growth of an ovum takes place due to the influence of FSH - or follicle stimulating hormone. At ovulation, a surge in lh - or luteinizing hormone - facilitates the separation of egg from follicle. Here, cilia at the end of the fallopian tube move over and brush the ovary to help assist in the release of egg from follicle. For more on how an ovulation test allows you to predict this period of peak fertility, read on!
> How do OPKs work?
> How do I interpret ovulation test results?
> How do I determine when to begin testing?
> Ovulation Testing FAQ
> Fertility Monitor FAQ
> Capturing the Surge: Advanced OPK Suggestions!
Ovulation tests - or ovulation predictor kits (OPKs) - are excellent tools for predicting ovulation, a woman's most fertile time during her menstrual cycle. Unlike BBT charting, ovulation tests anticipate ovulation - not just confirm that ovulation has taken place. Visit Early-Pregnancy-Tests.com to see a photo gallery of positive ovulation test results.
Ovulation tests work by detecting luteinizing hormone (LH). Just preceding ovulation, women experience an "LH surge" - a sudden, dramatic, and brief rise in the level of luteinizing hormone. Ovulation tests detect the LH surge, allowing you to accurately predict when you will ovulate. A positive result on an ovulation test means that the woman will most likely become fertile over the next three days - with peak fertility at 36 hours following the LH surge.
How do OPKs Work? Luteinizing Hormone and Ovulation
How do ovulation tests work? At the beginning of the menstrual cycle, the body begins to produce follicle stimulating hormone (FSH). FSH facilitates the formation of a follicle on one of the ovaries. The follicle contains and nurtures the egg. When a follicle has adequately matured, a surge of Luteinizing Hormone (LH) causes the follicle to burst and release the egg into the fallopian tube - the moment of ovulation.
Throughout the menstrual cycle, a small amount of LH is produced - but during the middle of the cycle LH briefly and dramatically increases. Elevated quantities of luteinizing hormone facilitate ovulation - and OPKs detect this LH surge through anti-LH antibodies contained in the sensitive testing membrane of the test.
The LH surge is, alas, very brief - and in order to detect the LH surge, a woman needs to test at the right time of the month - and the right time of day. As LH is produced by the body in the morning, mid-afternoon is considered the ideal time to test.
Once the LH surge has been detected, successful fertilization is most likely to take place one to three days following the LH surge - with peak fertility at 36 hours post-LH surge. Since this ovulation "window" only opens once per month (and the unfertilized egg has a short 24-hour life-span) predicting ovulation accurately is very helpful when trying to become pregnant. Below, you will find information on getting the most out of your ovulation tests (and visit our Ovulation Test FAQ for more testing tips).
Using OPKs and Interpreting Ovulation Test Results
Ovulation tests come in two formats: test strips and midstream tests. To use the ovulation test strip, you fill a container with urine and hold the test strip in the container for several seconds. With midstream tests, you hold the test in your stream of urine. Both test formats are equally reliable. Always read ovulation test kit instructions carefully.
With most home ovulation testing products, the "reaction time" of the test is five minutes. At five minutes, you can interpret the tests. All tests have a "control" color band (or color line) that indicates whether the test is working or not. Also, the control band provides a color/intensity baseline by which to interpret the "test" band results. The "test" color band indicates a positive or negative result (please refer to the graphic below).
A positive result (indicating an LH Surge) is indicated by a test band that is of equal or greater intensity (equal or darker) than the control band. A negative result for the LH Surge is indicated when the test band is of lesser intensity (lighter) than the control band or cannot be seen. A negative result means the LH level of the urine sample is at or near its normal level and that the LH surge is not in progress. Remember, there is always some quantity of LH in your system, so a light color band in the test region is NOT an indicator of a positive result.
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How do I Determine when to Begin Testing?
To determine when to start testing, you must first do a little calculating. Use the Cycle Chart below to figure out when to begin testing for your LH surge.
First, determine the average length of your menstrual cycle. The length of the menstrual cycle is the number of days from the first day of menstrual bleeding to the day before bleeding begins on the next period. Determine the usual length of the menstrual cycle over the last few months. Then, refer to the Cycle Chart to determine on which day of the menstrual cycle to begin testing.
| Your Cycle Length |
Day to Begin Testing |
| 21 days | Day 5 |
| 22 days | Day 6 |
| 23 days | Day 7 |
| 24 days | Day 8 |
| 25 days | Day 9 |
| 26 days | Day 10 |
| 27 days | Day 11 |
| 28 days | Day 12 |
| 29 days | Day 13 |
| 30 days | Day 14 |
| 31 days | Day 15 |
| 32 days | Day 16 |
| 33 days | Day 17 |
| 34 days | Day 18 |
| 35 days | Day 19 |
| 36 days | Day 20 |
| 37 days | Day 21 |
| 38 days | Day 22 |
| 39 days | Day 23 |
Read More About:
> Ovulation Test FAQ: Testing Tips and Tricks
> Pregnancy Testing
> Ovulation and your Menstrual Cycle
> Ovulation FAQ
> Clomid and Ovulation Tests
> Saliva Based Ovulation Predictors
. Ovulation Tests Instructions
> Ovulation Test Strips
> Ovulation Midstream Tests
Comments
for almost a year and a half now me and my partner have been trying for a baby, i am 22, i was diagnosed with polo-cystic ovaries over two years ago now, we have been trying for so long it seems, buying pregnancy tests every week hoping just maybe on the off chance it would be positive for a change, i have tried taking my temperature but seem to be getting no where! i have tried ovulation kits etc, getting to the point now where all i seem to think about every minute off the day is what's wrong with me? and why can't i have what my body body's craving, a baby? can you give me any tips? because i have polo-cystic ovaries does that mean i can't have children?
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i just stopped my period yesterday and me and my fiance are trying to concieve...my periods have been late the past 2 months so we kind of got our hopes up and thought i was pregnant but i wasnt so i wanna try a test to try and get pregnant when would be the best time for me to start taking the test? and how often do you take them every day?
hi,
my husband and i are trying to get pregnant and have been trying for about 3 months now and are having no luck. My cycle is regular but is very spread out. Its every 43 days. first of all, is that normal? and second of all will a ovulation test work for me even with my period being so spread out?
Hi- just wanted to say MOST opks require u not use fmu. Only the digis say to use anytimr during the day. Dip strips and non-digis say to wait till afternoon early evening because LH doesn't show in urine until synthesized which doesn't happen till hours after waking, and also do not drink any fluids or urinate 4 hours prior to taking opks. Just my 2cents on what I kno. Thanks for listening.
I stopped taking birth control pills over 3 months ago (after 10 years using them) and still have not gotten pregnant. I've used ovulation calculators on-line to try and pinpoint when I'm most fertile and when I'm ovulating - my cycle is 27 - 28 days. With much practice - no success. I guess it is now time for an ovulation test.
am girl of 28 years old about geting marry but i don't know wheather if am ovuluating or not.my last period was on 6-05-2010 so when am suppose to be expecting my ovuluation. my period last for two day.while i want know is that i don't want waste on time after my marriage. i know that GOD give child but i want make sure that every thing is ok health weld.
Hi ladies!
Some of you mentioned having irregular periods and difficulty getting pregnant. I was 30 when my husband and I started trying for our first child. We were pregnant in 3 months and I had an absolutely perfect pregnancy. My son was born in November 2007. We started trying for another child in September 2009 and did not have the luck we did the first time around. I mentioned it to my gyno during my annual exam in January and she did an ultrasound and found that my ovaries were not smooth. This suggests I may have Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. My cycles had also started to be 34 days. This is another symptom, along with infertility (as I was not ovulating every month). My doctor put me on Chlomid last month to regulate. I am also charting my BBT and doing the predictor kits. He feels I'll have luck with the Chlomid.
Those of you mentioning irregular periods or not ovulating...this might be an issue you want to ask your doctor about. It can cause other health problems as well...so it's good to catch it early.
Good luck!
hi, i need to ask about my cycle and ovulation test .i had cycle on 04-11-210. i started this test on 18april that is good time for ovulation test
Try the CLEAR BLUE EASY!!! digital and very easy to read!!!! I used the non digital kind many months and had similar problems reading it. It is a little more expensive but make a very big difference!
MY advice to everyone is to chart, if you don't know what charting is, then look it up. I have a really hard time telling when I ovulate because my period is not regular. The Ov Kit's help- but are also confusing cause they'll be "almost" positive for a number of days and sometimes never reach and actual positive. When using the kits along with charting, I have a better idea. The day after you ovulate, your temperature rises significantly. So I keep track and once my temp rises I'll know that I did in fact ovulate. But bodies are crazy precise, so you must be with your testing as well. Take your temp right when you wake up in the morning, don't even get out of bed. Always use the same thermometer, don't get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom- it'll mess it up. That will also mess up your ov kit. Ov kits should be used in the morning right when you wake up, that is when the LH surge will be the best to read. This all comes from me going to a fertility clinic for the last year, and charting and kittting and all of the junk. I am not pregnant yet- but I feel like I am at least close. If you don't think you are ovulating AT ALL- go to a fertility Dr. and they can figure out if you are or not, and get you on the appropriate hormones to help you ovulate.
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