Ovulation

When is the best time of day to test for ovulation?

[Chel125]

I always tested at 2 but they say any time after 12 and before 8 but 2 is best just don't use first morning urine, they can give you false positives good luck!  

[ALT76]

You also want to make sure you ease up on drinking anything before hand, and hold in your urine for at least a couple of hours.  This will prevent the urine from being to diluted, which can affect your test results.

[Irish741]

I did the OPK last month and tested every day when I got home from work (about 6pm). This way if I saw a surge, we could BD that night and the following night. If you take it in the morning and see a surge you could miss it since they give you a window of 12-36 hours. It would suck to be on the short end of the window and miss your O.

I agree with Chel125, If you do it at 2 or later, that should be good enough.

Best of luck!

[Tygerlillie]

This is a dumb question- but how long does the surge last- say I test everyday at 2pm if I had a surge at say 8:00 Am that morning would I miss it?

[tina1111]

It really depends on what you are using to test with. If it is a monitor, you have to use fmu. If it is opks, you need to follow the mfr directions. Some directions say it needs to be fmu or 2nd. Others say they work best after 2pm. It is best to follow what the specific brand calls for. I use 2 different brands, one for fmu and one for afternoon.

[Tygerlillie]

I am using OPK  (Answer) and it doesn't have a specific time- it says it can be used at any time but this brings back the question of how long does the surge last?  What if I test at 2pm everyday and my surge is at 7 pm that night will it still show on my 2pm test?

[ateh]

thanks ladies,atleast i got some good tips from ur posts.i,ve been testing since tuesday but always at 6am.will start trying 2pm.good luck to everybody

[candie429]

I have had the same concern as you, for example if I test in the afternoon every day, will I miss my surge.  I think in some rare cases this can happen, but if you consistently take it at the same time every day, you should be fine.  In the past, I have tested this theory during a cycle by testing at both 1 or 2 in the afternoon as well as around 7 at night.  I found that sometimes at 7 pm, a faint line would show up, then the next day at 2 pm it would be very dark, and then by 7 pm that night it would be lighter again.  Since I always seem to get my darkest around 1 or 2, that's when I've decided to do mine.  You could always try this for a month or two if you are concerned to see what happens, but it can obviously get quite pricey if you do it all the time.  Hope this helps.  Good luck!

[Tygerlillie]

Thanks for the post.  I normally test around 3pm and then yesterday I did one at almost 5 pm and the line was much lighter than the day before and I thought how odd.

Also, the directions for my Answer OPK says that if the line is similar or as dark that means I hit my surge so how close do the lines have to be in order to know you it your surge?

[candie429]

Typically, a test is considered positive when the test line is either as dark or darker than the control line.  Sometimes you can have some LH in your system that will cause the test line to show up very lightly, but that wouldn't be considered the surge that is needed to bring on ovulation.  I know it can be confusing.  I wish OPK's were like pregnancy tests, line if you O'd, no line if you didn't!  Do you do any other kind of monitoring to go along with the OPK's?  Like temperature charting (BBT)?  I have found this to be a good combination.  That way, if you think your test may be positive, you can start BD and once your temps go up, that verifies that you did in fact ovulate.

[skipili]

I have used the Answer OPK the last two months. I test at 7:00am. That time seems to work for me. My test line was the same color as the control line on Tuesday and darker than the control line yesterday. My temp raised today so I believe I O yesterday. I agree with Candie, charting your BBT along with the OPK's is a good idea. You might want to test twice a day too since there are more test strips in the Answer kit. That might help some.  SSBD

[Tygerlillie]

Are you using the Answer OPK that has the 20 test strips or the 7?

[Irish741]

I had many of those same questions (time of day, how dark does the line ahve to be)...I am still in the dark about those. Personally I think the whole method is pretty vague. My friend said she tried it once and never got a surge (she has a 6 month old now). It sounded like she surged in between her testing times. I have even heard of people testing a few time a day. I don't think I am going to do the OPK anymore. I started BBT this month. A little more work, but I think a bit more accurate...I think.

Good luck! Let us know how it goes. :)

[Tygerlillie]

I tried doing the bbt before but I always forgot to do it first thing and I also had the issue of it being done at the same time every morning.  Does it have to be done very first thing?

[skipili]

I had the 20 pack. I got 2 months use out of it. When you do BBT you have to do it the same time every morning before you get out of bed. I have to set my alarm on the weekend...take my temp and go back to sleep.  It's a pain but helpful.

[Irish741]

I have been told that charting your temp first thing in the morning is the best. I guess it would be best to have the thermometer by your bedside so when you wake up, just roll over and start. I do it in the morning, just I go into the bathroom so the beeping sound doesn't wake my DH in the morning. I figure that as long as you do the same thing everymorning your temps should be pretty accurate.

If there are any charting experts out there...they may have some better insight than I do.

Aside from charting and using the OPK, my DH and I BD every other day from CD 8 thru CD 20. That should cover any O time....I am just making sure that I do O. My biggest fear is that I may not O every month....