OPK confusion

So I’ve had 4 positive OPK test strips. When should I start trying? The third one is darkest and then get lighter. Should I just assume the third day is O day? TTC boy.


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Unfortunately you can't tell when you'll ovulate based on the darkness of your OPK and when they go negative. That's not the way OPK work. OPK tell you nothing about ovulation itself, they just detect a surge of hormones that then send a signal to your body to ovulate at some point. Your body "hears" this signal even at lower concentrations - so it starts off sending the signal to itself as a whisper (first positive OPK, even when light) and even if it starts shouting later on (darkest OPK) it still heard the whisper and geared up to ovulate on that basis.

Most women, most months, will ovulate average 24-36 hours after the FIRST positive OPK, not the darkest. (please keep in mind that any line on an OPK is not positive, only when it's as dark or darker than the test line, is it positive) Now, unfortunately it is possible to get a positive OPK and then not ovulate on that timeline, which is why we have you guys continue to have attempts EOD for a few days after these attempts just to cover, but that's the way it's meant to work and does work for most people in most months.

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Originally Posted by atomic sagebrush

Unfortunately you can't tell when you'll ovulate based on the darkness of your OPK and when they go negative. That's not the way OPK work. OPK tell you nothing about ovulation itself, they just detect a surge of hormones that then send a signal to your body to ovulate at some point. Your body "hears" this signal even at lower concentrations - so it starts off sending the signal to itself as a whisper (first positive OPK, even when light) and even if it starts shouting later on (darkest OPK) it still heard the whisper and geared up to ovulate on that basis.

Most women, most months, will ovulate average 24-36 hours after the FIRST positive OPK, not the darkest. (please keep in mind that any line on an OPK is not positive, only when it's as dark or darker than the test line, is it positive) Now, unfortunately it is possible to get a positive OPK and then not ovulate on that timeline, which is why we have you guys continue to have attempts EOD for a few days after these attempts just to cover, but that's the way it's meant to work and does work for most people in most months.

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Thank you! That makes more sense! Thinking about getting a thermometer. Do you have thoughts on that?


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Anyone swaying blue who wants to temp and chart, I think that's great! It doesn't help that much with your blue sway (OPK are way better) but it will help you know if you've ovulated. You'll need a basal thermometer that goes to hundredths of places and Fertility Friend I believe is the best program to use.

(pink swayers reading this - I do NOT want you guys to temp/chart unless you already do. It's too control-freaky, which is great for blue swayers, but not so much for pink)