Almost positive OPK and double testing

[hotlikemexico]

Reposting per atomic’s request

Here’s my OPK from today (hopefully it attaches correctly!). Am I correct in saying this is “almost positive?” I got the exact same result on CD14 last month (today is CD14), like I compared this actual stick to the picture from last month — identical. The following day last month, it was a blazing, undeniable positive (CD15) and I ovulated the day after on CD16.

We are not actively TTC right now, still mid sway, but it’s looking like this will be a possible pattern for me. So my question is, with this scenario, would it make sense to test AGAIN at night, and if the second OPK of the day is positive, have the one attempt that night? OR, just stick with testing once a day at the same time, and wait for the official blazing positive the following day, and have the attempt that night (day of undeniable positive)?

I’m sort of new to OPKs (only used them with my second pregnancy, not the first) and I want to make sure I’m understanding this correctly as to when the best time to have the one attempt in relation to the positive OPK is. Thanks!



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[atomic sagebrush]

Well let's just say that this has been the pattern for last month and this month.

The thing about OPK, which makes them soooo endlessly frustrating, is that these patterns can and do change, especially with swaying but even without swaying you can get a pattern that seems one way for even several months in a row that then changes to some other pattern entirely. So I don't want you to read anything into this really. Maybe it will stay the same, maybe it won't.

Are you testing after lunch or in the morning?? If you are testing in the morning, start testing after lunch instead and then in that case I would not test again in the evening. if for some reason you just cannot test after lunch then yes do test again in the evening (but early evening, more like right before dinner.)

[hotlikemexico]

Thank you! As always, I didn’t even think of that — that swaying may change things anyway. This is why I ask, haha

I do test after lunch, in the late afternoon actually. I aim for between 3-4pm, usually right around 330/345, after limiting fluids for 2-3hrs beforehand.

My thinking was, with it being almost positive in the afternoon and a blazing positive the following afternoon, it would more than likely be positive later on the same night of the first “almost positive.” And in that case, would that be the night to do the one attempt, or the following night, after the blazing positive? Does that make sense?

I guess I’m just afraid that the “almost positive” is catching the surge on its way up and by waiting until seeing the definite positive the following day, we would possibly be having the one attempt too late? If that makes sense?

Last month, my temp rise was two days after the first DEFINITE positive. Which would mean, ovulation the day after the first definite positive. So I guess looking at it that way, if I just stick with testing once a day and waiting for an actual definite positive rather than testing twice in one day, that would probably be okay and not actually missing O itself. Even if the “almost positive” is the surge on the way up, if it’s still taking a whole day after the official positive to ovulate, then we should be good with once a day testing?

I hope that makes sense! I always thought it was supposed to be once a day testing but I’ve seen so many posts and in searching where people are testing morning, noon, and night, so I wanted to make sure I wasn’t testing the wrong amount of times!


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[atomic sagebrush]

I would make it more like 1pm or so. That is the time of day the hormone peaks in the urine.

You're welcome to test later in the day to confirm this, but I think the most likely scenario is that it would be almost positive till after lunch the next day. Since the hormone tends to peak in urine in the early afternoon, it's not that likely that it would have been almost positive after lunch then get darker that night. It would most likely maintain at that level of darkness till the following day when it would increase even more and then go fully positive.

The reason I sometimes have people test after lunch and before supper is this - there is sometimes diluted urine, bum tests, and also "pilot error" involved. So people may test after lunch and get a wrongful negative and if I had only had them test that evening they'd have a nother chance to see the positive rather than going til the next day. NOT because I think they're not surging at lunch and are surging later, but because I want to double their chances of seeing a positive even taking into account the possibiltiy the test did not accurately read. So by all means anyone can test twice a day (I find morning tests are usually useless for the cheapie OPK, though) but it's not because you're not surging one time and will be surging another. It's simply to try and avoid as many false negatives as possible.

That having been said I have to stress to you again that just because this has been the pattern, doesn't mean this will BE the pattern in the future. So I don't want you to get too hung up on number of days you'll O after the surge, because we just don't know that. But I think you should wait for the day of first positive and attempt then.

[hotlikemexico]

Thanks so much for explaining all of that! Makes complete sense. I’m still relatively new to the OPK aspect of charting like I said and I had no idea what I was doing with them last pregnancy, pretty sure I took them in the morning back then, def some “pilot error” there.

I trust your knowledge and insight anyway and hearing the full explanation plus hearing the real reasoning for multiple testing, I think I will stick to the once a day testing. One less thing to be obsessing over (like is my line from tonight more positive than my line from this afternoon?! Happy to avoid that haha).

Is it a big problem to test at 330pm rather than 1pm, though? I drink most of my coffee in the morning while working which results in multiple bathroom trips. I finish my coffee between 12-1230 usually (multiple cups) and then limit my fluids and do a 3hr ish hold before testing.

I haven’t had a problem getting a positive in the late afternoon so far. Today’s was 100% positive, as I was hoping it would be! Taken at 345pm after just over a 3.5hr hold


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[atomic sagebrush]

Uh, that is a fact about the obsessing. Some of the sites are encouraging people to test many times a day and it is really encouraging that control freakishness since the tests can dance around in darkness levels for no reason whatsoever.

I'm ok with you testing at 3:30. The odds that a test would be positive at 1 and false negative at 3:30 are vanishingly slim and if that's more convenient that's ok.

Let's see what your temps do over the next couple days - does not appear to me like you have Oed yet. FXFX!

[hotlikemexico]

LOL! Yeah, I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t going to accidentally miss a first “true” positive if it would be getting darker at night. But now that I know that’s not how it works, I’m good! No comparing lines from hours apart in the same day over here

Glad to hear 330 is okay though, thank you! I really don’t think I could get a good enough hold in to test at 1pm ish unless I stopped drinking as much coffee in the morning — which I don’t want to do, both for my sanity, and swaying

Yes I agree no O yet, but hopefully a temp rise tomorrow or in another day or two! Not going to be actively TTC until August anyway as I’m only midway through week 7 of my sway, BUT it’s very good to see that the diet & exercise have not affected my cycle thus far. (not affected meaning not stopping ovulation!)


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