Post # 1
Member
419 posts
Helper bee
Never thought I’d ask this on a public forum… but what’s wrong with my urine?
I obsessively pee on the cheap Amazon strips and when I think I’m close, I use the ClearBlue smiley ones (open circle for low, smiley face for high and flashing smiley face for peak). Well today, before heading into the fertility clinic to for a follicle ultrasound and blood test, I tested negative on both cheap strip and ClearBlue.
I just got a call from my nurse that my LH level is at 50. which means I’m surging, confirmed by ‘climbing’ progesterone. So… anyone else experience anything like it? The tests are only a month old and expiration date far into 2021.
Do I just ignore these tests and just BD? Dance and dance all day, everday?
Post # 2
Member
3471 posts
Sugar bee
Ugh that’s a pain bee.. I’m glad you were able to confirm that your body actually is surging though! I don’t have a lot of specific experience as I never personally used OPKs, but I was easily able to track my cycles just using BBT and CM (and fertility friend) until I got my BFP. So even if they don’t work for you I hope tracking with other methods is still helpful!
Post # 3
Member
1310 posts
Bumble bee
I have PCOS and the tests are meaningless for me too. They’re positive and then I don’t ovulate, negative and I do, etc. Do you have PCOS?
And yes, we BDed a lot and just hoped for the best. We aimed for every other day, or at least every three days. I’m now seeing a specialist and on drugs to regulate things which makes that easier!
Post # 4
Member
419 posts
Helper bee
@DogsAndWine: Thanks for your reply. Dogs and Wine. What a fantastic username.
No, I’ve never been diagnosed with PCOS. I had irregular cycles before conceiving our first child but that got resolved after a few months of acupunture and regular use of dry brush (helps circulate blood flow and lymph nodes).
@sapphire27: Thanks, Sapphire. I think that’s the way to go. Continue to temp and start checking CM. The good news is my HSA account covered the Ava bracelet so that eliminated the added stress I was feeling from good old basal thermometer and having to wake up at a specific time every day.
Post # 5
Member
116 posts
Blushing bee
I’ve found it quite hard to read an OPK properly. I keep thinking I wasn’t ovulating when my period was totally out of whack after my miscarriage when I was testing with OPK daily, but I definitely did because I did get pregnant…
Post # 6
Member
1520 posts
Bumble bee
I have PCOS and the strips didn’t work for me either. I realized eventually that I only ovulated when I had a BLAZING positive. Like the test line had to suck up dye from the control line. If they were equally dark, my body wouldn’t actually ovulate.
Post # 7
Member
775 posts
Busy bee
There could be a couple things. First, pay attention to how hydrated you are/how light your pee is, and also time of day. Most people surge in the morning, so the hormone levels climb from mid morning to early afternoon. If you drink a ton and pee every hour or two your urine might be too diluted.
second, some people have shorter surges than others. You might need to play with the time of day you test and try to catch it. Ex if you normally test at 10 am, but surge at like 10:30, maybe a test at 12 or 1 pm would be positive. But if you have a short surge a test by like 6-7 pm could already be negative.
third, I think some people just have lower hormone levels, and might not get positive opks regularly. I seem to be one of those people. I’ve had two healthy pregnancies, through IUI (I was presumably fine, we never tried naturally due to my husbands medical history and current medications) and my LH/progesterone/hcg has typically been on the low end of normal.
My experience: I rarely got true positive opks. I could be close in mid morning and then definitely negative by early evening. I learned to just look at my darkest test as a positive. Despite this, I got pregnant twice from two IUIs (first one worked both times), and have two healthy babies.
Not sure how negative you are talking… are they close but never truly hit that equal/darker point? Or do they stay super faint all month long?