subject: Ovulation Prediction [print this page] For some women, fertility is taken for granted. They are able to get pregnant without much thought on their part. Other women, though, have to plan in order to conceive. They plan intercourse at times of ovulation to increase their chances of conception. When couples have intercourse when a woman is ovulating, the chances of conception are greatly improved. However, many couples make mistakes when predicting ovulation and because of that, they are not able to conceive.
Today ovulation prediction kits are proving extremely popular as a way of detecting when a woman is about to ovulate. The main benefit to be had from using an ovulation prediction kit or OPK is that it can tell a woman when ovulation is about to begin before it actually occurs. The kit is able to detect when there is an increase in the production of Luteinizing Hormone in the woman's uterus. This occurs only 36 hours prior to ovulation taking place.
Another pro of OPKs is that when compared to fertility monitors, they are inexpensive. Most grocery and drug stores as well as major retailers like Wal-Mart and K-Mart will carry a few brands of OPKs for you to choose from. So a monthly investment of between $10 and $30 should be expected. The con of using OPKs when compared to fertility monitors is that most kits only have 5 test strips, and most women will need between 6 and 12 strips for each cycle. The longer your cycles are, the more tests you should expect to use.
According to James Goldfarb, MD, director of the infertility service at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, "Ovulation prediction kits can also help predict the best time to get pregnant, they assure a patient that they are ovulating, and if you are having infrequent intercourse, this tells you when to have it to increase your chances of getting pregnant "
To most accurately predict ovulation, a woman should test twice a day, once in the morning (between 8 am and 10 am) and again in the evening (between 6 pm and 8 pm). Yes, this may mean that you would have to test at work, so be sure to always bring your test strips with you. If you have a short cycle, 24 days in length, you should begin testing on day 5 of your cycle, and continue until you have gotten a positive result. Conversely, if you have a long cycle, 36 days in length, you should begin testing on day 18 of your cycle.
Both types of OPKs (midstream and test strips) work well. Test strips are more economical. You can usually purchase a large amount of the test strips for the same price you'd pay for the midstream tests. With test strips, you urinate in a cup and dip the strip for 10 seconds.OPK results are different than HPT results. OPKs will have two lines almost all of the time. Remember that you always have some amount of lh present in your urine. One line will be the test line. The other is the control line. A positive result is one that shows a darker test line than control line.
