I can sneak on from work during playtimes! Thought if pop on and say hello.
Monnie- sounds like you have done all the right things- its good to give yourself a rest every now and again. I have been particularly lack lustre since OV finished. Poor H!
Miss monkey- every day is another day nearer! Hope you have a lovely day.
Afm- I am on CD 25. I have long cycles so I'm still a week away from AF. Have got a family dinner on Saturday so am going to test Saturday morning to give me an idea about drinking. Had a stressful day yesterday do poured a glass of wine and felt guilty half way through so tipped it back! Haven't got any particular reasons to feel positive though- it's still feeling like a normal cycle so not sure this has been our lucky month.
Monnie - I'm coming off it but not TTC just yet. I have had problems in the past with ammenhorea so want to see what my cycles are like now (8-10 years on!) in preparation for us TTC from probably July onwards (wedding in August!). Sorry if I've just told you something you already know! I'm excited to be coming off it and having my mind hopefully put to rest that my cycles are normal, and also hopefully establishing a good routine so I know where I'm at come actually TTC!
Good morning ladies, I appear to be stuck on sofa with an ill toddler :-( CD15 here but we've only DTD once 2 days ago. However I'm trying not to panic as I don't normally OV till CD19/20ish. I haven't been doing my OPKs as the plan this month was just to DTD loads..... However life appears to have got in the way. Argghh!
Monnie - Yep, which reminds me, I need to go and sort out my acne anti-biotics! Don't think I can take them whilst TTC and don't want to switch a month before the wedding incase I flare up, would rather do it now!
Hi girls, I'll be back for personals later - I'm CD31 today and no AF yet... Worked out dates and think I prob ovulated around CD22/26 therefore planning on testing on Feb 8th if AF stays away... (CD39)
Thanks girls - I really thought it was game over after the bfn yesterday but feeling more hopeful now that I've realized I'd tested too soon - just hoping AF doesn't sneak up on me now!!
Monnie - Don't stop at cd15 just in case your cycle is longer like mine has been!
Monkey - Not long til your magical last pill now
Friday - Good luck for Saturday!! Fx for you
Hf - Sorry your little one is poorly - hope they feel better soon x
Its going to be so hard for me not to say s0d it lets start TTC now if I start having cycles! I'll need more than one to be happy though as before I got diagnosed with ammenhorea I did have one, I just didn't have anymore.
Monnie, well done on the dtd, it is difficult to adjust if you don't dtd loads during the week anyway.
Mrs M - hurrah, not long now!! Hopefully your body will settle into regular cycles very quickly.
Oooh Friday, not long to test, how exciting! You never know - plenty of people don't have symptoms, and plenty of people think they do and then get a BFN so you're not out yet!
HF - life does get in the way; maybe it's a good job you haven't used OPKs as it might have been more stressful to see a positive and not be able to dtd due to general life.
PS - fx for you, I think from what you've said, you did test too soon so everything crossed for next weekend for you.
AFM, bit confused. CD15 here (it is useful having Monnie's ticker as we're cycle twins this time!) and I was quite sure I'd ovulated on Tuesday evening (CD13). Date wise, this would seem sensible as I have a 24 day cycle, so that would still give me an 11 day luteal phase.... however, I've now had 4 days in a row of positive OPKs! Nobody has a 4-day LH surge so I don't know what's going on. The only thing I can think is I just have a higher than normal about of LH in my body. I've found a chart with the quantities of LH throughout the menstrual cycle:
So there is scope for several days at over 20 iu/ml (which is the sensitivity of my OPKs).
Of course, if I haven't ovulated yet, there's a chance my luteal phase will be too short to maintain a pregnancy so might need a chat with GP.
As I understand it LH is present all the time in your body. So an OPK is only positive when the line is stronger than the control line. Is that what you have when you say "positive OPKs". Personally my OPKs get a faint line on day 17, stronger line (but not as strong as control line) on day18, very strong positive on day19 and another faint line on day20
I've had 4 days of them being equally strong (if not a bit stronger than the control). They have a sensitivity of 20iu/ml so I guess the test line will always be as strong / stronger than the control line any time it's over 20?
Can you get less sensitive ones Mrs 50s? Maybe you have a super surge and the reason you keep getting positives is because it takes a while to build and fall below 20 units again.
I was led to believe you ovulate 24-36 hours after the first positive OPK, but I could be wrong. Tweeter Pie may know more if you want to shout out for her.
Also, are you temping this cycle? That will pinpoint the day you ov'ed.
Mrs 50's have you been testing at the same time every day? I had a cycle of 4 positive OPK's but it was just a random month and meant nothing really. It's quite normal on occasion for your body to gear up to ovulate but not quite get there so it may be that your LH is just taking it's time to fully increase enough to release an egg.
Luteal Phase defect is something of a grey area and even my infertility clinic dismissed my fears of a defeat saying it didn't exist. Whilst I do disagree with that my LP changed every month (despite everywhere online saying it can never change) and it got longer going from 8 days to 13 days over the course of 2 years.
From the website POAS:
4. What if my OPK is positive for several days in a row? It is possible, in a normal ovulation, to have a positive OPK for several days in a row. This is because LH peaks (surges) about 12-36 hours before ovulation occurs, and then dissipates. So, you could theoretically detect this high level of LH with positive OPK's from the time it begins to the time it dissipates-- over 36 hours.
It is also possible that your body is "gearing up" to ovulate, and you have an LH surge-- and then, for some reason (such as stress, illness, travel, or random fluke), your body fails to release an egg . . . then tries, tries again ASAP with another, or overlapping, surge. If you see a positive OPK for longer than 3 consecutive days, your egg is probably just having a little trouble getting out of the starting gate. If this happens to you occasionally, it's no big deal. If it happens a lot, talk to your doctor. (I just play one on the Internet )
5. Should I keep testing once I get a positive OPK? Nah. Once you get a positive you will probably ovulate within the next 12-36 hours. You should be able to confirm this with a temperature rise and/or dry up of cervical mucus (remember, even when you're charting your temps/mucus as accurately as possible, it's still only accurate within +/- 3 days . . . so if you get a positive OPK, and ovulate 36 hours later, and have a thermal shift/mucus dry-up 3 days after that, you may have a discrepancy of 4.5 days between the positive OPK and NFP signs! That's the outside time range, you'll probably see the temp shift/mucus dry-up sooner than that . . . but just letting you know it's possible!)
If you don't see corroborating signs of ovulation within a few days of your positive OPK, you may wish to test again and see if the OPK is still positive. This may mean your body just got "delayed" and is still trying to ovulate. If you are consistently seeing positive OPK's without other signs that ovulation has occurred, you should talk to your dr.
6. What if my OPK is positive almost all the time? The most common cause of constant positive or almost-positive OPK's is Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS.) This disorder is usually characterized by elevated LH (hence the positive OPK's), and is common in women with very long and/or anovulatory cycles.
Don't self-diagnose, though! If you're worried (or just plain obsessed with your pee-sticks call your doct-- okay, okay, you know the drill
LH is present in a very small amount nearly all the time hence why you might always get a line and that it needing to be as strong as the control line being the cruical part of using OPK's. If you never get a line even on the control part I would say the test is rubbish or your urine is too weak.
Replies
Morning Monnie! This is your first cycle of TTC isn't it?
Nothing to report here, still on countdown to take last pill! Thats on Saturday.
yup! had the implant out october 31st and saw AF for the 1st time jan 17th!
how exciting! are you excited ?
Morning!
I can sneak on from work during playtimes! Thought if pop on and say hello.
Monnie- sounds like you have done all the right things- its good to give yourself a rest every now and again. I have been particularly lack lustre since OV finished. Poor H!
Miss monkey- every day is another day nearer! Hope you have a lovely day.
Afm- I am on CD 25. I have long cycles so I'm still a week away from AF. Have got a family dinner on Saturday so am going to test Saturday morning to give me an idea about drinking. Had a stressful day yesterday do poured a glass of wine and felt guilty half way through so tipped it back! Haven't got any particular reasons to feel positive though- it's still feeling like a normal cycle so not sure this has been our lucky month.
Hello to all those who follow xxx
Monnie - I'm coming off it but not TTC just yet. I have had problems in the past with ammenhorea so want to see what my cycles are like now (8-10 years on!) in preparation for us TTC from probably July onwards (wedding in August!). Sorry if I've just told you something you already know! I'm excited to be coming off it and having my mind hopefully put to rest that my cycles are normal, and also hopefully establishing a good routine so I know where I'm at come actually TTC!
its a good plan , it took me 78 days for my first cycle to come and im not even sure how much of a real cycle that was?
its good to give your body a rest from the chemicals before getting pregnant! xx
Good morning ladies, I appear to be stuck on sofa with an ill toddler :-( CD15 here but we've only DTD once 2 days ago. However I'm trying not to panic as I don't normally OV till CD19/20ish. I haven't been doing my OPKs as the plan this month was just to DTD loads..... However life appears to have got in the way. Argghh!
Hey friday- dotn feel guilty one glass wont hurt! fx for saturday though!
Hf-you still have a few days to catch it hun ! good luck!
Monnie - Yep, which reminds me, I need to go and sort out my acne anti-biotics! Don't think I can take them whilst TTC and don't want to switch a month before the wedding incase I flare up, would rather do it now!
Hi girls, I'll be back for personals later - I'm CD31 today and no AF yet... Worked out dates and think I prob ovulated around CD22/26 therefore planning on testing on Feb 8th if AF stays away... (CD39)
eeeek FX for you PS !!!
FX for you PS!!! x
Thanks girls - I really thought it was game over after the bfn yesterday but feeling more hopeful now that I've realized I'd tested too soon - just hoping AF doesn't sneak up on me now!!
Monnie - Don't stop at cd15 just in case your cycle is longer like mine has been!
Monkey - Not long til your magical last pill now
Friday - Good luck for Saturday!! Fx for you
Hf - Sorry your little one is poorly - hope they feel better soon x
Its going to be so hard for me not to say s0d it lets start TTC now if I start having cycles! I'll need more than one to be happy though as before I got diagnosed with ammenhorea I did have one, I just didn't have anymore.
Morning all!
Monnie, well done on the dtd, it is difficult to adjust if you don't dtd loads during the week anyway.
Mrs M - hurrah, not long now!! Hopefully your body will settle into regular cycles very quickly.
Oooh Friday, not long to test, how exciting! You never know - plenty of people don't have symptoms, and plenty of people think they do and then get a BFN so you're not out yet!
HF - life does get in the way; maybe it's a good job you haven't used OPKs as it might have been more stressful to see a positive and not be able to dtd due to general life.
PS - fx for you, I think from what you've said, you did test too soon so everything crossed for next weekend for you.
AFM, bit confused. CD15 here (it is useful having Monnie's ticker as we're cycle twins this time!) and I was quite sure I'd ovulated on Tuesday evening (CD13). Date wise, this would seem sensible as I have a 24 day cycle, so that would still give me an 11 day luteal phase.... however, I've now had 4 days in a row of positive OPKs! Nobody has a 4-day LH surge so I don't know what's going on. The only thing I can think is I just have a higher than normal about of LH in my body. I've found a chart with the quantities of LH throughout the menstrual cycle:
So there is scope for several days at over 20 iu/ml (which is the sensitivity of my OPKs).
Of course, if I haven't ovulated yet, there's a chance my luteal phase will be too short to maintain a pregnancy so might need a chat with GP.
Plenty of DTD though, so we're doing all we can!
As I understand it LH is present all the time in your body. So an OPK is only positive when the line is stronger than the control line. Is that what you have when you say "positive OPKs". Personally my OPKs get a faint line on day 17, stronger line (but not as strong as control line) on day18, very strong positive on day19 and another faint line on day20
I've had 4 days of them being equally strong (if not a bit stronger than the control). They have a sensitivity of 20iu/ml so I guess the test line will always be as strong / stronger than the control line any time it's over 20?
Can you get less sensitive ones Mrs 50s? Maybe you have a super surge and the reason you keep getting positives is because it takes a while to build and fall below 20 units again.
I was led to believe you ovulate 24-36 hours after the first positive OPK, but I could be wrong. Tweeter Pie may know more if you want to shout out for her.
Also, are you temping this cycle? That will pinpoint the day you ov'ed.
Mrs 50's have you been testing at the same time every day? I had a cycle of 4 positive OPK's but it was just a random month and meant nothing really. It's quite normal on occasion for your body to gear up to ovulate but not quite get there so it may be that your LH is just taking it's time to fully increase enough to release an egg.
Luteal Phase defect is something of a grey area and even my infertility clinic dismissed my fears of a defeat saying it didn't exist. Whilst I do disagree with that my LP changed every month (despite everywhere online saying it can never change) and it got longer going from 8 days to 13 days over the course of 2 years.
From the website POAS:
4. What if my OPK is positive for several days in a row? It is possible, in a normal ovulation, to have a positive OPK for several days in a row. This is because LH peaks (surges) about 12-36 hours before ovulation occurs, and then dissipates. So, you could theoretically detect this high level of LH with positive OPK's from the time it begins to the time it dissipates-- over 36 hours.
It is also possible that your body is "gearing up" to ovulate, and you have an LH surge-- and then, for some reason (such as stress, illness, travel, or random fluke), your body fails to release an egg . . . then tries, tries again ASAP with another, or overlapping, surge. If you see a positive OPK for longer than 3 consecutive days, your egg is probably just having a little trouble getting out of the starting gate. If this happens to you occasionally, it's no big deal. If it happens a lot, talk to your doctor. (I just play one on the Internet
)
5. Should I keep testing once I get a positive OPK? Nah. Once you get a positive you will probably ovulate within the next 12-36 hours. You should be able to confirm this with a temperature rise and/or dry up of cervical mucus (remember, even when you're charting your temps/mucus as accurately as possible, it's still only accurate within +/- 3 days . . . so if you get a positive OPK, and ovulate 36 hours later, and have a thermal shift/mucus dry-up 3 days after that, you may have a discrepancy of 4.5 days between the positive OPK and NFP signs! That's the outside time range, you'll probably see the temp shift/mucus dry-up sooner than that . . . but just letting you know it's possible!)
If you don't see corroborating signs of ovulation within a few days of your positive OPK, you may wish to test again and see if the OPK is still positive. This may mean your body just got "delayed" and is still trying to ovulate. If you are consistently seeing positive OPK's without other signs that ovulation has occurred, you should talk to your dr.
6. What if my OPK is positive almost all the time? The most common cause of constant positive or almost-positive OPK's is Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS.) This disorder is usually characterized by elevated LH (hence the positive OPK's), and is common in women with very long and/or anovulatory cycles.
Don't self-diagnose, though! If you're worried (or just plain obsessed with your pee-sticks
call your doct-- okay, okay, you know the drill 
ok turn it on its head, what if you never see a line ? if LH is present at all times you should see something ?
LH is present in a very small amount nearly all the time hence why you might always get a line and that it needing to be as strong as the control line being the cruical part of using OPK's. If you never get a line even on the control part I would say the test is rubbish or your urine is too weak.