What do opks detect

Once you decide you're ready to get pregnant, you want it to happen pronto. Thing is, apps and methods that don't rely on your individual fertility cues are merely an educated guess based on averages of past data.

Your fertile window and ovulation are unique — and may vary from one cycle to the next, even with regular cycles.

The frustrating reality is you may still be missing your fertile window and ovulation despite your best efforts. Why — and what can you do? Here, we'll start with the basics about your fertile window, the life of the egg and sperm, and then explain how OPKs may yield misleading results.

Indeed, scientific evidence basically a mountain of data which has accumulated in the decades since a study in The New England Journal of Medicine shows nearly all pregnancies occur in a 6-day period: the five days before ovulation, and ovulation day itself.

Influencing your fertile window are factors like the life cycle of the egg and sperm, and the presence of fertile cervical mucus CM. Fertile CM, described as egg white or watery CM, is alkaline, which makes the vagina friendly to sperm, providing them with safe passage to the egg. Meanwhile, the egg's life is fleeting. As soon as it leaves an ovary, it has only hours to be fertilized.

Shop ovulation predictor kits OPKs here. By Category. By Phase. Bestseller Ovulation Test Kit Determine when you're most likely to conceive with our earth-friendlier ovulation predictor kit.

Read Everything. By Dr. Mare Mbaye Anyone who is trying to conceive has heard a little something about ovulation predictor kits commonly known as OPKs. What do OPKs even test for? Ovulation tests can sort of act as a pregnancy test because LH is molecularly very similar to hCG. If you are pregnant, your hCG levels will be much higher than normal and an OPK may inaccurately detect this and read it as a high LH value. There are many different types of ovulation tests , but they work by the same basic mechanism: by detecting Luteinizing Hormone LH in your urine.

LH levels surge about hours before ovulation—conveniently when you're most likely to get pregnant. The biggest difference between the two is that hCG has a circulating half-life that is approximately fold longer than that of LH.

Therefore, the right amount of either hormone in your urine will result in a positive OPK result. If you think you might be pregnant, the best and most accurate way to confirm is to use an early detection pregnancy test.

You can get them over the counter at drugstores, pharmacies, and even major supermarkets and convenience stores, without a prescription. OPKs are easy to use. Ovulation kits are similar to home pregnancy tests — you simply urinate on the test stick, activating a chemical that can detect your LH surge. Most OPKs contain between five and nine test sticks. OPKs don't work when certain fertility drugs are present in the system.

OPKs do not work consistently on women over Some women in their 40s , especially those approaching menopause, have increased levels of LH in their systems at all times, rendering the tests invalid. OPKs don't come cheap. Each is good for a single cycle. By Deborah Gaines. Be the first to comment!