OPKs: Easier than charting

If and when you read Taking Control of Your Fertility, you'll discover that the author, Toni Weschler, is semi-opposed to ovulation predictor kits (OPKs). If and when you talk to my doctor, you'll discover she's highly opposed to OPKs. But I'm here to tell you that OPKs for me have been a perfectly fine supplement to charting, and I'd even go so far as to say these can be just as helpful as charting.

What is an OPK?
The term ovulation predictor kit is a bit of a misnomer. When I first learned about them, I imagined a small microscope with lots of slides where I could perform my own little biology experiments. While it is true that I often feel like TTC has been a series of science experiments, OPKs are nothing more than little strips you dip in your urine that detect the surge of lutenizing hormone (LH). Your body always has LH present, but the surge in LH typically occurs between 12 and 48 hours before you ovulate.

Why are Weschler and my doctor opposed to OPKs?
In a word, cost. They claim they are too expensive for what they do and that a woman with irregular cycles has lots of difficulty using them correctly. (This assumes, though, you buy them at drug stores.) Additionally, some women test at the wrong time and miss the surge. Also, sometimes the OPK will detect an LH surge and ovulation does not actually occur.

Why do I like OPKs?
I like them because I found the cheap ones on Amazon that work as well as any more expensive ones you could buy in a drug store. When I got my period most recently and I was running low on OPKs, the first thing I did after my temperature dropped was order 120 OPKs and 40 accompanying home pregnancy tests (HPTs). (I did this, of course, because they come in packs of 40 OPKs and 10 HPTs for a little more than $9 total, and I was going for free shipping on orders of $25 or more.) Now, I have the most irregular periods on the planet, but I do not consider these OPKs to be a very significant investment. Additionally, even though I have incredibly irregular periods, I can still use as many of these as I want at a relatively insignificant cost, compared to the 7-20 strips that come in your standard store-bought OPK and cost approximately $24.

So far, these cheap OPKs have perfectly caught each of my LH surges. At first I was using the OPKs only in the morning, and then I read that they do a better job detecting the LH surge when used in the afternoon -- for some reason, 3-5 p.m. appears to be the average woman's best time for detecting the LH surge.  A positive test has a test line that is as dark or darker than the control line. This the one downside to this particular OPK: you will almost always have two lines present, but the test line will only achieve proper darkness when you're about to ovulate.

The first time I used these strips I got a positive reading one time, even though I was testing daily. Most recently, after I learned to test in both the morning and afternoon around the time I think I might be ovulating, I got three positive tests and one almost-positive test (one afternoon positive, still positive the next morning, still positive the following afternoon, and close-to-positive the following morning). So, with these tests I recommend testing in morning and afternoon around the time you think you could be ovulating. Of course, for me, that means testing for about 20 days, but with these super-cheap tests I really don't mind.

My verdict? If you decide that charting is too complicated or too crazy for you, you can get the same, or very similar, results by using these cheap OPKs.