Hellobee Boards

I had never heard that and I've totally been using first morning urine. I bought cheapies from Amazon as well, used them for one full cycle and haven't had a positive yet. I was certain that I hadn't surged, but maybe I'm doing it wrong??

The best way to do it is to pee in a little cup and then dip the stick in it and wait 3 mins or so to read it. If the second line is as dark or darker than the control line, it's considered positive. The reason why the directions say not to use morning urine is because usually you start your LH surge (the hormone that the OPK detects for) in the afternoon after 2 p.m. If you wait until morning to test then you can miss the beginning of your surge. Generally, you ovulate between 12-36 hours after the start of your LH surge so it's a good idea to try to catch the beginning of it.

I ended up testing several times a day from days 10-ovulation because I found that my LH surge was pretty short (less than 24 hours and for me it seemed to start at different times). Generally I tested when I woke up, around 2 p.m., 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. When I got what I thought was a positive on the internet cheapie stick, I confirmed it with a digital Clear Blue Easy test (for me, the internet tests never were quite as dark as they should have been). I also always tested in the morning with the digital test.

For me, the biggest advantage to using the OPKs was knowing when to expect my period. Like clockwork, my period would arrive 13 days after my positive OPK. I had some irregular cycles so otherwise would not have had a clue! The other thing to remember is to have regular sex even before you get the positive OPK. Many people (including me) swear by the every other day rule from day 10 through after ovulation.

This is probably WAY more information than you were looking for. Hope it helps and good luck!!

I used the internet cheapies, and I tested first thing in the morning. Once I saw the test starting to go positive in the morning, I added in testing at the end of the day when I got home, and I did get my clearest postives then. I was able to clearly figure out when I O'ed for the three months I was tracking.

What about the fact that some instructions say to test after you haven't drank liquid or peed for awhile -- I think the instructions with my OPK says two hours? I'm a freaking fish, constantly thirsty and with a Nalgene with me *all* day, so if that's the case, I can't imagine it's going to be easy to follow those instructions! The kit I have also suggested early morning, which I've been doing...argh.

@ bru - yep, you need to hold your urine for awhile - the best outcome is if you can hold for 4 hours! i could never do that (except for morning pee) so I waited as long as I could - usually 2-3 hours.

Little late posting to this, but I just started my new kit and did a search here on it.
I tested first thing this A.M., but am thinking I'll just switch to 11 a.m. instead. I'll just have to figure out how to lug my entire purse to the restroom and not arouse suspicion. There's a big handicap restroom which will allow me the privacy to wait out the results. The downside is that it's unisex and used by the other two companies we share a floor with and therefore harder to get in there than a country club.

I got some OPK strips from Target. It's just the up & up brand. And, interestingly enough, the directions say to use your FMU. I always thought that was wrong (like it says above). Any idea why these strips say differently?