Is it just to confirm O? Right now I am only temping. If my shifts (and O date) are pretty obvious, is there any reason to use OPKs in addition?
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Temping will only tell you after o had occurred, opks will tell you when it is about to. So opks would help you time bd better. I personally only temp and loosely track cm and just keep bding until after the temp shift. Opks would stress me out more. And so far we have no problem with dhs drive and aren't aware of sperm issues. That's my understanding at least.
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My understanding, and I only charted for one cycle, so I don't know much about it, is that the charting tells you when youve Oed and OPKs tell you when you are gearing up to O. So if your cycle is predictable & you can tell you your going to O, then you know when it's go time to BD. But if you want some warning that O is on it's way, OPK can tell you when you need to bd.
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I liked the OPK cause I wanted to know for sure it was time to BD. I charted too but since it doesn't confirm O until like 3 or 4 days after, I wanted the reassurance from the OPK.
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I tried temping (sucked at it since sleep cycles varied) and used the Clear Blue Easy Fertility Monitor to track my O day because my cycles were abnormally long (avg. 36-38 days). It helped to keep track and stick to our baby dancing schedule!
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@Foodnerd81: @mrs. bird: @Smurfette: Ahhh ok that makes sense. I started charting 3 cycles ago, and my O date has been the same all 3 (we're not TTC yet), so I think I am going to hold off on OPKs. The last thing I need is one more thing to obsess about!
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Like previous posters said, OPKs tell you when you're about to vs charting where it tells you when you probably did already. I don't chart because of varying sleep schedules and middle of the night bathroom trips.
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@lawbee11: Yup-- I agree that I don't need something else to obsess over! But my sister was the opposite of me-- the OPKs were reassuring and easy, the idea of temping was overwhelming. Different strokes
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Temping is easier for me since I wake up everyday at 4:45am for work (draggg I know!) but on the weekends, I set an alarm, temp, then pass out again haha.
I used an OPK this cycle for the first time and the day I bought it and took it, it showed as + I did have an idea that I would be O'ing soon, but I was happy to see it and BD right away! I took another the next day and it was -
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I was charting my temp just to get an idea of my cycles, it also helps if you are doing Natural family planning
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@lawbee11: If your cycles/O date are that consistent, nope you probably don't need OPKs. I used both because I was coming off birth control and my cycles were different every month (35 days then 26 days then 32 days). Also I started using OPKs before I started charting and they aren't an exact science, so added charting to be sure they were accurate. I learned I was likely Oing the day the OPK turned positive so wasn't giving us enough BD notice.. switched to the monitor and that did the trick.
But if my cycles had been regular, I wouldn't have bothered with any of that.
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@JoJoGirl - What kind of OPK did you use? Given my post-BC cycle now, I think I might want to go that route.
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