a few questions about opks, ovulation, anovulatory cycles

[contactmaya]

Hi, i have a few questions. Anyone care to take a stab at them?

1.internet cheapie opk gives me a light color strip but a dark edge on that same strip, the edge being darker than the test line. Does this make it a positive? That evening, the whole line is as dark as the cover line.

2. i have build up of cm, lh surge, and obvious ovarian ache./mittelschmerze that i interpret to be ovulation actually happening. I usually get a temp shift, but this month its been so hot, im not sure its accurate. Can i be certain i ovulated with these symptoms? If its possible that a woman doesnt ovulate with these symptoms, what are the odds? And what would be some of the reasons she didnt ovulate?

3.how is it that a woman who is getting regular normal periods, can be found to not ovulate? Im not sure how either estrogen withdrawal (one/or only? cause of anovulatory period) would lead to regular periods. Is there any explanation for why this would happen?

4.if i am breastfeeding regularly, and still getting regular periods, and obvious ovulatory signs, is this a sign that eggs are in good shape, regardless of my age? intuitively, it would seem that yes, but what the hell would i know? I read somewhere that the prolactin that suppresses ovulation only has a strong impact for 6months or so/or for a certain period, and after that, its impact is less. On the other hand, if prolactin is present in the system, then surely that would continue to have some impact, and only healthy ovarian function would overcome it...dunno, anyone else?


Thats all for now. I hope someone can help out :-)
Maya

[contactmaya]

Just found the answer to the first question-it does indicate a positive (in case anyone is interested)

http://www.peeonastick.com/opkfaq.html#9


to quote
<<13. My test line looks "half positive"-- only one side of the line is dark. What does it mean? Most of the time, OPK results are easy to read; the "result" line is one uniform color/darkness. Sometimes, however, you may get a result that looks "half positive," like this:


"result" line on left
"control" line on right

When this happened to me, I contacted the distributor (in this case, BabyWishes.org)-- I even e-mailed them the above photo. I was told that the darkest part of the "result" line should be compared with the test line, and that this applies to all brands of OPK's.

This month I purchased some Answer brand OPK's, which I had never personally used before. After my LH surge appeared to last 6 days (going by the above rule of thumb), I made the unsettling discovery that my tap water was also ovulating. So I called Answer's 800# and asked the same question. This time I was told that the dark part of the line must be at least 50% of the total width to be considered positive. Going by THAT, the picture above would be considered negative. (And, in retrospect, my LH surge actually lasted a common 2 days-- and my kitchen faucet is not currently fertile.)

So, it appears that my information from BabyWishes was incorrect; it does, in fact, depend on the brand of OPK.>>

[HulaJenn]

I don't know much about the cause of annovulatory, but I do know that even with EWCM and LH surge it isn't an indicator of O - only gearing up to. The temp shift (in combination with those secondary signs) is the only way to know for sure that you successfully O'd. So if your temps aren't accurate then it is a tough call. Good luck!

[ILoveMyBabyBird]

Originally Posted by contactmaya

Just found the answer to the first question-it does indicate a positive (in case anyone is interested)

http://www.peeonastick.com/opkfaq.html#9


to quote
<<13. My test line looks "half positive"-- only one side of the line is dark. What does it mean? Most of the time, OPK results are easy to read; the "result" line is one uniform color/darkness. Sometimes, however, you may get a result that looks "half positive," like this:


"result" line on left
"control" line on right

When this happened to me, I contacted the distributor (in this case, BabyWishes.org)-- I even e-mailed them the above photo. I was told that the darkest part of the "result" line should be compared with the test line, and that this applies to all brands of OPK's.

This month I purchased some Answer brand OPK's, which I had never personally used before. After my LH surge appeared to last 6 days (going by the above rule of thumb), I made the unsettling discovery that my tap water was also ovulating. So I called Answer's 800# and asked the same question. This time I was told that the dark part of the line must be at least 50% of the total width to be considered positive. Going by THAT, the picture above would be considered negative. (And, in retrospect, my LH surge actually lasted a common 2 days-- and my kitchen faucet is not currently fertile.)

So, it appears that my information from BabyWishes was incorrect; it does, in fact, depend on the brand of OPK.>>

who knows, maybe there are hormones in the water from bc/hrt pills messing with the results, now i want to go test my water with OPK lol!

i get the half positive lines too. I just judge on my other signs like cm, breast tenderness, temp and ovulation bleeding/pain to judge. But I too wonder about the temp thing, our a/c was broken a couple days which resulted in us sleeping in ds's room where there is a window a/c and it was frigid and my temps were a bit lower those 2 days, so FF had me o'ing the day after AF stopped which i know isn't accuarate, i am on day 14 now and just getting O signs, so I just discarded those 2 temps. But i imagine if it is hotter now when you sleep, your overall temps will adjust not just for a few days, kwim?

[Maurine]

Another way to for-sure know if you are ovulating is to have your progesterone levels tested at 7dpo (or 7 days after you think you've ovulated according to other signs). I think you could probably call your Ob/Gyn and simply say you're not sure that you're ovulating and ask for the test.

I think that a woman can not be ovulating and have close-to-regular periods, but most would have irregular periods. For me, since I have problems ovulating on my own, I've only had periods in the last 6 months after using provera!