OPK as HPT ?s

[ValH]

I know you can use an OPK as a HPT, but I have some questions about that, and I was hoping some of thel ladies who have done that before could help.

1. The OPKs have varying degrees of lines, and when using as an OPK the line has to be as dark as the control line. Does the same hold true when using it as a HPT... does the line need to be as dark as the control line?

2. When using as an OPK, I'm not supposed to use FMU... but when using as a HPT, is it best to use the FMU?

3. Finally, does anyone know if taking a form of progesterone will cause an OPK to be +?


Any other tips, advise, or warning about using OPKs as a HPT would be greatly appreciated! I ask all these questions because I used an OPK this morning at 7 DPO, not FMU, and it came back as ALMOST positive... it was so very close to being the same darkness as the control line. Just wondering if I should try again with FMU, or just suck it up and use one of my HPTs (I'm stingy with them).

[karmab]

it's a popular experiment- i did it last cycle with my bfp- but it's really not a great idea, except for fun, because there are a lot of variables, like the pre-af lh and estrogen surge a lot of us get the day before af. if you are really looking for an answer, it's going to be iffy at best. one reason is so that you dont get false positives, opks are set to react at a less sensitive level than hpts- hpts, well, my ic picked up a beta of 12 last month, and i hear that is not uncommon, positive hpts with betas of 10-15, but an lh surge is up to 70 or higher, so opks are not supposed to react to lh (which is essentially identical to hcg, fsh, and tsh) at levels below 30 or 40. some women also say they have tried this and never got a pos opk, even with betas in the thousands, i dont know why that is, but it is.

but if you want to do it, the line on the opk, yes, it has to be "positive" as in as dark or darker than the control. progesterone wont affect it. re: fmu or not, that shouldnt matter- you dont use fmu on most opks because of the way lh is metabolized, in the am, but that doesnt apply to hcg. hcg is pumped out around the clock, more with every minute, but fmu tends to be the most concentrated pee of the day on avg, because your kidney activity- the glomerular filtration rate- slows down when you sleep.

have fun!

[JenRN]

Just had to share a funny story about this:

A friend of mine from work, who was having troubles conceiving, was complaining that she didn't have any more pregnancy tests and didn't want to buy any more but was curious to test. I told her about how you can use an OPK as a HPT.

Another slow night at work (when I wasn't there), another nurse was talking about being worried because her period was late (she is in her upper-40s, kids in college, doesn't want anymore). This friend mentioned about using an OPK, and happened to have one on her. Well, the other nurse got a positive, and spent the whole night FREAKING OUT. We're talking white-as-a-sheet, BP sky-rocketing, shaking uncontrollably freaking out. She wasn't pregnant, her period was late because she was just ovulating.

So yes, you can use an OPK as an HPT, but a positive doesn't necessarily mean you are pregnant.

[bolobear]

Since I just got my BFP last week while I had AF, I wondered - if something didn't signal to me to take an HCG test then, I wondered if I would have found out I was preggo when I started to take the OPK's again. So I have a lot of OPKS and only 3 HCG tests. I took an OPK and it was really dark, but not as dark as the control line.

I think if you are sure you cannot be Ovulating from the other signs and you get a positive, you must be pregnant.

[ValH]

Thanks for the replies, ladies!
I'm too stingy to use a HPT at 7dpo, so guess I'll keep testing with the OPKs just to see what happens - I like a good "experiment." I'll just be careful not to get my hopes up too much if I do end up getting a positive at some point. But if I do get a positive, I'll be breaking out the HPT in a flash!

[vivica2]

check out this chart. http://www.ovulation-calculator.com/luteal.htm

OPK's are looking for LH. so if you get a pos, it means your having an LH surge. (some other hormones are very close to LH so depending on the test, it could be false, if its picking up another hormone in very high quantities)
when your HCG rises with pregnancy...so does your Lh along with many others. sooo basically it doesn't mean your pregnant....but it means you might be.

have fun!

[mayakas]

So is the converse any indicator? - that is if you are 10-12dpo or so and get a really faint opk, does that imply that you are probably not pregnant?

[karmab]

the opks that go pos with a pg do it because they are picking up hcg, not lh. lh, hcg, fsh, and tsh are all essentially the same- although the beta subunit, which the blood test is for, is only picking up the part (subunit) that is different.

i do not know why it is, but there are some women this opk experiment doesnt work for. and a faint opk at 10-12 dpo, i still wouldnt count yourself out, because even some hpts arent pos at that point, and the hpts should be picking up 2-3 times less hcg than the opks (10-15 mlu vs. 30-40 mlu)

[Lousli]

I'm 14 weeks pregnant right now and I took a bunch of tests when I was first trying to determine if I was pregnant. I took a few OPK's and they were all surprisingly pale, even when I was getting good solid positive HPT's. So it didn't really work for me in early pregnancy, and I think by the time the OPK would have been truly positive, the HPT's would have been blazing.

[A-mac]

At 15 dpi my beta was 393, at 16 dpo, just for kicks, I took an opk and it was very negative. I could barely make out the second line. I took my last one at 12 weeks and it was finally very positive.

[karmab]

and my opk was pos at 10 dpo, so there's just no telling.

[ValH]

I took another OPK this morning with FMU, and it was still just "almost positive." I had read online that HPTs are much more sensitive, so the OPK may not pick up the pregnancy until well after HPT does, so I'm still hoping for an eventual BFP (on either one!). Oh, well, it's still fun to play. I'm going to pick up a few $ store HPT today, just to add to my experiment. I only have two more OPKs left, though, so looks like the experiment will be short lived this month. Maybe I'll stock up on some extra supplies for next month.

[jr'smom]

I ran out of HPTs and haven't had as much nausea and breast soreness as I typicllly do when I'm pregnant, so I have used a few OPKs to ease my mind. My OPKs are seriously dark--much darker than the control so I'm taking that as a good sign. (I tested in the 5th and 6th week. Now I'm in the 7th and so far have stayed away from them.) I still thing I'm going to order more HPTs though!

[moobiegirl]

I used an OPK at around 5 weeks because I thought it was a waste.However, it came up positive right away. I had one HPT in the house and decided to use it. It was a digital and said pregnant. Last pregnancy the OPK didn't show positive till at least 8 weeks.

[Earthylady]

It's not recommended to do. Here's a link that maybe you'll find helpful. http://www.peeonastick.com/opkhpt.html

You can get a second line on an OPK pretty much anytime as your body always has some degree of the LH hormone. You get a positive OPK when you a have a surge of LH. The HCG hormone is a "sister" hormone to LH and CAN be read by the same test, but it could also be just reading a natural LH amount in your urine that is always present too.

for the sake of OPK testing for a pregnancy, a second line is NOT "a line is a line is a line" if you know what I mean.