1017th Friday Blog Roundup
1 day ago
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Reccomend your OPKs
I've been told by my GYN to use OPKs this month. I went blissfully off to the store thinking this would be easy. After all, I just need to buy a box right? Wrong. There's more kinds than expected. My question for all of you out there who may or may not be reading this still is this. What brand do you use? I'm torn between plunking down the money for the CBEFM (Clear Blue Easy Fertility Monitor for those not of the IF sisterhood) or just getting a regulr pack of the CBE digitals. IS there a benefit to using the CBEFM over the digitals? Anyone have any different brand they prefer? Please, share your experiences and reccomend. Thanks so very much!
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8 comments:
Here from L&F. No answers, but am interested in what other folks have to say.
Good luck in your journey!
Here from L&F...I liked the answer daily ovulation tracker. It is 20 bucks at any drug store, and I think it comes with 20 in a pack so it is a pretty good deal. Let me tell you why I liked them so much. They are pretty sensitive so you will most likely see a darkening pattern. The box says you can only use them 30 days after you opened the canister, but I found mine to work accurate for months afterwards. I would take one every afternoon starting around cd 10, and leave it to dry for 10 minutes. I kept each test on the counter so I could compare from the previous day, and you could definitely tell when the time was getting close. The web link below has a pic of it...but I think the most recent box has a baby on the front. Hope everything goes well for you!
http://www.drugstore.com/qxp154360_333181_sespider/answer/daily_ovulation_tracker.htm
I'm doing natural/unmonitored IUI cycles so it's up to me to make sure the timing is just right. I use the Answer Daily Ovulation tracker and when I think I have a positive I confirm it with the CBE digital.
Good luck!
I think it depends on your cycles. I have very long, irregular cycles, and if I'd tried to use regular OPK's, I would've needed a couple of boxes a month. That would have been really expensive. I bought my monitor and test sticks online, and because there are 30 sticks in the box, they last for a few months. Financially, it was a better deal for me. Plus, the machine reads the test for you, so there's no peering over sticks and wondering if that's really a line or not. It also tests for two different hormones, whereas most OPK's only test for one, so it tells you with more notice of when you are about to O.
The only downside is the up front cost of the monitor. The only other thing to consider is whether you might have a short LH surge. If that's the case, you might need to test with OPK's twice a day, which you can't do with the CBEFM.
Hope that's helpful!
here from lfca
I have used both the CBEFM and OPK's
Here are my pros and cons for both
CBEFM:
Pros...you know the days leading up to ovulations because of its high reading, and I have found this helpful, it also remembers your last 6 cycles, so ittells you when its ideal to test, so you don't waste test stick if you are a late ovulater.
Cons... you only have a 6 hour window every day to test, its expensive, the sticks are expensive, and you can't test outside of the designated fertile time (when the monitor asks for a test)
OPK's (my favourite are the ones from early-pregnancy-tests.com)
Pros....You can test everyday, multiple times a day if you want to(i find I surge later in the day, so when I take one before seeing the doctor its not always my surge, but might be later in the day), they are more affordable.
cons...you have to decipher lines(unless you get the digital OPK's), they don't really tell you if ovulation is imminent.
What I have done is combined my monitor and OPK's. I use the monitor everyday, but add in the OPK's on high fertility days, or if I am having signs of approaching ovulation, or when I want to test before my monitors window.
I hope this helps!
My personal fave are the CBE digital, about 20 bucks a month I tested in AM and PM when I knew we were closing in on 'O' day, ended up going positive at 5 in the afternoon...IUI next day AM/PM, successful!
Here from L&F.
I have used several different brands. I like Answer the best. The regular ones with 7 to a box are the ones that work best for me. I have also used the daily ovulation tracker kit from Answer and found it to not work as well, for me anyway. I have also used the test strips from early-pregnancy-tests.com and they are pretty good too. I'd probably get a few different kinds (if you can afford it) and use them all to see which one works best for you. They all work different for everyone from what I've found.
Good luck!
I used the CBEFM and the Answer daily ovulation. While I loved the visual that I got with the CBEFM, it was a serious pain to remember to set it within the time limit and to make sure and test within the window. I actually think if I ever decide to try again, I'll just stick with the Answer tests. It was great because you get a ton of the little strips so if you ovulate late, you're not going to miss it.
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