Hi All,

I've noticed a couple of new opk threads today & I thought I'd throw my two cents worth into the forum.

This is my opk story, so far.

I started using opk's mid 2006. The first month I just couldn't get a positive which was pretty upsetting and my mind raced with thoughts of troubled ttc ahead. Then my usual cycle length came and went. I almost had AF three times from day 30 onwards but then the spotting and cramps would stop. In the end I had a 40 day cycle. That was the first time EVER that I've had a cycle longer than 31days. I've never had problems with my af so it was ironic that the very month we finally decide to ttc, the cycle was so long and the actual af was sooo heavy. It completely freaked me out!

I figured that the stress & obsessive opk quest had caused me not to ovulate.
My doctor agreed. I gave opk's a rest. My Doc sent me off to a ob/gynie who told me there was nothing wrong, he looked at my ultrsound and said that I do ovulate, he could see that clearly. I've had two ultrasounds since ttc and both saw that I was about to ovulate or had just ovulated.

I got back into opks when we didnt fall pg after a few more cycles. It has been a further 6 cycles, gave them a break over xmas but otherwise used them each month. I have still never had a true positive.

However, I have a theory, I really think that the manufacturers may have it wrong and some women only ever get a dark line but not as dark as the control. I also get a fade in with the test line getting progressively darker towards ov. Fertility friend and other indicators seem to agree with me.
Plus I usually have ov pain.

I know you are supposed to disregard dark 2nd lines unless they are as dark or darker than the control line but I have found that those dark lines do actually line up with my ov day. I test twice a day now which has helped too plus I switched from fortel (pricey) to lullabyconceptions.com (fantastic!).

I still use them but I have recently started temping (though that has affected my sleep pattern a bit) along with cm observation which I've always done and it gives me more confidence.

I guess opks are quite exciting and all information helps. We all want control, eh?

I'm trying to relax but it is sooo hard.

A bit of a rambling message.

Does anyone else share my frustration at being a opk misfit?

Cheers, sassba