PING: JenRose re OPK and HPT tests

JenRose:

I'm a mostly-lurker ttc#1 but have read your web page and postings
with interest about how OPKs tested positive before HPTs. Is this
true across the board, so to speak, and with different brands? Are
the OPKs *supposed* to pick up hcg??? I am in the interminable 2ww,
and I took both a hpt and an OPK this a.m. The hpt, after time, had
only what I believe (based on past experience) to be an evaportation
line. The OPK was a *definite* positive. I know it's not my LH
surge, because I've ovulated this month (finally) and my temps are
still high. Is a positive OPK a definite sign of early pg??? (For
what it is worth, I'm using internet strips I bought-- early pregnancy
I think-- and have no real way of knowing their accuracy since I have
yet to get a positive hpt).

Thanks!!!

Yellowgirl

yellowgirl wrote:

Are the OPKs *supposed* to pick up hcg???

http://www.familydreams.org/resources/opk_pg.htm

Is a positive OPK a definite sign of early pg???

You may have an elevated LH level for some other reason, so I'd wait a
day or two and take another HPT.

Phoebe

Thanks for the link, Phoebe. *Very* helpful. I took another OPK last
night which was fainter, but took one this a.m. which was a definite
"OPK positive". Still no sign on the hpt, but it's way early yet. I
don't *think* I have elevated LH in general, so here's hoping....
Yellowgirl

Server has been eating my posts.. .here's a repost of my response...


"yellowgirl" wrote in message
om...
JenRose:

I'm a mostly-lurker ttc#1 but have read your web page and postings
with interest about how OPKs tested positive before HPTs. Is this
true across the board, so to speak, and with different brands? Are
the OPKs *supposed* to pick up hcg??? I am in the interminable 2ww,
and I took both a hpt and an OPK this a.m. The hpt, after time, had
only what I believe (based on past experience) to be an evaportation
line. The OPK was a *definite* positive. I know it's not my LH
surge, because I've ovulated this month (finally) and my temps are
still high. Is a positive OPK a definite sign of early pg??? (For
what it is worth, I'm using internet strips I bought-- early pregnancy
I think-- and have no real way of knowing their accuracy since I have
yet to get a positive hpt).



The link Phoebe gave explained it better than I probably will..

An OPK is a "hindsight" test. In hindsight you can see that it picked up the
positive sooner than the HPT. That said, since to be truly positive, an OPK
has to be "double dark" or with a control line lighter than the test line,
if you have keen eyesight and a sensitive HPT, you may get the faint line on
the HPT sooner than the positive OPK. I could see a line on my OPK before
the line on the HPT, and the line on the OPK was *always* darker than the
HPT line. But I already knew I was pg when I finally got a true positive
OPK.

But it is *very* possible to get a positive OPK and not be pg.

Wait a few days. You'll know then.

The internet strips I used were worthless, didn't pick up positives even
when every other brand of test I tried did. The Dollar Tree tests were far
more reliable--while they occasionally got evap lines, they had the courtesy
to do it away from where the test line would show up. Dollar Tree tests
picked up my pg before FRER.

FWIW... my rule of thumb now is this... Early test with OPKs. Only do HPT if
I get positive OPK's. Also FWIW, I never bother with OPK's for predicting
ovulation. I can *feel* ovulation, I don't need an OPK to tell me. I get
ovarian fullness about 3 days prior to O, then the EWCM shows up, then I get
about 3 hours worth of bad period-type cramps, then I go back to what I call
"ovarian twitchiness" for weeks.

Jenrose

Thanks Jenrose. Well, the OPKs proved not a good measure for me-- I
got my hopes up since they *were* "OPK positive," took 2 brands of
hpts on Sun which were negative, and got AF on Monday. Here's to next
month......


"Jenrose" wrote in message ws.com...
Server has been eating my posts.. .here's a repost of my response...


"yellowgirl" wrote in message
om...
JenRose:

I'm a mostly-lurker ttc#1 but have read your web page and postings
with interest about how OPKs tested positive before HPTs. Is this
true across the board, so to speak, and with different brands? Are
the OPKs *supposed* to pick up hcg??? I am in the interminable 2ww,
and I took both a hpt and an OPK this a.m. The hpt, after time, had
only what I believe (based on past experience) to be an evaportation
line. The OPK was a *definite* positive. I know it's not my LH
surge, because I've ovulated this month (finally) and my temps are
still high. Is a positive OPK a definite sign of early pg??? (For
what it is worth, I'm using internet strips I bought-- early pregnancy
I think-- and have no real way of knowing their accuracy since I have
yet to get a positive hpt).



The link Phoebe gave explained it better than I probably will..

An OPK is a "hindsight" test. In hindsight you can see that it picked up the
positive sooner than the HPT. That said, since to be truly positive, an OPK
has to be "double dark" or with a control line lighter than the test line,
if you have keen eyesight and a sensitive HPT, you may get the faint line on
the HPT sooner than the positive OPK. I could see a line on my OPK before
the line on the HPT, and the line on the OPK was *always* darker than the
HPT line. But I already knew I was pg when I finally got a true positive
OPK.

But it is *very* possible to get a positive OPK and not be pg.

Wait a few days. You'll know then.

The internet strips I used were worthless, didn't pick up positives even
when every other brand of test I tried did. The Dollar Tree tests were far
more reliable--while they occasionally got evap lines, they had the courtesy
to do it away from where the test line would show up. Dollar Tree tests
picked up my pg before FRER.

FWIW... my rule of thumb now is this... Early test with OPKs. Only do HPT if
I get positive OPK's. Also FWIW, I never bother with OPK's for predicting
ovulation. I can *feel* ovulation, I don't need an OPK to tell me. I get
ovarian fullness about 3 days prior to O, then the EWCM shows up, then I get
about 3 hours worth of bad period-type cramps, then I go back to what I call
"ovarian twitchiness" for weeks.

Jenrose