Why is it a better plan to chart the changes in your cervical fluid (and other natural methods) than use an ovulation predictor kit to help you conceive?

Of course many women have been helped by the use of OPK’s (Ovulation Predictor Kits). This is achieved through either being able to time intercourse at ovulation, or through one of the complex medical procedure that use OPK’s to help with the timing of the different steps.

Yes OPKs can be useful – but wouldn’t it be better (and more time and cost-effective) to get the same or better results just from being able to read your body.

If you are trying to increase the chance of getting pregnant by using an OPK then you should be aware that the results may actually be misleading for the following reasons:

• Using an OPK gives no indication whatsoever if the woman has sufficient (and suitable) cervical fluid which will be the sperm’s conduit in the woman’s body. By the time a surge is noted by the OPK, the cervical fluid is likely to be already starting to diminish.

• The OPK kits should only show a surge in ONE day – any other result is likely to be invalid.

• These kits are largely incompatible with fertility drugs like Donacrine or Pergonal and injections which contain hCG like P.A.P.L or Profasi as they invalidate the kit’s results. Clomid is the omission to this.

• Women can have ‘false’ surges of LH which is like a pre-peak before the real LH peak. This will often lead to a mistiming of intercourse which doesn’t leave enough time for the sperm to live until the egg is expelled.

• Levels of luteinizing hormone are often high in women approaching menopause or over 40, and are not always at the times of ovulation.

• OPK’s are prone to improper use as there are many steps involved in some – any number of which could be performed wrongly. Inappropriate storage (in excessive heat) may also compromise the kit’s accuracy.

• The kit’s only function is to measure the LH surge which happens before ovulation – not to tell if the woman has actually ovulated or not. It may also be the case that the woman is experiencing Luteinized Unruptured Follicle Syndrome (LUFS) where an LH surge is present but the eggs never actually emerge from the ovary.

• These kits are only really beneficial if used around ovulation time – a significant point seeing as though most women (almost by definition) who will purchase a kit have an irregular ovulation cycle. This is significant because there are only usually around a week’s worth of tests in a kit – not long enough to find out if she is ovulating and the result will inevitably come back from the test that she is not (despite what may really be going on). This is relevant for many women because who has the cash to spend the requisite forty or so dollars every five days to test continuously? If you are using the kit to increase the chance of getting pregnant and have long or irregular cycles, then at least don’t start testing until you notice the wet-type cervical mucus that comes around ovulation time.

• A final point to note is that if you happen to be pregnant, the OPK test will simply tell you that you are not ovulating, which is not untrue, but it is also not at all enlightening of your true condition. If however you were using natural charting methods to increase the chance of getting pregnant you would know by the eighteen or more high temperature you recorded in a row.

If you are looking for a more precise and less costly method of helping to fall pregnant then it is well worth your while to start charting changes in your cervical mucus. Basically the ovulation phase causes an increase in cervical mucus and changes it to a wet ‘egg white’ consistency – this is the prime baby making time, when chances of getting pregnant are at their best.