Why should I avoid testing first thing in the morning?
You should avoid testing your urine first thing in the morning as LH is synthesized in your body early in the morning. It will not show up in your urine until later in the day.
What does the test result look like?
No surge Surge present
When the LH surge is present the "Test" line (lower of the two lines in the white area) will be almost as dark or darker than the "Control" line (upper line in the white area).
Once I receive a positive result, when is the best time to have intercourse?
Ovulation usually follows the start of the LH surge within 24-36 hours. This is the time when you are at your most fertile, therefore you should have intercourse during this time.
How long will it take before I can read the result?
A positive result can often be read in under 40 seconds but to confirm a negative result (no test line or the test line is much fainter than the control line) you should wait the full 10 minutes.
What happens if after using the tests provided I have still not detected my LH surge?
Most women with regular cycles will detect their LH Surge in 5 days or under. However, if you have irregular cycles you may need to test for longer and may require additional ovulation tests to detect your LH Surge. Also see the section below regarding different sensitivities of our ovulation tests.
I have recently come off the contraceptive pill. Will this affect my result?
As the pill disrupts your natural hormone balance it may take a few months for your periods to return to normal. You may want to wait until you have had 2 normal periods before starting to use ovulation tests. Please be aware that pregnancy and breastfeeding can affect the results of any ovulation test.
Will alcohol or other common medications affect the results of this test?
No, but you should consult your doctor if you are taking any hormonal treatments.
Can I use the ovulation test for contraception?
No, the test is not designed to prevent conception. As sperm can survive for 72 hours you might still become pregnant if you had intercourse before you detected your LH Surge and also because some woman can and do ovulate more than once in the same cycle.
What about the sensitivity of these ovulation tests and why is Ultra Early important?
Ok, we are going to dispel a few old wives’ tales here and give you some facts:-
Firstly, virtually every woman in the world will ovulate almost exactly 14 days BEFORE she starts her period – not the other way round!! That's fine for women with regular cycles of 26-30 days between each period but the trouble is a lot of women have irregular periods or other conditions such as PCOS, a lazy ovary, previous miscarriages, endometriosis, currently breast feeding etc., etc.
So what exactly happens is this:-
In any one cycle and on average, 80% of women will ovulate normally but around 11% of women will not ovulate at all and another 9% will ovulate twice or more. The latter explains a lot of those unwanted pregnancies by Roman Catholics trusting to the "rhythm method" to prevent conception!!
Now the “average” woman ............is there such a thing? They are all special if you ask me :)
will have an LH (the hormone that triggers ovulation) level of between 5-20 mIU in her system. When the surge occurs the basal level rises to approximately 50-200 mIU and at this level ovulation occurs and the egg is released from the ovary. This means that for most women the standard 20-30 mIU ovulation sensitivity tests that we and others sell are fine.
However, we have discovered that sometimes that ovulation surge can start and finish in just a few hours and some women ovulate normally but at levels which are very low indeed so these more sensitive Ultra Early 15 mIU ovulation tests will ensure that when the LH surge occurs you will pick it up.
How dark does the test line need to be to show I am ovulating normally and what if I get no lines in the test window?
Essentially if you get no lines at all in the test window then you either haven't ovulated yet or even this test is not sensitive enough to pick up the LH surge. At this Ultra Early sensitivity level if you get no test lines followed by faint lines for a couple of days which then fade back to no lines then that is the perfect indication that you have ovulated normally during those days. If, however, you get no lines at all in the test window with this highest sensitivity 15 mIU test (as far as we know, no one in the world does a more sensitive ovulation urine test) for 2 months then you should contact us for advice as we may be able to help. The email address is shown below.
I had a positive result for the LH surge and had sexual intercourse during this period so why have I not become pregnant?
There are many factors that can affect your fertility. It can take many healthy couples months to achieve pregnancy. You may need to use these tests for a few months before pregnancy occurs. If after 6 months of trying you have still not become pregnant, you should visit your doctor for advice.
What is the "fertility pill" and how does it affect your ovulation tests?
Clomid/Serophene are brand names for a drug known as Clomiphene citrate - commonly referred to as the "fertility pill". Letrozole is a very similar drug and works in exactly the same way. They are the most popular and most prescribed drugs for women who are not ovulating at all, have PCOS or suffer from irregular periods. They have proved very successful with 60-80% of women ovulating normally when taking the drugs and with 50% of those on these drugs going on to get pregnant. They have few side effects and these are generally minor - your doctor can tell you more.
All these drugs are taken for 5 days (days 3-7 or 5-9 of your cycle) and are essentially a boost to your fertility hormones including LH. For this reason, if you are on any of these drugs, you should start to use our highest sensitivity (15mIU) ovulation tests 3 days after finishing the drugs i.e. on day 10 or day 12 onwards as before this you could get a false result.
What
is ovulation and the process of conception?
As the old saying goes, "a picture is worth a thousand words"
so we have included a short video (don’t forget to turn the sound up) which we
feel gives an excellent short description of ovulation, including the whole
process of conception (fertilisation and implantation) from the release of the
egg from the ovary right up to the implantation of the fertilised egg at which
point pregnancy has occurred, HCG is produced and the embryo starts to grow. If you have problems viewing the video or have a slow internet connection wait until the video is fully buffered before playing the entire video - i.e press pause once the video starts loading and wait until loading is complete before pressing play.
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