Here Is Your Ultimate Guide To OPK’ing And Getting Reliable Results

OPK’ing a great and widely used method to track your ovulation. OPK’ing is an easy skill to learn and it will tell you tons about your ovulation and fertile window in real-time.

Before you start, there is something you need to realize. The results of the OPK are based on comparing the lines with those from the day before. This will (hopefully) show you an increase in LH hormone.

In other words, you need to establish a baseline. It’s a bit of a hassle at first, but it will be worth it in the end.

  • What do you need?

    1. Your phone with a camera
    2. A clean cup to collect your urine
    3. An OPK with enough LH tests
    4. A whole lot of patience

  • How do you establish a baseline?

    1. Start on the first day of your new cycle, a.k.a. CD1. The day your period starts.
    2. Measure your LH once a day until the last day of your cycle.
    3. Measure once a day between 10 am and 12 pm.
    4. Take a picture of the result of your LH test and store it with date and time.

At the end of your cycle, you have 28 pictures—fewer or more depending on the length of your cycle—of the results of your OPK.

Why do you need to take a picture of the result? Can you keep the LH tests?

Well, you could but if you take a look at the instructions of your OPK, you’ll see that it tells you—depending on the brand—that you should not interpret the results after 30 minutes.

So, take pictures and remember to write down the date and time.

  • Now that you’ve established a baseline, you can start using the OPK ‘for real.’

    1. Start on the day that you saw a change in your lines regarding the baseline.
    2. Test twice a day. Once in the morning. Once in the afternoon. Every day around the same time.
    3. Plan the baby dance with your partner as you see the lines of the LH tests becoming darker.

In short: The OPK gives you real-time information about your ovulation. After establishing a baseline, you can determine whether your ovulation is approaching based on previous results.