For those who use/d OPKs

christar2000

Okay this may be a dumb question but I checked TCOYF, and can not find any information about this.  If you test with an OPK and get a faint line (for the test line) what does that mean?  I know the lines have to match in order for you to have a "positive" test, but most of the time I get nothing at all for a test line...and a couple of times I have got the faintest line for a test line.  Does anyone know if a faint line means anything? 

jCamsquared

I didn't use OPKs, but from what I have read on BOTB, I think you have to count a faint line as a negative. Unfortunately it's not like HPTs where a line is a line.

christar2000

I think you are right.....I am just wondering why sometimes I get a flat out blank, and other times I get a faint line.  I keep thinking that maybe a faint line means a bright line will come, but it never does. 

CrysW08

I agree, the test line has to be about the same or darker than the control line to count as a positive. If you have a faint line, it could mean that you might get a darker one soon or maybe if you didn't drink as much water that day or something, the hormone might not be as diluted as when you took the other tests. (I don't know how true that is, it's just what makes sense to me..) I've had a hard time using the opks and have had better success learning how to read my cm.

lifeandkitchen

Yep, the line has to be just as dark or darker.  When do you test?  I think that you are supposed to do it between noon and 9 pm and if you do it twice, leave at least 6 hours between them to avoid missing the surge. 

Good luck!

MRSGOLABONTE

I used OPKs for five months and not once EVER did my line get darker then the control line. I even took them 2-3 times a day during that time thinking maybe I had a short surge and was missing it. Nope, still nothing.

I posted about this on other boards, and there are others like me that never got a positive. A line would appear for me when all of my other symptoms aligned with an O [temping, CM, etc]. For some of us, that faint line is as good as it's going to get to make it a positive OPK.

Good luck!!

christar2000

CrysW08:

I agree, the test line has to be about the same or darker than the control line to count as a positive. If you have a faint line, it could mean that you might get a darker one soon or maybe if you didn't drink as much water that day or something, the hormone might not be as diluted as when you took the other tests. (I don't know how true that is, it's just what makes sense to me..) I've had a hard time using the opks and have had better success learning how to read my cm.

Yeah I am still having a hard time with CM....I have not had any since November...I had a clear thermal shift that cycle as well.  Since then I have not had any CM or a thermal shift.  I have been using the OPKs and have got all negatives aside from those couple with just the faintest of a line.  

CrysW08

Have you tried drinking green tea? That has helped me to have more cm.