How to buy a decent monitor?

Ok, Girls, this is how to use the ovulation test sticks without having to buy the expensive digital monitor.?

• A couple of months ago, I purchased an expensive fertility monitor because I had no idea when or if I was ovulating. It turns out I was ovulating on CD 10 or 11, which is much earlier than I expected. However, if I knew then what I know now, I would have just purchased the test sticks that come with the fertility monitor. I believe I paid $50 for 30 sticks but you can purchase them for much less on amazon/ online. http://www.amazon.com/Clearblue-Easy-Fer... Start testing about 18 days before your shortest cycle (if you are not regular). I write the date and cycle day on the actual stick so that I can chart the progress and then I tape them all together afterwards. The stick tests for your estrogen (estradiol) and your LH. The LH is what spikes right before you ovulate. I am attaching a graph here, showing you what your hormones do throughout your cycle. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Menst... Now, to understand how to use the sticks without the fertility monitor. Looking at the stick, with the testing window on the right hand side, your estrogen level is shown on the right and your LH is on the left. In the follicular phase of your cycle (the time before you ovulate), your estrogen levels will start to rise, while your LH should stay fairly low. A couple of days before your LH spikes, your estrogen levels will also spike- this is also a time of high fertility. When your LH spikes, your estrogen will dip slightly and then go back up again the next day. Once your LH has spiked (it will show up as a dark blue line on your test stick), you will likely ovulate in the next 36- 48 hours. I would continue to use the sticks for a couple more days and you will see that the LH will go down and the Estrogen will keep rising for a few more days. I once kept using the sticks until I got my period, just to see what the hormone levels would look like. The estrogen (shown on graph as estradiol) keeps rising for a while, since it is building up your endometrium for your baby; when no pregnancy occurs, it falls again. I am interested to see what happens to the estrogen if you get pregnant- does it stay high? I know the progesterone does. Hope this helps and is not too confusing. Let me know if I need to clarify. Good luck! Clearblue says not to do this but I think it's just BS so that you have to fork over the $200 for the monitor.

• Answer:

  Wow this is really useful stuff! THANKS