• Getting Pregnant
• Infertility

Can Ovulation Kits Help You Get Pregnant?

In your journey to become pregnant, knowing the best time to have intercourse can increase your chances of success. An ovulation kit can help you predict your most fertile time of the month.

Ovulation, the release of an egg in one of a woman’s two ovaries, is one of the most important factors in conceiving a child. Once ovulated, the egg is picked up by one of the fallopian tubes and begins traveling toward the uterus. The best time to have intercourse that could result in pregnancy is when the mature egg reaches the fallopian tubes. An ovulation kit can help predict that ovulation is going to occur soon.

How It Works

You always have a hormone in your urine called luteinizing hormone (LH), but is generally undetectable. LH increases 24 to 48 hours prior to when you’re going to ovulate. An ovulation kit detects the surge in LH, helping you figure out about when you’re going to ovulate.

When used correctly, ovulation tests are approximately 99 percent accurate in detecting the LH surge.

How to Use an Ovulation Kit

Ovulation tests come in two formats, both equally reliable:

• Test strips: Fill a container with your urine and hold the test strip in the container for several seconds
• Midstream tests: Hold the test in your stream of urine

You will see results in five minutes. Follow the package instructions for reading the results.

Do Ovulation Tests Work?

According to the American Pregnancy Association, when used correctly, ovulation tests are approximately 99 percent accurate in detecting the LH surge. It’s up to you to figure out the “window” when you’re going to ovulate.

Dr. Groll cautions that “ovulation predictor kits are most reliable only in women who have regular monthly periods. Usually ovulation will occur approximately two weeks prior to the first day of a period. Track your periods to help target the most reliable time to start using the ovulation predictor kits. You should start testing a few days prior to when you think you will ovulate.”

Follow these tips when considering or using an ovulation kit:

• Do a baseline predictor to determine your own regular levels of LH, so that you know when your levels are surging.
• Test at the same time every day.
• If you use your first urine of the morning (most women do), understand that your level of LH can be “off” if you’ve been drinking a lot of fluids during the night as it may dilute the LH and go undetected.
• Some women have chronically high amounts of LH in conditions like polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), so ovulation kits won’t work for them.
• If you’re taking fertility drugs, you may have inaccurate results with an ovulation kit.

Talk to your doctor or health care provider to learn more about using ovulation kits to increase your odds of getting pregnant.

Source: American Society for Reproductive Medicine; American Pregnancy Association; OvulationCalculator.com; Jeremy Groll, MD, SpringCreek Fertility

Jeremy Groll, MD

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