English
A normal adult woman releases an egg every month. The day of ovulation is called the ovulation day. We call the 5 days before and 4 days after the ovulation day, together with the ovulation day, a total of 10 days called the ovulation period. Intercourse two days before and after ovulation is the most likely to conceive, and couples who are trying to conceive can choose this time period to "create a man". There are many ways to calculate your ovulation day, but here's how to use ovulation test sticks to find your best fertile day.
In order to use ovulation test sticks correctly, you must first understand the principle of ovulation test sticks. Ovulation test sticks are tools used to predict ovulation by detecting peak levels of luteinizing hormone (LH). Normal women maintain a small amount of luteinizing hormone in their bodies. During the mid-menstrual period, the secretion of "luteinizing hormone" increases rapidly, forming a peak, and within 28 hours thereafter, it stimulates the release of mature eggs, that is, ovulation. So ovulation test sticks can enable women to predict when is the best time to conceive or contraception.
When two purple-red lines appear on the test paper, and the lower end line (test line) is significantly lighter than the upper end line (control line), it means that LH in urine has not yet peaked, and the test must be continued every day; when two purple-red lines appear on the test paper, If the color of the upper and lower end lines (control line, detection line) is basically the same, or the lower end line (test line) is darker than the upper end line (control line), it means that you are about to ovulate within 24-48 hours; but there is no ovulation test stick. It cannot be confirmed and needs to be used in conjunction with basal body temperature, which is the gold standard for confirming ovulation.
(1) Does the ovulation test stick also respond to early pregnancy?
HCG has two chains, α and β. The structure of the α chain is basically similar to that of LH and fsh, and it is prone to cross-reaction. Therefore, β is generally used as the standard for medical judgment of pregnancy. Because of the intersection of HCG and LH, sometimes ovulation test sticks also respond to early pregnancy. Therefore, before the early pregnancy test strip, the ovulation test stick has already detected early pregnancy.
(2) Why is it said that early pregnancy test strips are not as early as ovulation test sticks?
Because the current early pregnancy test strips basically test βHCG, and the β content in HCG is much lower than α. When βHCG is only 50 to 100, αHCG often reaches about one or two thousand. The early pregnancy test paper is determined by βHCG, and the cross-reaction is determined by αHCG, so the positive ovulation test stick will appear earlier than the early pregnancy test paper.
(3) If the ovulation test stick detects a weak positive, does it mean that you are pregnant?
A weak positive ovulation test stick does not mean that you are definitely pregnant. There have been many sisters who have proved the fact that ovulation test sticks can detect early pregnancy with personal experience. However, it should be noted that using ovulation test sticks to detect a weak positive does not guarantee that you must be pregnant. Why? Because this weak positive may also detect LH, not αHCG.
Why does this happen? A normal person ovulates once a month, and the LH peak only occurs once a month before ovulation. In other times of the month, LH generally remains stable at a low level and does not change much, so it is normal. It is said that the increase of LH should not be detected more than ten days after ovulation. However, some people's LH levels have been relatively high. After ovulation, there is always a weak positive of LH, and some people have a menstrual period. Sometimes there are abnormal fluctuations of LH, so if it is judged to be pregnant only by a weak positive ovulation test stick, there may be a misjudgment.
