OVULATION TESTS

The ovulation test offers women a vastly improved method for determining when any woman has undergone ovulation. Unlike the traditional method, the ovulation test does not focus on the basal body temperature. Predicting ovulation no longer requires women to carry out the procedure expected of them thirty years ago. At that time a woman who wanted to learn more about the time of her ovulation would need to stick a thermometer in her mouth the moment that she woke up. She would then need to record her reading on a special chart, a chart normally given to her by her physician.

Due to the popularity of home pregnancy tests, a list of frequently asked ovulation test kit questions would probably include this query: “Is the ovulation test like the pregnancy test?” The physician who hears that question should look at it as an invitation to present information on female reproductive hormones. Both the pregnancy test and the ovulation test rely on the detection of a particular female hormone.

In that aspect, the ovulation test is similar to the pregnancy test. Yet those two tests also have many important differences. It is imperative for a woman who is about to use the ovulation test kit to set aside time in which to become familiar with those differences. 

First of all, she should learn that the ovulation test, unlike the pregnancy test, tries to detect release of a hormone prior to the desired event. While the pregnancy test measures hCG, a hormone released following conception, the ovulation test detects luteinizing hormone (LH). The pituitary gland releases LH hormone as a signal to the ovary. The LH surge tells the ovary to release the mature ovum.

When a woman wants to become pregnant, she wants to know when she will release a mature ovum, i.e. when she will experience ovulation. A released ovum can travel down the fallopian tube toward the uterus. A released ovum can have a chance meeting with a sperm cell. A released ovum can undergo fertilization.

A woman taking an ovulation test wants an accurate prediction of when she will release a mature ovum. If she wants to guarantee the accuracy of that prediction, then she will take the time to learn how the ovulation test differs from the pregnancy test. She will learn that the sample for the ovulation test should be obtained in the middle of the afternoon, usually about 2 pm.

That of course assumes that the woman has slept during the evening, and that she woke up at a typical hour of the morning. A woman who works nights, such as a night nurse, might want to consult with her physician concerning when she should plan to take the ovulation test. She could also talk with her physician about the two different types of ovulation tests.

In order to perform one such test, a woman must collect a urine sample and then place a testing strip in that sample. In order to perform the alternate ovulation test, a woman places a test stick in a stream of urine. Both tests have a control marking, against which the test results should be compared.

Both tests offer greater accuracy and greater convenience than the traditional method used for detecting the time of a woman’s ovulation. Both tests can help a woman achieve what she wants most—a good chance for getting a positive result following performance of the pregnancy test.