To maximize your chances of getting pregnant, it is best to have sex on the most fertile days as indicated by your mucous and temperature charting. However, the ovulation test kits go one step further by allowing the couple to determine exactly when ovulation is going to occur 12 to 36 hours before it happens.

Knowing the exact time of ovulation is also helpful in cases where a man has to abstain from ejaculation in order to conserve sperm.

The time of ovulation can vary from one cycle to another in the same woman. Even a variation of a few days can cause a couple using past cycle history alone (calendar rhythm method) to miscalculate their timing. The ovulation prediction kits will objectively let a woman know whether or not her calculations are correct, or if she needs to wait a few more days before planning to have sex.

What Makes Urine Lh Detection Possible

Ovulation prediction home test kits to detect LH use specially designed artificially produced antibodies (monoclonal antibodies) to detect LH in the urine.

LH is present in the blood throughout the whole menstrual cycle, but usually in very small amounts. Prior to ovulation the amount of LH suddenly increases. This increase is called the LH surge. The LH surge usually appears in the blood during the early morning hours between 5 am and 9 am. The LH surge then remains in the urine for about 24 hours after LH blood levels peak. Ovulation takes place 12 to 36 hours after the LH surge. The home test kit can pick up this LH surge in the urine accurately predicting ovulation within 36 hours.

Monoclonal antibodies are antibodies made from one cell line that produces the same precise antibody in an indefinite and invariable supply. These monoclonal antibodies are highly specific and can detect even minute amounts of LH in the urine, causing the urine to turn a specific shade of blue.

Five Different Lh Test Kits

OVUQUICK SELF TEST FOR OVULATION PREDICTION can detect ovulation 24 to 36 hours before it takes place. It takes five minutes to perform. CONCEIVE is a one step urinary kit to detect ovulation. Results can be read in three minutes. Both are distributed in Canada by PHARMASCIENCE. Their toll free information number is 1-800-363-8805. PHARMASCIENCE also distributes the BIOSELF computer.

FIRST RESPONSE OVULATION PREDICTOR TEST detects ovulation 12 to 24 hours before it takes place. This test uses first morning urine and takes three minutes to complete. FIRST RESPONSE is distributed by CARTER PRODUCTS at 1-800-268-3186.

CLEARPLAN is a one step easy to use urinary test, which takes five minutes to perform. It pinpoints ovulation 24 to 36 hours in advance. CLEARPLAN, is from FISONS CORPORATION, Markham, Ontario at 1-800-268-1121.

OVUDATE LH KIT. This is another one step test that takes only three minutes to complete. OVUDATE urinary thermometer and OVUDATE-LH ovulator test are available through CADNA MEDICAL DIAGNOSTIC INC. at 1-800-561-2520 Fax 416-752-2021. In the U.S. contact FRANKLIN DIAGNOSTICS, PO Box 246, Morristown, NJ, 07960. 1-800-OVUDATE, Fax: 201-285-0564. A new test using a combination of urinary temperature and LH testing will soon be available from this company.

How Lh Test Kits Work

All five tests are started approximately 14 to 16 days before the expected date of your next period. Charts contained in each kit tell you when to begin testing based on the average length of your past cycles, using calendar rhythm calculations.

If the woman is charting her mucous symptoms, she may start testing using the kit's suggested dates. However, if there is an onset of clear stretchy mucous before her calculated date to start, it will be more accurate to start testing with the onset of this mucous. Using mucous charts in conjunction with calculations may actually decrease the number of tests necessary, so one kit may be enough for two cycles, and the woman will save money.