Clear Blue Ovulation Test Instructions
If you are trying to get pregnant and don’t have regular menstrual cycles, you may want to make use of an ovulation test kit to determine your most fertile days. Ovulation test kits measure the amount of luteinizing hormone (LH) in the urine and detect the “LH Surge” that is the trigger for ovulation.
There are several ovulation test kits on the market. The Clear Blue Ovulation Test is one of those test kits. There are two different kinds of Clear Blue Ovulation Tests available. One is a simple “double line” test kit, in which you have compare the results of a reference line and a test line. This is slightly more difficult to interpret when compared to the Digital Clear Blue Ovulation Test kit, which has a smiley face in the testing window when the LH surge is detected.
Both tests are available at your local pharmacy and both detect the LH surge. The only difference between the two kits is that the regular ovulation test kit is a little bit harder to perform and the digital kit is considerably more expensive when compared to the regular test kit.
When to Start Testing
When you start testing depends on the length of your cycles. Women with long menstrual cycles have long cycles because they ovulate late. This means that you need to start testing later in the cycle when compared to women who have regular 28-day menstrual cycles. You may need to track your menstrual cycles for a few months to see how long they are before deciding on which day you need to start trying to detect the LH surge.
If you have really irregular cycles, this can make things even more complicated. You may have a normal cycle one month and the next month have a really long cycle. If this is the case, you may have to purchase more than one ovulation test kit per cycle so you can start testing at about the ninth day of your menstrual cycle and can test every day until you finally ovulate.
You need to take the ovulation test kit only when you have not urinated for at least four hours prior to having the test. This might be easier if you check for the LH surge first thing in the morning when the urine is the most concentrated. You can check later in the day but you need to try and do the test at about the same time every day for the most accurate test results.
How do these test kits work?
The test kits measure your level of luteinizing hormone (LH). Luteinizing hormone is produced by the anterior part of your pituitary gland, which is a small gland at the base of your brain. The amount of LH the pituitary gland puts out varies from day to day but is known to spike for 1-2 days during your menstrual cycle as a signal for the ovaries to put out an egg.
The Clear Blue Ovulation Test kit measures the amount of luteinizing hormone in your urine. Testing the LH levels of the urine isn’t as accurate as testing the LH surge in the blood but it is definitely more convenient than having the LH surge detected through daily blood tests that measure the LH level.
The LH surge occurs about 24 to 36 hours before you actually ovulate. This gives you plenty of time to arrange to have sex so that you are the most fertile and the most likely to get pregnant. After you get a positive LH surge on the ovulation test kit, there is no need to continue doing the tests every day and you can safely assume that having sex over the next 1-2 days will lead to your best chances of becoming pregnant. You can save any test strips that you didn’t use this cycle for the next cycle if you don’t get pregnant this time around.
The Clear Blue Digital Ovulation Test kit is a bit more accurate than the regular ovulation test kit. Clinical trials have been done on the test kit and have shown it to be more than 99 percent accurate in the detection of the LH surge. This gives you the best chance of knowing when you are the most fertile and are the most likely to become pregnant.
Directions for the Clear Blue Digital Ovulation Test Kit
Here are the abbreviated instructions for using the Clear Blue Digital Ovulation Test Kit. For complete instructions, you need to refer to the actual instructions in the test kit. Read the leaflet in the package thoroughly before undertaking the test so you know what to expect when trying to detect your LH surge.
The test kit consists of several test sticks to be used once a day until you detect your LH surge. Don’t try to use more than one test strip per day as this can be confusing and won’t help you determine your LH surge any better than just testing once per day at the same time every day.
Take out and unwrap the test stick. The test stick will click into place and you’ll see an indicator that says “Test Ready” when it is time to perform the test. You’ll need to take the test stick and hold it in your urinary stream for about 5 to 7 seconds.
If you feel uncomfortable peeing directly on the stick, you can collect the urine in a clean container and place the absorbent part of the test stick into the collected urine for 15 seconds before taking it out. Discard the urine after you have immersed the stick into the urine sample.
You need to keep the absorbent part of the test stick facing downward or lay the test stick on a flat surface. After 20-40 seconds have passed, you’ll see a flashing of the “Test Ready” symbol that indicates the test is working. Don’t eject the test stick and instead, you need to put the cap back on the absorbent part of the stick and wipe off any urine that is remaining on the stick.
Wait for about three minutes, during which time the urine will pass into the testing chamber and the level of LH will be determined. If, after three minutes, you see nothing in the indicator window, it means that you aren’t having an LH surge. You need to use a new test stick the next day at the same time of the day you took the test today.
If instead you see a smiley face in the test window, it means the test kit has determined your LH levels are high enough to be detected and you are having your LH surge. As mentioned, once you see the smiley face, you can stop testing and plan on having sex at least once after the test becomes positive.
Directions for the Non-Digital Clear Blue Ovulation Test Kit
Most of the instructions for the non-digital ovulation test kit are the same as for the digital test kit. The biggest difference is the interpretation of the test. You will still have several test sticks in each kit and you will still use just one test stick each day at the same time every day until you get a positive test.
After the urine has been collected (or after you have peed on the stick), you need to lay the stick flat and wait for three minutes. Instead of a smiley face, you’ll see two pink lines. One of the lines is a reference line that will tell you that the test is working. If you don’t see this line, the test didn’t work at all. If the test line is less intense than the reference line, you aren’t having an LH surge. If the test line (also referred to as the surge line) is the same intensity or a greater intensity as the reference line, it means you are having your LH surge and do not need to do any further testing.
References:
- Frequently Asked Questions about the Clearblue Digital Ovulation Test. http://www.clearblueeasy.com/clearblue-easy-digital-ovulation-test-faq.php
- Frequently Asked Questions about the Clearblue Ovulation Test. http://www.clearblueeasy.com/clearblue-easy-red-ovulation-test-faq.php