Do fertility monitors work?

So there are kits available that you can purchase perhaps from pharmacies where they can monitor your cycle, especially if there is irregularity in your cycle so some months you may get period earlier, someone might be later. So it is possible to obtain these ovulation kits where you can monitor yourself when you are going to ovulate in the middle of the month or middle of your cycle.

It is very common for any lady who has been trying to conceive naturally to go over the counter and choose one of the ovulation monitors or the fertility monitors that are present which you can purchase over the counter. There are different forms of those monitors: there are the simple ones that show literally two lines, there are a little bit more sophisticated ones that say that you have high fertility or peak fertility, there are even those days that some of those monitors you can link to an app on your phone and the app will track your cycle and will tell you when is your most fertile days. Those tests are obviously quite accurate. Most of the time they do mention that the LH which is the hormone of ovulation is high around ovulation yet, like any test whether the test that you purchase yourself or the test that doctors basically request that you can do and do in the lab, they can be a little bit inaccurate sometimes. For instance the tests for ovulation are notorious, not to give very accurate results in ladies with cycle extremes. By cycle extremes I mean ladies who have very short cycles and ladies who have very long cycles, so they end up, for example, having a higher probability of giving a “false positive” result where a lady will think that she’s ovulating while she’s not. In ladies who have polycystic ovaries because that test checks for a hormone called LH and we expect the LH to be a little bit elevated in ladies who have polycystic ovaries. Those tests are also not very accurate in ladies who have very low ovarian reserve because that subcategory of ladies also will have intrinsically an elevated LH and that LH will give a false result in the lab. I always tell my patients that it’s a good starting point whenever you are trying. Sometimes one of the drawbacks is that it makes the timing to time intercourse a little bit more mechanical, a little bit more medicated and some couple might feel the stress that we have to perform on this day and that day that might increase the stress around the fact of fertility, fertility trying to conceive, so this is one of the drawbacks. I wouldn’t recommend a specific brand, there are lots over the counter, lots of brands in pharmacies. Most of them are quite as accurate, they always range in accuracy between 96, 97%. Always try to read the insert to make sure that you are doing the test at the right time on the of the day because I know that some of my patients, for example, they get into the habit of checking more than once the test per day which is not a very healthy habit, it does increase the stress as well, so make sure to follow the manufacturer’s advice but it’s a good starting point in ladies trying to conceive.

Most of the commercially available kits now that look for ovulation are very reliable in terms of picking up the LH surge. Some of them will also be picking up rising estrogen levels which indicate pre-ovulation in terms of hormone production from the pre-ovulatory follicle. So, I think those kinds of things can be very useful.

Ovulation tests, fertility monitors and all these kinds of tests etcetera they can be useful but not must be used in the systematic basis. Not every month we should do the LH test. They are very expensive and this is already one reason to not do it every month. Afterwards there are tests that can be done frequently that give us false-positive results – they can say that the ovulation is now and in fact, the ovulation never existed or the ovulation was 2 days ago. They are not very precise tests.
If someone wants to really monitor ovulation and see well – the only scientific method should be an ultrasound scan and blood test. This is the only worldwide approved way to see the ovulation of the woman.
For once in every 5-6 month it is not a bad idea but it should not be done every month.

Generally, if the woman has regular periods it is suggestive of ovulation so, they don’t need any ovulation kit. Some of the patients can actually either identify some symptoms suggestive of ovulation, like mid cycle pain, breast tenderness and all so. All these suggest that they are ovulating and generally, there is no need for other ovulation kits which are available over the counter. The urinary kits, they are good but they can cause some unnecessary stress as well when women are trying to focus only on the ovulation kit. The kit could miss out on an LH surge and falsely give an impression that they are not ovulating and which can cause more worry for the patient. If they are really infrequent periods, like every few months, there is no point in testing ovulation because it is clear that they would benefit with ovulation induction if the periods are slightly irregular, like only one to two weeks apart. They may consider using the kit to help them but in practice, generally, when I see couples, the suggestion that to have increased the frequency of intercourse to every two to three days has benefited them more to conceive rather than do the ovulation kits which are not cheap either. So, most couples prefer increased regular frequency of intercourse every two to three days in couples where the woman has irregular periods.