testing fertility at home

The window of opportunity for conception is small, so it is important to determine when and if you are ovulating to optimize your chances of conceiving. One way to keep track of ovulation at home is to chart your fertility signs daily, including your basal body temperature (BBT).

Ovulation predictor kits can also be a convenient, simple and accurate method for documenting your ovulation. The kits may not work well for women with irregular cycles, when a woman is sick or under stress or for those who are taking infertility drug therapy.

• ovulation predictor tests
• mucous tests
• sperm tests

ovulation predictor tests

During the menstrual cycle, luteinizing hormone (LH) is secreted by the pituitary gland to induce the ovaries to release an egg. An increase in LH levels occurs 24 to 48 hours before ovulation. Ovulation predictor kits measure LH levels in a woman’s urine.

Ovulation predictor kits use strips that are dipped into urine, and then read against a color code to determine the LH level. The strips cost $20 to $50 per cycle. More advanced kits include a monitor to read the test strip results electronically, and can cost several hundred dollars plus the cost of strips.

While the tests identify an LH surge, they do not give information regarding whether the ovulation process is just beginning or just ending, and they give relatively little advance notice of ovulation. Testing may need to occur daily or twice a day over the time span of several days in order to adequately detect the timing of ovulation.

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mucous tests

Around the time of ovulation, a woman’s cervical mucus thins to allow sperm access to the uterus and fallopian tubes. A woman can test the consistency of her cervical mucus by collecting some of the mucus between her thumb and forefinger, then spreading the fingers apart to measure the consistency of the mucus. Near ovulation, the fingers may stretch over 1 to 2 inches apart with the thin stringy mucus still intact.

Saliva changes at the same time. Some kits predict ovulation by identifying mucous changes. A woman takes a saliva sample from her mouth, places it on a slide and examines it under a microscope to find a fern-like pattern indicative of ovulation. These kits, which cost $30 to $150, pose challenges in obtaining and interpreting the sample.

Some mucous tests do not rely on microscopic readings, but use an electronic sensor that is placed in the mouth. A monitor reads changes in the saliva’s electrolytes, which indicates mucous thinning and onset of ovulation. These kits cost $30 to $200.

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sperm tests

An at-home test for measuring sperm recently became available. The test measures whether a semen sample has a sperm concentration above the minimum fertility standard of 20 million per milliliter based on the density of the sample. However, it cannot measure the motility or shape of the sperm.

These at home tests can serve as preliminary aids to help determine the cause of the infertility. They are not designed to replace other tests that your healthcare provider may order or the physician’s expertise in interpreting the test results.

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