False Positive with Clearblue Digital ovulation test

[Juhannus]

I had a false positive with the Clear Blue ovulation test last week on the 6th of June. So I started testing again and got a positive today 13 June. I had a positive ovulation test result with a cheap one last month on the 15 May. I looked at the test stick too and there were 2 clear lines. On the false positive the test screen was partly flooded with just one test line.

So I think I have ovulated this time. It's annoying that the CB test tells you to ignore the test sticks when clearly the false positive was just one line

Has this happened to anyone else?

[Juhannus]

bumping this up

[MrsHuxtable]

I'm not sure I understand what you're saying?

How can the OPK have been wrong? You know you can get many + in the same cycle because OPK only show the surge that's about to happen but they don't tell you if you indeed went on to ovulate or not.

[Juhannus]

What I'm wondering about is the test stick result being different to the CB digital result. On my first time using the CB the test stick was different and I thought it was too early to test positive.

So I was feeling doubtful and that's why I came on here, to see if this happened to anyone else

[Juhannus]

I emailed a doctor on the Clearblue website and they didn't know either and suggested I phone their technical team.

"The technical team who are the experts at these tests 0845 607 6596"

I get nervous on the phone, I have bipolar so don't feel up to phoning :(

[blueamber]

You said the line was flooded? Maybe there was too much urine or it leaked on the part where the lines are? However, I'm not sure if that would change the result.

The regular CB tests measure the same thing as the cheap ones.

[Juhannus]

Thanks blueamber

I was really careful doing the test. So I guess if I got the control line the test worked. I realise both tests measure the same thing. The CB just is less stressful to read as you get a smiley face and don't have to worry about comparing two lines.

[Juhannus]

And I guess I don't understand how one control line comes up as a smiley face

It feels better if the test stick has at least two lines when you get a positive smiley face

[MrsHuxtable]

I think you need to relax and stop worrying about the OPK. They really are hugely unreliable. The only way to know for sure if you do ovulate is through temperature charting or blood tests.

Do you have reasons to think that you have trouble with your fertility?

The best way to achieve pregnancy is to have sex every 2-3 days throughout your cycle.

[Juhannus]

I thought that the clearblue digital OPK was much more reliable as it's easier to interpret the result. Hence my questions.

I'm in the process of being referred for fertility tests

[MrsHuxtable]

The digital results are easier to interpret in the sense that you get a clear positive or negative but they still don't tell you much.

They give you a positive result when they detect your LH hormone surge that happens 12-48 hours (or something) before ovulation. However, they don't tell you if you then really go on to ovulate or not and you can have many surges (and positive OPK) within the same cycle without ever ovulating. Does that make more sense?

For example, I was still breastfeeding DD when ttc DC2. Because of this my hormones were all over the place. I was using OPK (both digital and cheap strips). I would get a smiley face on day 7, then day 13, then day 23, then day 30 or something. Now we know I didn't ovulate 4 times in one cycle. What happened was that my body was trying to ovulate, the OPK picked that up but because my hormones were to low/high, my body didn't manage and tried again later. Had I now believed the instructions of the OPK, I would have had sex after the first + result on day 7 and then left it for the rest of the month and missed ovulation.

I obsessively used OPK for 2 months before I realised how crap they are.

I wish you the best of luck with your ttc journey but I really wouldn't get to hung up about a OPK result.

[swlondonnanny]

Hi Juhannus,
Had the same thing happening about a year ago. Used to do the clearblue digital OPK for a long time - there were always 2 dark lines on the actual stick when I took it out after getting a smiley face (positive). Used to do cheap internet ones as well at the same time for a couple of months just to see what they look like when I get positive on clear blue ones ( guess just to check if I interpreted cheap internet ones properly as was sometimes confused how dark the test line needs to be to control line) . Then last July I got positive on clearblue 3 days in a row ( with only one line on the actual stick) and negative on internet cheap one ( no second line at all) and no signs of ovulation,no EWCM, nothing. Kept testing and got another smilye one about 5 days later, this time with 2 strong lines on the stick + positive internet test + all the EWCM etc.
So yes, you can get false positive on clearblue digital OPK and that's why I stopped using them.
The cheap internet ones work the same ( better actually as don't think I ever got false positive one with those and I use them a lot) and get 100s of them for the price of CB digital ones.
Good luck with testing with pregnancy test this month

[Juhannus]

Thank you both for sharing your experiences. I guess I fell for the Clearblue marketing. They make it sound so simple

I'll continue testing for the rest of the month out of curiousity. I have ordered a BBT thermometer. I hope I don't get too stressed out with that. All the testing is stressful and I hoped to have more control doing the opks.

Thanks for your good wishes :)

[Shashee]

Default Clear Blue digital OPK
Hello, looking for some advice on OPK tests. I am currently on Clomid for "stronger" ovulation as I ovulate every month but my post O progesterone was a bit on low. Every month for the past 7 months I have gotten a peak smiley face OPK to indicate my LH surge and I usually feel in my self I'm ovulating at the time. Although this month I tried testing in afternoons rather than morning as it seemed recommended online but no LH surge? I have had 1 week of flashy smilies but I know you can get that because of the Estrogen increase on Clomid so don't know if I didn't O or if I just missed the surge? Also I have been drinking more water during the day to increase CM so maybe my urine was a bit diluted for testing later in the day? My partner and I BD on day 10, 12 & 14 as suggested and I felt like I was definitely about to O on day 12,13 & 14 then discomfort went by day 15. Currently day 18 and getting flashing smileys! how long should I keep testing for and should we keep trying this month? I don't think I would be O this late in the cycle. Should I trust myself more than the tests? I do apologise for the long winded post just stressing out and didn't know if any body else had similar results using OPK's on Clomid? Thanks

[Laura2273]

I recently bought clear blue ovulation test. I started logging my cycle and the first one lasted 52 days which made me worry that I wasn’t ovulating. First day I had a circle, second day a flashing smiley, 3rd day I had a solid smiley, but as someone has mentioned above the window was partly flooded. The annoying thing is once you get a solid smiley it doesn’t let you test again for 48 hours! I don’t know whether it’s a false positive or not. I need to know if I’m ovulating it’s worrying me. Thanks for any feedback!

[Cookiebean3]

my cycle is 29 days and I tested today CD9 like the box said and I got a peak reading. I'm not due to ovulate till the 26 or 27th
could this be a false reading?