Why ovulation strips lie when you have PCOS

found a study while trying to figure out why my OPKs keep flashing positive two or three times a month. turns out with PCOS your baseline LH can already sit elevated bc of the LH:FSH ratio thing, so the strips pick up that baseline and read it as a surge even when nothing’s actually happening follicle-wise. the study was looking at false positive rates in PCOS patients specifically vs regular cycles and it was a lot higher than i expected.

explains so much. i had three “surges” in April alone per the strips but only one confirmed ovulation via BBT shift and progesterone draw on cycle day 21. wasted so much timing energy chasing phantom surges before i started cross checking with temp.

anyone else’s doc actually explain this to them beforehand or did you all find out the hard way like me. and if you’re lean PCOS did you need progesterone confirmation too or did BBT alone end up reliable enough for you

that’s such a common and frustrating experience with pcos. i definitely had to learn about the elevated baseline LH and its impact on OPKs the hard way too. it makes sense when you connect it back to the insulin resistance that

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