If you’ve already started peeing on sticks, you are probably familiar with ovulation tests.  They track a hormone called luteinizing hormone (or LH for short) and are very important when it comes to figuring out the optimal time to have intercourse. Ovulation tests, also called ovulation predictor kits or OPKs, help find the fertile window, which is important when it comes to getting pregnant! So, are you all set if you are testing LH? Not quite! There’s another hormone that is equally important to LH.  It helps you figure out if you are actually ovulating and doing so in a healthy way.

PdG is short for Pregnanediol Glucuronide, which is the urine metabolite of progesterone. Progesterone is the hormone released by the ovary after ovulation. It helps to confirm ovulation and is also needed to support successful conception. Progesterone is the hormone precursor to PdG, which gets metabolized in the liver and ends up in urine. 

So why test PdG?

Well first, it is non-invasive. Because PdG is found in urine, it’s much easier to collect a sample for testing than traditional progesterone testing which typically involves a blood draw. Another bonus is that it’s much easier to do a PdG test multiple days in a row. This is important because progesterone (and therefore PdG) is a hormone that needs to go up and stay up for a period of days to confirm that healthy ovulation occurred.  While a one-time progesterone blood test can answer the “yes/no” question around whether or not ovulation occurred, it is too limited in scope to provide information on the quality, or health, of that ovulation.  

It would theoretically be possible to assess ovulation quality via progesterone blood measurement, but it would require multiple blood draws over multiple days.  Sounds expensive, inconvenient, and a bit unpleasant to us! 

The good news is that PdG tests now exist, making confirming successful ovulation easier than ever. In fact, Proov is the first and only FDA cleared PdG test to confirm ovulation at home!  It works by testing for PdG days 7-10 after peak fertility. Tracking PdG these days has been shown to confirm successful ovulation. Just pee, dip a strip, wait 5 minutes and read your results. 1 line indicates a positive result and 2 lines indicate a negative.

What to do with your Proov PdG test results?

The good news is that the information that Proov provides is useful, regardless of the result.  If tests are positive throughout the 7-10 day testing window, then great! You’ve confirmed successful ovulation that cycle. If results aren’t positive or are only positive for a couple days, it could indicate ovulation didn’t occur or that it occurred in a suboptimal way. Since problems with ovulation make it difficult to successfully conceive, having this information early on can save couples lots of time, money, and heartache. 

Is there a fix if my Proov PdG tests are negative?

Yes! In fact, sometimes the fix is as simple as diet and lifestyle changes or over the counter supplements. In other cases, the solution requires medication from your doctor. 

Ready to test your PdG?  Try Proov today!