Using Saliva to Test to Know Your Fertility Cycle

There are two main ways to find out when you ovulate, using your urine on a urine testing strip, or using a drop of saliva on an Ovulation Test Kit. The first one using urine can be quite messy as our clients and followers often tell us.

They tell us they much prefer the saliva based test kit as it is much easier to use, less messy and more convenient. So here we are giving you some key information about Knowhen’s Advanced Saliva Ovulation Test Kit.

How it Works (What is the Science behind KNOWHEN® Saliva Testing)

• Saliva Ferning: Our Knowhen’s Advanced Saliva Ovulation Test works by detecting changes in the user’s oestrogen levels, as these rise when ovulation approaches. This change in the oestrogen hormone has the effect of increasing the salinity (salt level) in saliva.
  
  You may even be able to feel this on your tongue as your taste buds react to this increase in saltiness taste.
  
  
• The Visualization: The sample of saliva that you provide, by putting the drop of saliva onto your finger tip, and from there onto a glass slide, is allowed to air dry on the glass slide and as it has high salinity, the salt crystals in the saliva form a “fern-like” pattern when viewed under the provided mini-microscope.
  
  This pattern is often referred to as “ferning” as they resemble the leaves of a fern plant.
  
  
• Interpreting Results: The results that you see when you look through the microscope in the Test Kit can look like:
  
  
  • Isolated spots/dots which typically indicate a non-fertile period as there is no ferning pattern at all.
    
    
  • Some lines and small ferns present and viewed indicate that you, as the user, are approaching ovulation (you are a few days before your ovulation peak).
    
    
  • Defined ferns throughout the sample (Full Ferning): Indicates the most fertile window—ovulation is about to occur or has just occurred.
    
    This is the best time for you to start your natural family planning activities, doing them in this 5 day window so that you increase your chances of becoming pregnant.
    
    
• How Long to Do the Testing: We recommend that you test yourself on a daily basis using the Test Kit and our App which then helps you to keep track of your ovulation cycle and fertility window from month to month.
  
  If you do this for several months, say about 4 or 5, the results will build up and give you a degree of insight into the regularity of your fertility cycle. 
  
  
• Natural Family Planning: You will also be able to plan your family planning activities more naturally and without the stress or pressure that normally comes at this time.
  
  If you do this with your partner, just having this type of discussion means you are communicating on a very intimate subject, and it helps you both get or feel closer together.
  After all, planning to have a baby is something very dear to any woman’s heart and it also is for a soon to be father.
  
  Being able to hold a baby and feel the sea change in yourself, as the feeling of maternal (or even paternal) love sweeps over you, cannot be over emphasised, it is that impactful. 
  It brings a whole new dimension of love into our hearts and our lives, meaning into our thoughts and centre points for conversations that are easier to have and have often.

For older women who may be undergoing perimenopause, when the production of hormones oestrogen and progesterone fluctuates wildly (which also means the ovulation is very variable and cannot be predicted), it is even more important to be able to identify when ovulation actually occurs, or even to find out that it has not.

Key Features and Benefits:

Important Notes for When to Use the KNOWHEN® Advanced Ovulation Test Kit

• When Should I Test Myself? It is recommended to test once a day, first thing in the morning upon waking up, before eating, drinking, smoking, or brushing teeth, as these activities can disrupt the results.
  
  
• How do I best collect a Sample? To collect a sample in the best way, take care to clean your finger first, then lick the tip of your finger to collect a sample of saliva without air bubbles.
  
  
• Can the Kit Help me to prevent pregnancy? Like most home ovulation tests, this kit is designed to help plan for pregnancy by identifying the fertile window. It is not a reliable method for preventing pregnancy and you should always use a condom, or use contraceptive methods as advised by your doctor.