Product Review: First Response Fertility Test

I saw the commercial for First Response Fertility Tests probably close to a year ago now and even though I was completely annoyed at how the commercials seemed to associate infertility with age, the POAS-aholic in me couldn't resist.  So when I started my first cycle after Henry this past week, I made a trip to Wa.lmart (who has the best price at 20 bucks for 2, also there is a coupon for 2 bucks off on the FR website) to purchase the test.  The night before cycle day 3, I set out the box in front of the toilet with my pee cup (yes I still have a special pee cup in my bathroom cabinet) so that I wouldn't forget since the test instructions say that you have to use first morning urine on cycle day 3 (and no telling how long it will take for me to get another cycle since my cycles are forever long!!).  Woke up on cycle day 3 to my old pee cup friend and took the test, but I wasn't too nervous waiting for the results since I already knew that I have an elevated fsh (around 10) for my age.  According to the directions, after a wait time of 30 minutes if the line is lighter than the control line or not there at all, then you have a "normal" fsh.  Well my line was not as dark as the control line and that left me a little confused.  After all, it has been almost two years since I had my fsh tested so my egg supply couldn't have gotten better over the years.  I found myself staring at the lines over and over just like I previously stared at opks and pregnancy tests, and there was lots of googling and even calling the company.  Through my google search, I found that most fsh urine tests have a sensitivity of 25 mIU/ml.  Based on what I've read about fsh in the past, 25 is basically game over for using your own eggs because most REs won't try with those numbers.  Since I was told by several customer representatives that the sensitivity of their fertility test was "proprietary information" (although they have no problem publishing the sensitivity of their pregnancy tests and opks), I can't help but assume that it is the same sensitivity as other fsh urine tests used in medical offices (think the urine tests are typically just used to screen for menopause).  I have a huge problem with this because even though some women with an extremely high fsh level might take the test and get a positive and immediately go to a dr to get tested.  Other women might see that their line was kinda dark but not dark enough and assume that their egg supply or quality has nothing to do with their fertility problems.  This helpful link explains fsh and a chart for typical lab values and corresponding success with fertility treatments.  Take a look at a fsh of 15 for instance with less of a response to stimulation and a lower embryo quality...if the sensitivity of the FR test is what I assume (and again no way to know since the company won't say), a woman with a 15 fsh would have tested negative.  The really annoying customer service rep guy that I talked to kept saying that my results meant that I had an "adequate ovarian reserve."  I really wanted to start laughing at him when he tried to explain fsh to me, but I decided to give the poor guy a break.  


So in my opinion should you buy this test and try it?  Not unless you feel like paying twenty bucks to pee on a stick that isn't going to give you a definitive answer (unless your fsh is sky high...and not sure you would want to find out that from peeing on a stick).  My advice...get your RE or your GYN to run your cycle day 3 FSH number and know the exact number.


And remember...be your own advocate!


Okay here is a pic of my stick taken from my cell phone so it is poor quality and the line looked darker in person.