• What is the sensor for?
• How does it work?
• How do I use it?
• The science
• Why is Ovacue superior to other fertility monitors?
  

The newest OvaCue Fertility Monitor represents a major advance for women looking to identify their complete fertile window. OvaCue works by measuring your electrolyte levels which change in concert with your ovulatory cycle. Now, with one simple handheld device, you can accurately measure your unique hormonal changes and visually track your cycle with an interactive calendar.

Zetek has been manufacturing and selling FDA approved fertility monitors for over 20 years. We have helped thousands of couples conceive. We provide personalized customer support—if needed, we'll track your cycles with you.

Simply place a spoon-sized sensor on your tongue for five seconds each morning and the OvaCue will automatically record your fertility for the day. The OvaCue tracks the readings in memory and indicates your most fertile days graphically on a calendar.

Zetek’s Electrolyte Method™ has been proven to be 98.3% accurate at monitoring ovulation in numerous studies, including those sponsored by the National Institutes of Health and published in peer-reviewed journal articles.

The OvaCue requires no urine sampling and can be used for many years with no additional purchases required. The OvaCue comes complete with the base unit, sealed oral sensor, carrying case, owner’s manual, battery and a free pregnancy test.

Having advance notice gives you the ability to time intercourse before ovulation, which is the only way to conceive.

About a week before ovulation, your body begins giving signs that you are beginning to be fertile. OvaCue detects these signs up to 7 days before ovulation.

Sperm must be waiting when the egg is released, as intercourse timed in advance of ovulation is the only way you can conceive a baby. However, advance notice is only half of what you need to plan intercourse. Since the window for successful fertilization can be as short as a day or less, you also need accurate prediction as the time of ovulation draws close. Some fertility monitors give lengthy notice, but also give “false positives” eight or more days in advance and may continue giving false positives even after ovulation has occurred.

Since you cannot conceive after you have ovulated, successfully timing conception depends on the accuracy of your fertility monitor. Only the OvaCue Fertility Monitor gives you sufficient notice and marks your complete fertile window (with use of the optional vaginal sensor) with virtually no false positive readings—98.3% accurate in NIH-supported testing.

Using the OvaCue is simple. Starting on day two of your cycle, just put the spoon-sized sensor on your tongue for three seconds first thing each morning. The OvaCue takes your electrolyte reading and automatically computes:

• Your current cycle day
• Fertility status for today (darker colors equal higher fertility)
• Peak fertility days (your best chance to conceive)
• When ovulation occurred (with optional vaginal sensor)
• Start and end of fertile window (when you can conceive)

The OvaCue tracks your readings in memory and indicates your most fertile period, beginning five to seven days before ovulation until ovulation occurs.

• days of lowest fertility
• days of increasing fertility
• days of highest fertility. Have intercourse every day
• ovulation confirmed (requires vaginal sensor; marks end of fertile period)

OvaCue’s reliability takes the guesswork and the stress out of identifying your most fertile time. You can plan your activities well in advance for the best chance of conception.

The OvaCue tracks your hormonal changes and maintains a record for four months running. You can review your readings or add new readings with a simple touch of a button. You can also download the information to a Windows computer and use the OvaGraph software to track your cycles over your entire fertile lifetime.

If you want to confirm the time of your ovulation every month and mark the end of your fertile window, you will want to use the optional vaginal sensor.

Couples who are ready to be pregnant should plan for intercourse the day OvaCue defines as your most fertile day. Remember, you must have intercourse before ovulation to conceive. If your menstrual period does not begin within two or three weeks, a pregnancy test may be in order.

How do I use the OvaCue fertility monitor?

Just put a spoon-sized sensor on your tongue for three seconds each morning. The OvaCue ® does the rest?

The OvaCue is a sophisticated electronic device, but it couldn't be easier to use. You simply put a spoon-sized sensor on your tongue for three seconds each morning. The OvaCue does the rest!

A simple menu gives you access to full knowledge of your fertility. If you would like to know your fertility status for the current day or the most fertile days of your current cycle, just select the "Calculate Fertility" option. With the 5 to 7 days advance notice the OvaCue provides, you can begin to "plan your miracle."

How to confirm ovulation

You can also use the OvaCue to confirm ovulation by using the optional vaginal sensor, which measures changes in the electrolytes directly from the reproductive tract. You simply connect the vaginal sensor (about the size of a tampon) to the handheld unit and take a five-second reading each day during your most fertile period.

The handheld computer tracks your hormonal changes and maintains a record for four months running. You can review your readings or add new readings with a simple touch of a button. You can also download the information to another computer and use the OvaGraph software to chart your cycles from now on.

Couples who are ready to be pregnant should plan for intercourse the day the Cue Peak is identified and every other day after that until ovulation is confirmed. If your menstrual period does not begin within two or three weeks, a pregnancy test may be in order.

You're not alone

Detailed instructions explaining how to use the OvaCue are in the Owner's Manual that is included with each cue. If you have any questions or need help understanding your readings and what they mean, you can always call Zetek at 1-800-FOR-CUES. Zetek has experienced staff available M-F from 8-5pm MST, who are happy to assist you in your family planning.

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The OvaCue ® ovulation computer tracks your cycles electronically for four months running. No need to keep charts by hand?

Keeping charts and graphs for tracking cycles and predicting ovulation is no longer necessary.

The OvaCue Fertility Monitor measures daily changes in the electrolytes in your saliva. It stores your cycle data in memory and predicts and confirms ovulation automatically.

The ovulation calculators on many popular web sites are typically crude tools that tell you what you already know. OvaCue measures the hormonal changes that presage ovulation. Used daily, it learns your patterns and reports when you are likely to be most fertile.

What if I like keeping a record?

For those who like to keep a written record, you can still keep one yourself using the Cue Charts and guidelines found below. Alternatively, install OvaGraph software on your Windows-based PC and begin to download your cycle data to your computer. Track your personal cycle data for a lifetime, if you wish, and graph it to your heart's content.

In brief, the user plots a numeric reading on a Cue chart each day. About a week before ovulation, electrolytes such as sodium and potassium appear in elevated amounts in the saliva. It is this Cue Peak on the graph that announces the beginning of the ovulatory process.

A few days after the Cue Peak, the luteinizing hormone (LH) in the blood increases and decreases very sharply over a period of 24 hours (the LH peak). As LH reaches its peak in the blood, there is a definite change in the reproductive tract which can be measured by the Cue vaginal sensor. Mucus secretion increases, and the electrolyte content of the mucus changes. This change causes a sharp, clear drop and increase in these readings. It is this nadir that the Cue uses to confirm ovulation.

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How does the OvaCue System work?

OvaCue ® Fertility Monitor provides up to 7 days notice of ovulation?with 98% accuracy.

The OvaCue ® Fertility Monitor uses Zetek's exclusive Electrolyte Method, the best method available for ovulation prediction and detection.

OvaCue measures the mix of electrolytes in your saliva. It stores and processes this information to precisely define your time of peak fertility.

The OvaCue is essentially a handheld ovulation computer. A press of a button tells you your fertility status for the day and on what day you can expect to be most fertile.

Ovulation prediction basics

Your body prepares for ovulation with complex changes in the output of hormones. About a week before ovulation, a threshold of increasing amounts of estrogen is reached. At this time, one ovum is selected from among the many available in either of the two ovaries. This one ovum begins to grow and the uterus begins to be prepared to receive a possibly fertilized egg.

At the same time, other hormones are changing the amounts of minerals like sodium and potassium (electrolytes) that are kept or discarded by the body. This is what produces the Cue Peak , a high point in the salivary readings of electrolytes.

The OvaCue stores this information about your body and uses the patterns to accurately predict your time of ovulation.

Optional vaginal sensor to confirm ovulation

Most of our customers also purchase the optional vaginal sensor, which measures similar electrolytic changes in the reproductive system. While not required for predicting ovulation, the vaginal sensor allows you to confirm the onset and end of ovulation.

Tested and proven

The OvaCue is a patented device that has been proven, in a National Institutes of Health funded study, to accurately predict ovulation in 98% of cycles tested. OvaCue has been recommended by doctors and has helped hundreds of couples conceive. The OvaCue is safe, reliable, and portable and has been approved for use as an aid to conception by the FDA and the Vatican.

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OvaCue Fertility Monitor ® is the only practical method that both predicts and confirms ovulation.

Timing and accuracy are linked

True advance notice depends on the accuracy of the method. Only OvaCue gives you sufficient notice with virtually no false positive readings:

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Practicality and value

You have probably studied various methods of increasing your chances of conception. Perhaps you have tried many of them. If so, here is what you've found:

Ultrasound: Nothing beats ultrasound for precisely determining the time of release of the ovum. The problem is that ultrasound cannot predict ovulation, only confirm it. Therefore, unless you are being scanned several times a day, you are unlikely to receive confirmation in time to do anything about it. While useful in a medical context to establish whether you are indeed ovulating, ultrasound is expensive and impractical for planning conception.

Blood serum LH: Measuring LH in the blood is an excellent method for predicting ovulation in a medical context. It can give several hours notice of ovulation, allowing a reasonable amount of time for deposition of semen. However, the necessity of frequent blood sampling makes it expensive and inappropriate for home use.

Urine LH sticks: After LH has peaked in the blood, it eventually makes its way into the urine and can be measured by a urine LH stick. The problem is, that by the time LH makes it to the urine, it is usually too late for sperm to be deposited in time to reach the egg while it is still viable, even if intercourse or AI occurs immediately. Not only does this method often provide insufficient advance notice, but frequent urine samples are required and stick color changes are not always easily interpreted. In addition, in Zetek's NIH Phase II study, using various urine LH tests, a positive reading was not reached at all in 24% of the cycles we tested.

Temperature: You can't beat the price, but measuring basal body temperature (BBT) is useful only for confirming that ovulation has occurred. Again, it's too late. At best, you can establish a pattern to your cycles and hope to guess correctly next month.

Ferning microscopes: Makers of these tools have picked up on the fact that salivary characteristics can indicate the onset of ovulation. However, the accuracy of these products is dependent on the user's ability to interpret the results. In addition, extraneous factors such as stress?and even the process of collecting saliva itself?can distort the results.

Method comparison summary

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Ovulation Science, the Electrolyte Method and Ovacue

Patented method -- Proven results

In studies overseen by the National Institutes of Health, Ovacue products using Zetek's patented Electrolyte Method? have been shown to predict ovulation with 98% accuracy.

You need advance notice

Release of the ovum or egg is called ovulation. Once the egg is released from the ovary and matures in the fallopian tubes, it will survive and be able to be fertilized for a very short time, at most about 24 hours and as a little as 8 hours. The other half of the conception process is the spermatozoa (sperm). Healthy sperm can fertilize an egg for about 48 hours or more after their deposit in the woman. Sperm requires up to 24 hours to reach the egg.

It takes a woman's body several days to prepare for ovulation. This process is managed by complex interaction of hormones. About a week before ovulation, a threshold of increasing amounts of the hormone estrogen is reached. At this time, one ovum is selected from among the many available in either of the two ovaries. This one ovum begins to grow and the uterus begins to be prepared to receive a possibly fertilized egg.

At the same time, other hormones are changing the amounts of minerals like sodium and potassium (electrolytes) that are kept or discarded by the body. This is what produces the Cue Peak , a high point in the Cue salivary readings of electrolytes.

Why salivary electrolyte readings are better than urine LH

A few days after the Cue Peak, the luteinizing hormone (LH) in the blood increases and decreases very sharply over a period of 24 hours (the LH peak). LH is the hormone that triggers the release of the ovum from the ovary. The egg is released within 24 hours after the LH is at its highest in the blood.

Some time (as much as 12 hours) after the peak of LH in the blood, LH is also present in the urine. It is this increasing concentration of urine LH that can be detected by the different brands of urine-based ovulation predictors . Prediction using this method depends on the exact relationships between the time of the highest blood LH, the time the urine stick begins to see the LH, and the time of the measurement. At best, the time between the urine signal and actual ovulation cannot be more than 24 hours in advance. At worst, it is seen only after ovulation has already occurred, offering no chance of conception for the current cycle.

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