Are you sure you’re Ovulating?

It may surprise you to know that ‘ovulation’ is actually the main event of your cycle, not your period

 We cannot produce and release a healthy, viable egg unless ovulation is taking place.

Ovulation is also how our bodies make hormones. We need to ovulate to produce and regulate healthy amounts of oestrogen and progesterone. Without ovulation occurring there is no corpus luteum created, and without that no progesterone is released.

Progesterone boosts the neurotransmitter ‘GABA’ which helps provide us with a sense of calm and relaxation, deepens sleep quality and has an anti-inflammatory affect.

A healthy cycle = healthy ovulation which means that there is a significantly higher chance of successful fertilisation and hormone production.

How do you know that you didn’t ovulate?

You are on hormonal based contraception - this prevents ovulation from taking place.

Your cycle was shorter than 21 days – On average healthy cycles are between 21-35 days long. Optimal is between 25-30 days. If your cycle is less than 21 days most likely you didn’t ovulate.

Your cycle lasted longer than 35 days – most likely your cycle was anovulatory or you had a very long follicular phase. It is not possible to have a luteal phase longer than 16 days (except with pregnancy and the rare case of a corpus luteum cyst).

Your bleed lasts longer than 7 days – normally a menstrual cycle bleed lasts 7 days with under 80ml of blood. If your cycle lasts longer than this it might be anovulatory bleed. Anovulatory bleeds can be both light and heavy. Don’t assume because you bled that month you ovulated.

Your cycle had no temperature rise - A sign that you’ve ovulated is that afterwards you experience a rise in temperature by around half a degree triggered by the release of progesterone from the corpus luteum.

You had no distinctive positive LH test – Your LH rises roughly 24-48 hours before ovulation occurs. If there is no LH surge, this is either an indicator that ovulation did not take place; or if your LH stays raised; or fluctuates throughout the cycle, this could be symptomatic of PCOS. Prolonged elevated LH prevents your ovarian follicles from developing properly and stimulates them to make excess androgens. It’s important to remember that LH test kits are not always 100% accurate and some tests are more reliable than others.

You had a negative progesterone test – if you produced progesterone in your luteal phase this is a sign that ovulation occurred. Make sure to test on the right day for you (5-7 days after ovulation).

You didn’t produce any egg white cervical fluid – This is a great biomarker to easily track that tells you ovulation is about to occur/occurring. The consistency should be clear, slippery and stretchy and does not easily evaporate. It makes sense that this is the time in the month when you are most naturally lubricated!

Why is your cycle irregular?

Are your periods missing, unpredictable - you never know when they’re going to show up?

Absent periods and irregular cycles are a sign that something is amiss and that ovulation (the main event of our cycle) is not occurring.

What are the possible causes:

Post-Birth Control Syndrome – it can take women some months to restore their regular cycle after being on birth control.

PCOS – irregular periods with absent ovulation are one of the main markers for the diagnosis of PCOS.  

Elevated Prolactin – prolactin is a pituitary hormone that stimulates breast development and breast milk. When elevated it suppresses ovulation and your monthly cycles as a result.

Hypothalamic Amenorrhea – defined as lack of menstrual period for more than 6 months when no medical diagnosis can be found. This is normally a result of inadequate nutrients/calories and/or high levels of stress see below:

HPA Axis Dysfunction – a pattern of chronic stress and abnormal regulation of cortisol which can impact hormone signal messaging from the hypothalamus to the ovaries.

Coeliac Disease – undiagnosed coeliac disease can cause you to have irregular cycles and absent periods by creating an auto-immune inflammatory response in the body.

Thyroid Disorder  – both hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid) and hyperthyroidism (overactive thyroid) can significantly disrupt your cycle.

Perimenopause -  it’s normal for your cycles to shorten and become less regular in your forties as your FSH pulses increase disrupting ovulation from occurring.

If you’re suffering from absent/irregular cycles and want to dig deeper to understand the root cause and are interested in utilising Nutritional Therapy to optimise hormone balance and fertility for the future - then Eleanor’s ‘Restore Your Cycle’ programme is the right package option for you.