Progesterone Test - what are serum, follicular and mid luteal?

[onedaybaby]

I have the results for my 21 day progesterone test and now I am trying to interrupt them - I suspect the receptionist sniggered when I asked for a copy because I haven't got a clue what I am looking at!!

The breakdown is:
Serum Progesterone
Progesterone Follicular
Mid Luteal

I have googled but i haven't found anything meaningful!

[KnackeredCow]

I could be wrong, but the results normally also state the reference values for the test. The lab provides these so that the doctor can interpret them correctly.

At a guess (but I really could be wrong here) I reckon serum progesterone is your actual result and the other two are the reference values that the lab would expect to see in the follicular and mid-luteal stages of a cycle, depending on what point the test was done.

Might be worth phoning your doctor for a telephone consultation and asking them to explain. Presumably they've told you that your results are OK and that they show you are ovulating?

[onedaybaby]

Unfortunately both months showed no ovulation which is why I wanted to know what each bit meant to work out how bad the situation was! Thats a good point about it being a reference value; it would definitely help with interpreting the result....

[galwaygal]

I think I can help a bit (though I am no expert!)

Serum progesterone is - measuring progesterone level via blood test.


Progesterone follicular is the level it should be during the first part of your menstral cycle.


Mid luteal - is the time midway between ovulation and period, normally blood is taken at 6,7,8 or 9 days post-ovulation. This is often confused in some women as the test is also considered to be the day 21 test, which if you have a perfect 28 day cycle and ovulate on day 14 then day 21 is 7 days after ovulation and thus perfectly in the mid-luteal phase. But if you have a longer or shorter cycle the timing of the test would be incorrect on day 21 of your cycle.

this website progesterone therapy dot com gives the normal levels for each of the phases.
This comment on this website also mentions the definitions and importance of timing of the test.

So the important thing is do you know when you ovulated (if you did) and if you did not know when you ovulated did you have blood tests on other days (other than day 21) to check if you ovulate later etc. Do you have regular 28 day cycles? These are all important questions in knowing whether the day 21 test is valid in saying you are not ovulating.

I hope this helps?

[onedaybaby]

Hi Galwaygal, Thanks for the link, its an interesting read. I am beginning to get a very good understanding of this now.