To not understand ovulation and periods?

[Walkingonsunshinewoaahhh]

Ok, I know I should definitely know this by my age (24) but I’ve only just realised that I don’t. I’ve tried googling and watching YouTube videos and I still can’t wrap my head around it.

what is ovulation?! Like, I know about periods obviously but I always presumed that was ovulation but it’s actually a different thing?

the reason I’m wondering is because I posted about having extremely irregular periods (anything between 30-100+ days between each period) and I could count on one hand how many periods I have in a year. Someone asked if I was ovulating normally and I realised ovulation is different to periods (I always thought it was the same thing!) and I don’t actually know if I’m ovulating on the months my periods are missing. I know you can get tests to check but what does ovulating mean and what does it mean if my periods are missing but I’m ovulating normally? Or if I’m not ovulating?

If anyone could explain this I would be seriously greatful!

When you were born, you had 1-2 million tiny eggs in your ovaries. Each month, one of those eggs (normally) begins to get bigger and ‘ripen’ a bit like an apple on a branch.

When the egg is big enough, your body produces the LH hormone to help the egg grow. Roughly 24 hrs after this ‘LH surge’ the egg is released from the ovary and starts to travel down the tube to the womb.

If the egg meets sperm on the way, it fertilises and implants into the womb. If it doesn’t, it carries on down and falls out of you, too small to see.

The word ovulation means the moment when the egg is released and starts travelling to the womb. A side effect of ovulation is that your mucus changes from sticky/creamy white, to slippery clear ‘egg white’ for a couple of days. Your temperature also goes up one degree as you ovulate and stays there until this cycle ends.

Meanwhile, your body has been growing thicker womb lining to help feed a baby. If you ovulate, but no egg implants in the womb, the womb sheds the lining and starts growing a new one.

The word period means when the womb lining starts to fall out. This is usually ten days after ovulation. A woman with a 28 day cycle ovulates on day 14; a woman with a 32 day cycle ovulated on day 18.

Ovulation sticks check to see if you had a surge in the LH hormone, when your body told itself “release the egg asap!” But, those sticks can’t tell you if an egg was really released. The only way to know for sure if you ovulated is to either get pregnant, or have internal ultrasound scans to monitor egg growth. In your situation, something is not right and ovulation sticks won’t tell you what, so I wouldn’t bother with them.

So, why are your periods not happening regularly? It means that some part of the process I described above has gone wrong, but I dunno what part. Most likely you aren’t ovulating every month, but it could mean something else. Ask a good gynaecologist.

Thanks so much everyone for explaining it, I actually understand it now!

It’s confusing because when I spoke to a doctor about it before he completely dismissed it and said it’s normal- I’m not saying it’s something bad going on but I definitely don’t think the way my periods are is normal. He basically said there’s no need to do more tests and the blood test when I was a teenager was to check my hormones and it was fine so he told me to basically just accept it. When I asked directly why my periods are like this he said he didn’t know but it was normal

its all so confusing!

everything else puberty-wise was normal apart from my periods.

I also never get cramps or period pain but I get really awful migraines- I usually get them round about my period but sometimes outside it too and they’re honestly awful at times and it feels like my head is going to explode. That’s the only thing I get and they started the month I started my period- I had never had a headache before then.

TMI alert- but it’s hard to tell if/when I’m ovulating because I’ve got the symptoms like mucus most of the time anyway- I’m never sure if it’s BV, a UTI, caused by the underwear I wear or just the way I am but it always feels really dry and sore down there (like I kind of dry friction pain) and I guessed the extra discharge was my bodys way of trying to fix that. Because of this it’s really hard to tell when it’s ovulation-related.

I’ve always had a gut feeling that something isn’t right with my periods but like I said I had a blood test and the doctor said there’s nothing wrong with me or my hormones so they said just to live with it. I wish I knew what was going on because it’s definitely something

I know a few people had mentioned going to the GP and I’m going to follow the advice and do that, but what should I be asking for from the GP?

Should I ask to get ovulation checked or something else? It’s just I’ve already had a blood test when I was a teenager and it showed no problems with my hormones so when I mentioned to my doctor recently that my periods were still not normal he said it’s fine and there’s nothing wrong with me and my blood test was fine and he said it’s normal to be irregular, so I don’t know if I need another blood test if that one was fine? Even if I push for one I really don’t think I’ll get it because he was very certain it’s normal.

I don’t want to seem like I’m searching for problems but at the same time there’s something causing my periods to be like this and I would feel better if I knew what it was so I can fix it ☹️

@Walkingonsunshinewoaahhh "but I definitely don’t think the way my periods are is normal" you would be astonished by the extent to which medical science has absolutely no clue about what is and isn't normal because women's bodies and especially our periods have been sooo understudied. So it's fair to say 'not typical' maybe but not 'not normal' iyswim.

We know (without a shadow of a doubt) that for a lot of women their periods don't fit a typical pattern but are healthy for them. It can, as some people's answers suggest, be a sign that something is wrong but it sounds like the likely conditions have been ruled out. Some women ovulate and don't have a period. Some women have periods when they're pregnant.

I'm not sure I would trust that PCOS has been ruled out if you haven't had a scan of your ovaries.

I think you need to just tell your GP that you need to get into a regular cycle. You keep asking about ovulating but no you arent ovulating. You probably ovulate about 2 weeks before your period which in your case is 4 times a year (ish). If you have sex on the day you ovulate you have about a 20% chance of falling pregnant. In other words without a regular cycle if you want children then you will have very, very little opportunity in working out when to have sex in order to catch ovulation and also the chance to be able to as you ovulate so irregularly

I think you should try and change to a different GP. This one sounds very dismissive. It’s definitely not normal to have such irregular periods, and he should be doing something to investigate your migraines.

Re discharge, it’s normal to get this throughout the month but the texture and quantity changes. When you are ovulating you will generally notice more of it and it has an egg white texture. That is to say it’s transparent and your can stretch a glob of it between your fingers and it doesn’t break. Other times in the month it might be more kind of paste-y/creamy and there won’t be so much.

One single blood test is meaningless. All it shows is what your hormone levels are at that one moment in time. You need to ask for a referral to gynecology for investigation. You don't have a cycle so a random blood test is pointless.

Have you ever had sex without a condom?

Have you ever had an STI test?

Your symptoms could be Chlamydia or PID or other STIs.

You really need a pelvic ultrasound.

If you ever want to have DC's you need to get to the bottom of this now. Unless this is fixed you will find TTC difficult.

No I’ve never. Yeah that’s what I’m worried about- im not trying to get pregnant right now but my period hasn’t fixed itself yet and im 24 so I doubt it’s suddenly going to become regular and in the future if I want to get pregnant I’m worried I won’t be able to!

Just posting a quick update- I tried to call the drs to make an appointment to get some more help with this but wasn’t able to get through unfortunately. It’s not an emergency or urgent so I’ll keep trying over the next few days

i saw some companies online advertising for private blood tests to check hormones- would it be worth me doing that in the meantime until I can see a doctor?

No. You don't know where you are in your cycle so you wont know what the hormone levels are supposed to be. All it will show is what your levels look like at this moment in time. It's meaningless without context.

Arm yourself with plenty of information before an appointment so that they don’t try and fob you off. Write down the dates of your last 3/4 periods (if you can remember them) so you can show how long your cycles are.

Read up on PCOS (it’s one of the most common causes of irregular periods so should be their starting point for investigations). Get informed and tell them you want further investigations. If the GP is not helpful ask for a second opinion.

This might help you, there is plenty of information on the site - www.verity-pcos.org.uk/symptoms-of-pcos.html

Sorry, meant to post this link - print it and take it with you to your appointment: www.verity-pcos.org.uk/diagnosing-pcos.html

Ring again and insist on an appointment to see a doctor. It's not something that can be resolved in a phone call. And you might find a woman doctor more understanding. You need to sort this out now, don't wait until you might want to conceive.

Walkingonsunshinewoaahhh If you're 24 now and last had tests in your teens then that's at least 5 years!! Your body will have changed a lot in those years so I repeat the recommendations of others to see a GP. If they say your blood tests are normal, ask them what the range for normal is and where you sit. If the range is 10-20 for something and you are showing 10 then it could be a problem although technically you are in 'normal' range!!!.

When you ovulate, the release of the ova also triggers a surge in progesterone which causes the lining of your womb to thicken (which is shed/becomes your period if a fertilised egg does not implant).

If you’re not ovulating regularly, then you won’t have regular periods. It might be worth having your hormone levels looked at too.

My older sister had very erratic periods like you. It was to do with her being underweight and also PCOS.

Hope you get to the bottom of this OP 😀

Honestly, I’ve learned so much from this thread (and I’ve also realised how little I knew about my own anatomy/menstruation/ovulation! At least I understand it now!)

Just a quick question, I had googled irregular periods because I was trying to find more information about how I could tell when it was due, and I ended up on a website which mentioned that pituitary tumours can cause it, and I’ve just completely worried myself about what is 100% nothing.

surely a pituitary tumour wouldn’t cause these symptoms since I began my period 10 years ago? And I’m assuming that it’s one of those very very very rare situations and that most irregular periods are NOT caused by tumours?

I’m not usually the type to worry especially about my healthy, but you know what it’s like- you Google a minor symptom and then panic when you see the results and it always shows the worst case scenario!

if anyone knew anything else about this so I could stop worrying myself silly I would really appreciate it! Next time I’ll avoid googling things like this so I don’t end up scaring myself about nothing!

Very unlikely. That would show in your hormone levels and you would have other symptoms.

That’s a big relief- thanks!
thats why you should never Google symptoms, you just end up scaring yourself about absolutely nothing!

OP you might try using a cycle tracking app, I use the glow app, it helped me see that periods were less irregular than I thought and it can also act as a log that you can show to the OB.

Thank you! I actually downloaded the Flo app yesterday and filled it in with all the dates of my last periods, the cycles inbetween each period are ranging from 30 days (unusual for me) up to 100 days, with an average of about 70 x

Just a quick update incase anyone is still about- I’ve decided to book an ultrasound of my ovaries to see if there’s any cysts or anything like that, I found a company that offer them privately and have got an appointment for tomorrow! Will update once I’ve had it.

bit of a drip feed but I’ve also just realised that some people in our family have a history of ovarian problems and my aunt actually died of ovarian cancer when she was in her early 50s- I’m NOT saying that I think this is ovarian cancer, I’m just saying I’d rather get it checked since we have a history of dodgy ovaries. x

Yeah, along with a massive libido just before and for a few days.

Your GP is wrong. Your periods aren't normal. Find a GP that has actually had a period.

I don't want to worry you, but I had a friend who had very irregular periods with long gaps between, and she had premature ovarian failure. So, she basically went into menopause in her 20s and she had to take HRT to protect her bones and her heart. Your periods need investigating if you want to have your own children in the future.

Sorry- another update!

im just waiting for the ultrasound appointment. Really nervous all of a sudden but hoping for some answers once and for all.

will update after the appointment x