Progesterone test showec that I ovulated but my period has still not arrived at day 42 - can anyone help?

[ludovic1]

Hi

I am hoping someone out there can put my mind at rest on this. I had a progesterone test at day 23 and it indicated i hadnt ovulated. So I did another one at day 28 which showed i had. This was back on sept 27th and my period still hasnt arrived. I am trying to work out if its possible to tell WHEN i ovulated because i can then at least work out when my period is due. I have irregular periods (the last one being 37 days) but i have read that once you have ovulated this part of the cycle is set. Which is why I am so confused wondering whether I could actually be pregnant. I did a pregnancy test 2 days ago but it was negative :( Was this too early to take or could by period not be due yet? any advice that would help would be greatly appreciated! :) I am currently on day 42 and i do not think i have ever been this late.

Hi. The luteal phase (the number of days between ovulation and the start of AF) is between 10 and 16 days in most women. On average it is 14 days.

The 27th Septmeber was day 28 of your cycle, which means the day 23 was 22nd September.

This means you ovulated at some point between 23rd and 26th September.

For the sake of example, if your luteal phase is 14 days and you ovulated on 26th September (the day before your progesterone test), AF would be due on 11th October (tomorrow). If your luteal phase is 16 days, it's due on Wednesday. Therefore, it could be that AF isn't due yet.

Perhaps wait till Wednesday and if there is still no show of AF do another pg test? Pg tests don't reach 99% accuracy until the day your period is due, so if you have conceived, the test you did may have given a false negative.

Good luck. Hope you get a BFP

thanks for explaining that to me. I find it all very confusing as I thought the whole point of a the "21 day test" was to test 7 days AFTER ovulation. Which was why i was counting my ovulation date as being the 20th Sept which is 7 days prior to the progesterone test (which is why i thought i was late). so it doesnt work like this?

It is really confusing though. My DH is a GP and he didn't realise that ovulation is about 14 days before AF until he did his diploma in family planning a couple of months ago. He always thought it was 14 days after AF!

Yep, the idea of the progesterone test is to do it 7 days before AF due, by which point a woman should have ovulated 3 - 9 days prior to the test(the average being 7). Lots of GPs don't realise this and state day 21. If you have a 35 day cycle, the progesterone test should be done on day 28.

The luteal phase is almost always the same from month to month. When AF is late, it is normally because ovulation has occurred later that month. If you look out for signs of ovulation, and work out how long your luteal phase is, then it becomes quite easy to predict when AF is due - helpful if your cycle tends to be irregular.

Anyway, I shall cross my fingers for you because you could still be pg. . If not, it might help timing BD more appropriately to coincide with ovulation.

It is actually possible to have periods without ovulating so the theory that ovulation happens 14 days before AF is not correct. Even normally fertile women have the occasional anovulatory cycle. I also had lengthy cycles and more often than not I did not ovulate.

This time around it sounds like you ovulated later in the cycle; the next time you have a period it may well be anovulatory again. This can happen more if cycles are generally irregular.

The day 21 test is based on a calendar monthly cycle which only around 12% of all women have so its not a great test.

You are better off having a day 2 test done to see what your LH and FSH levels are like (these are usually the same). If these two hormone levels are out of sync then ovulation will be affected. LH and FSH are two very important hormones that should be checked as they kickstart the ovulation process.

If your cycles continue to remain irregular I would ask the GP to refer you to a gynae at a subfertility unit. You need a diagnosis first and foremost and if the root cause of the irregularity is polycystic ovaries for instance or problems with the thyroid gland specialist help should be sought.