Progesterone level of 7.1, help!

[jenjen14]

Hi just joined up so sorry for not knowing the lingo yet!

My cycle is normally 30days. I got a positive OPK on CD19. I happened to be seeing my doctor on CD21 and after telling him we had been trying for a year he did a blood test. Got the results back today everything normal, only thing he raised was Progesterone level of 7.1. He said this indicated I hadn't ovulated (I'm not on any meds).

This made me a bit upset (I've been having a 'feeling' I'm pregnant) so I didn't explain to him I didn't get my positive OPK till day 19.

With a level of 7.1 possibly 2 days after ovulation, does this sound any good?

If I did ovulate on CD14 would 7.1 on CD21 be too low??

I'm currently CD28 so keeping everything crossed, Thanks!

The progesterone test only means something if taken at 6,7,8 or 9 dpo, any earlier or later and the level means nothing. So the test in your case of being possibly only 2dpo was a waste of time sorry.

Do you normally get postive opks around cd 19 and af around cd 30, if so that might indicate that your luteal phase is a little short. Would be worth getting further testing.

I don't normally do them, did one over 6 months ago and was positive on cd16. Just to confuse things even more I also got a positive OPK on cd13 of this cycle! I have heard that its possible to ovulate twice in one month but I think its just an incorrect test, don't know which one to count tho.

If I did get a positive OPK on cd13 would 7.1 on cd21 be any good??

Thanks

Ideally you want a progesterone level in double figures to confirm ovulation. To give you an idea my last blood test to confirm ovulation had a level of 75.

jenjen - If you did ovulate on day 13, then the figure of 7.1 indicates that you did not ovulate. The fact that you got another postiive opk on cd19, might suggest that your body geared up to ovulate after cd13, but did not ovulate and set itself up to ovulate again after cd19. If you did ovulate on cd 19 then your period is likely to turn up 3 or 4 days late. You could request another "day 21" progesterone test on cd27 to see if you have ovulated late from the positive opk on cd19.

Howver you might just be having an annovulatory cycle, which can happen normally in all women, in which case you period might just turn up like usual, but you will not have ovulated. During an annovulatory cycle, the body can gear up to ovulate a few times, giving rise to a few LH rises and positive opks during that time. HTH

I'd just add that if you don't ovulate, your period will not necessarily turn up as usual. I have PCOS which means I ovulate very irregularly. The longest I've gone without a period is 175 days, because I did not ovulate!

The hormone balance is very delicate and one is needed to trigger the next. If you don't ovulate your body does not produce progesterone and it is the fall in progesterone levels that trigger your period. Some women will bleed after an annovulatory cycle, but this is technically a breakthrough bleed (ie the lining disintegrating of its own accord) rather than a true period.

Thanks for the info,

I was surprised to hear that I may not have ovulated as I often think I feel an ovulation pain and my cycle is a very predictable 30 days.

Does a very regular cycle indicate that I normally ovulate, or not necessarily?
My periods last about 2-3 days and are very heavy on day one with a lot of cramping for about 3 hours (makes it very dificult to do anything productive in these 3 hours!). My Doctor said this usually indicates I ovulated but I have never heard this before??

Thanks

FrankelDeBeauvior- are you sure you dont mean 7.5? I was looking at what the levels of pregesterone should be in pregnancy and and it suggested you wouldn't reach levels that high untill 2nd trimester!
Heres the web site

www.fertilityplus.com/faq/hormonelevels.html#progesterone

jenjen are you in the UK? I think the fertility plus site must be foreign and using a different test. In the UK, a level of 30+ is generally indicative of ovulation.

As you got a positive OPK on day 19, you probably won't have ovulated (assuming you did) until day 20 or 21. The progesterone test needs to be done 7 days post ovulation to be meaningful. Your test means nothing.

But if you ovulated on day 14 and this was in fact 7 dpo, it is indicative that you did not ovulate.

I think you probably ovulated late (around day 20) and therefore your score is meaningless - try and get another test for 7 days after you think you ovulated.
I have heard about people getting positive opks at different times to ovulation, sometimes after! But generally I find them unreliable.
For me, watching mucus and most importantly taking BBT is the best way to see (albeit usually retrospectively) when you ovulated.

Thanks, I'm not going to do the temp thing, I'm even thinking about not doing the OPK. The way I see it, if I DTD offten enough I should catch it and those things make me so paraniod and stressed!

I'm just hoping I ovulated late. AF due in two days although I know it could be a few days late if I O'd late.

Normally I would wait for AF instead of POAS but going to my accupuncturist on Friday so am going to do it in the morninng so she knows what she's working with!

My husband is giving a 'sample' soon so gonna wait for those results before I start panicking.

Thanks everyone