Is this a daft q - can you have a period without ov'ing?

[Mum2Ela]

Hi everyone,

May be being really stupid here, but is it possible to have your period without ov'ing?

The reason I ask is that I have been ttc for 3 cycles now, but my periods are really irregular. Last month my cycle was 28 days and so I thought perhaps things were settling down since coming off the pill in Aug, so this month used OPK's. The first pack told me I hadn't ov'd and so bought another pack, which also told me I hadn't ov'd. Am not made of money so didn't bother getting another pack, just bd'd a lot!

AF hasn't come yet. Have just been thinking about what my doc said to me when I went to see him about being irregular, he said
'the only thing you can be sure of is that when your period arrives, you would have ovulated 14 days earlier'. Is he right?

As far as I know, most of us don't ovulate every month - which doesn't actually contradict dinosaur's info, just that we don't ovulate each time.

But hey, why not test?

Motherinferior - no no no! Am not testing! This is day 30 of my cycle, but they have been known to be up to 52 days so am not confident at all, esp as the opk's didn't say I ov'd the two weeks I used them.

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I was having periods but not ovulating, clomid soon sorted that out. I read somewhere that most women have at least one anovulatory cycle a year on average. If you are regulalry not ovulating then go to your gp, a simple 21 day blood test should show whether you ovulated or not.

Thanks for your thoughts everone.

Bunny2 - how will I know if I am not ovulating? This month the two packs of oopk's told me I hadn't ov'd in the 2 week period but I have still not come on, so maybe ov'd late or not yet?

I thought about doing the temping thing but when I read the fertility friend info pack it says somehting about taking your temp in the morning, but you need to have had 3 hours sleep beforehand. As I am still usually getting up in the night for DD, I didn't think this would work for me as it wouldn't be accurate.

Soz, am rambling now.

Hi Mum2Ela. Assuming ovulation takes place around day 14, a blood test from blood taken on day 21 would confirm whether or not you had ovulated. I had no luck with the OPKs and temping is a no go for me for similar reasons to yours so I had a blood test. It did show I hadnt ovulated. I have irregular cycles too and had been ttcing for over a year before I sought medical help. I was told that having irregular cycles was an indicator that I was not ovulating. I was prescribed clomid and got pg the 2nd moth of taking it.

Thanks bunny2. My AF arrived yesterday which means that if I did OV it was around Christmas day, and the OPK's didn't pick up on that. I have been doinf the old mucus check and definitely did not have ewcm around those days, so I don't think I ov'd. Think I may make an appointment to see my doc (not the other t**t I saw previously) just to discuss things.

I have been on a course of clomid, had periods at the right time, but blood tests showed that despite that I still wasn't ovulating! Wonder if I can part-ex this body of mine for one that works!

Agree with all this, yes an annovulatory cycle you do still have a period because of Oestrogen drop. The cycle before I conceived I did not ov and my AF came a few days earlier as sometimes is the case if you don't ov. The next month must have been extra fertile though! Best of luck!!

Oh forgot, you can check if you're ovulating by taking your BBT temp every day first thing before getting out of bed. A raise in temp for 3 days or more means you have ov'd. MOre info on this and how do it is on www.fertilityfriend.com. Download the handbook and read up on it!

I have been told that BBT monistoring is not so accurate if you suffer from PCOS. Just something to bear in mind.

It is accurate in that the same rise will occur for a sustained period after ov, but with PCOS, ovulation and cycles vary every month so you couldn't rely on it for getting pg. But it would confirm ov is happening.