Ovulation but Low Progesterone?

[QS88]

Hi, please does anyone have any knowledge / experience to help with my query?

I'm 29 and have been ttc for 2 years. I have regular 25 day cycles, no history of sti of pid or anything, 2 scans show womb and lining are normal, ovaries normal, nothing obviosly wrong with tubes (as much as they can see with a scan which I understand finds any issues about a third of the time, although have upcoming dye test). Other half has had his semen analysis twice, which is fine.

The only test that has come back off is progesterone - I have been tested twice, and both times the progesterone has been "lowish" - about 17. The specialist has told me to disregard this, as all progesterone shows them is that you MIGHT not be ovulating, but we know I am. But I thought that progesterone also aided implantation? I have read conflicting things. Could this be the reason for my infertility? I am terrified of having "unexplained infertility", as everything else seems normal, except my tubes haven't been tested yet. Has anyone had a tube blockage with no risk factors or symptoms?

Any advice would be gratefully received.

Yes I switched from soy milk to organic cow's milk because of the soy/oestrogen thing but cows milk isn't perfect either.
Deep down I'm not sure how much a change of diet will impact it, but it can't hurt to be mindful of the better / worse foods

Just read this about progesterone if it's useful to anyone:

www.avawomen.com/avaworld/progesterone-levels-day-21/

Positive LH surges when ovulation is nowhere near (or even possible) and low progesterone is common with women with pcos. You don’t even need to have cysts or lots of follicles, sometimes just the hormone profile is enough for diagnosis. Get further testing.

Hello @QS88. It's been a while but I promised I'd update on what my consultant said re: progesterone. As with you, all my other tests have been clear apart from this one. I've had a bunch of results ranging from levels of 7 to 24. Never over 30.
He considers this as low and has put me on clomid for 3 months to see if it helps. He has also said they might give me cyclogest (progesterone pessaries) but he wasn't clear when / how I'd get them. I think they'll keep testing my progesterone levels.
He said the most likely issue is a problem with the corpus luteum / luteal phase, as it looks like I am ovulating but am not producing enough progesterone to get pregnant / sustain a pregnancy. Id love to know how you're getting on with yours. I hope it's going okay. X

Hi @Sylva123 thanks for the update, I'm glad they have an idea of how to help.

As for me, I can't believe it but I am actually pregnant - I saw the follicle on a fertility treatment scan, and was waiting for my period so that I could book in the tube dye test, but my period never came. I did 6 tests. Before I was convinced I had never been pregnant before, but the One Step cheapy test strips I have always tested early with didn't show a positive until a day or two after my missed period, so now I am wondering whether I could have been before, but just never knew, and the pregnancy couldn't sustain itself.

I had just convinced myself that there must have been something wrong with my tubes, so didn't post before as was anxious about an ectopic pregnancy, but just had a viability scan done today, and although it was too early to detect a baby, the egg sack was in the right place so presumably it was just the hormones and not the tubes.

Anyway, wanted to post what I had done differently the last few months, in case it helps anyone. Although it could have been a coincidence and I just got lucky, my gut feeling is that the changes did help, as we were so long trying before. I researched everything which could either produce cortisol (thereby potentially lowering progesterone), or disrupt hormone systems in the body. A lot of chemicals mess up animals in the wild, including stopping them reproducing, so I figured it might be the same for humans.

• stopped wearing perfume / partner from wearing aftershave.

• reduced stress at work by explaining situation to boss and asking to essentially be demoted to an easier role.

• excersized less. Before I would work out 2 / 3 times a week at the gym, I changed this to once a week and pushed myself less, and went for a walk another day instead. Although they say to carry on excersizing normally when ttc, excersize which makes you sweat produces cortisol in the body. Although this might be fine for women with enough progesterone, my reasoning was that it might not be okay for women who already have low progesterone. I have to stress though that this is just my own theory from researching cortisol, I didn't find a paper where this had been investigated.

• spent time just lying in bed doing nothing if I felt like it, rather than feeling guilty and finding chores to do, or going out if I didn't really feel like it. I reframed it as being "time reducing cortisol" rather than "wasted time".

• used more natural shampoo etc ( i used Faith in Nature), as chemicals and especially artificial scents can disrupt hormones (partner needed some convincing about this, so I pulled up all the peer reviewed scientific articles).

• changed to only eating organic meat and eggs.

• changed to lactose free dairy, as I'm pretty sure I had a mild intolerance which I had ignored for years. My partner is convinced this is the thing which made the difference.

• changed to ecover for laundry soap / softner.

• got an air filter for the room where i sleep (one which doesn't produce ions / ozone which is itself a pollutant), as I live in Bristol where the air quality is poor.

• reduced my alcohol consumption to almost nothing.

• stopped eating soya / tofu.

• i am also on an anti-anxiety med, although this isn't new I have been on it for 6 months or so.

I'm not saying any of the above would necessarily help if you had blocked tubes or something, but for a situation like mine where I was probably ovulating, but my hormones were "boarderline", I think it gave them the nudge they needed into an okay balance. Am just now hoping against hope that I have enough progesterone for the baby to stick and for the pregnancy to be maintained. Good luck to all of us! X

@QS88 wow congratulations! That is absolutely amazing. So happy for you, and selfishly also so happy to read that it is possible for someone in a similar position to me! Congratulations.
It's weird how similar your actions have been to mine - I too have changed my job to lessen the stress (working from home now to avoid the commute), have stopped the high energy exercise and swapped it for yin yoga, swapped all my face creams and house cleaning products to chemical-free ones and switched dairy to organic. I haven't swapped my shampoo or laundry liquid yet but will try that today. I also really believe in the cortisol thing and have been resting more. I love how you reframed it to be "cortisol reducing time". I've put on some weight through not exercising, but my husband seems to like the extra padding even if I don't 😆.
Anyway... I hope all of these actions work as they did for you. This is our last natural cycle before Clomid.
Sending you best wishes for the pregnancy!

This is the OP (had a MN name change) - wanted to post a follow-up in case anyone ever finds this thread. Sadly, I lost the pregnancy mentioned above. A few months later I had IVF, thankfully successfully and I have a gorgeous 14 week old boy to show for it. HOWEVER, when I was having the egg-collection surgery, the surgeon noted endometriosis all over my ovaries. It is very likely that this undiagnosed condition was the cause of the infertility / subfertility. What no medical professional had ever told me was that ENDOMETIOSIS SUFFERERS HAVE LOW PROGESTERONE AND SHORTER CYCLES. I do believe the lifestyle changes I made helped with the endometriosis a bit, which may or may not have been how I managed to get pregnant the first time. But if you are reading this and these symptoms (infertility, ovulation but low progesterone and short cycles) apply to you (potentially with other symptoms such as painful periods, frequent urination, heavy periods, IBS etc), MAKE YOUR GP CHECK YOU PROPERLY FOR THIS CONDITION. Having known this years ago would have saved me so much time and heartache x