Progesterone testing

[Artandchocolate]

Hi all, wondering if anyone who has more experience of this can share their knowledge as I’m new to all this…have just got in touch with my GP to start fertility testing after trying to get pregnant for a year.
They booked me in for a blood test, to test testosterone and progesterone.
But everything I’ve read about progesterone testing suggests it has to be done at a certain point in the cycle as it’s to do with determining whether you’ve ovulated, so needs to be done on Day 21 or thereabouts.
But they never mentioned this and the test was done on Day 12.
I was seen by the practice nurse, not a reproductive specialist.
It’s hard to get back in touch to ask about it as you can only speak to reception who aren’t medical, and you have to make an appointment to speak to the nurse or a Dr for a specific issue, you can’t just ask them a question.
Does this sound right, or am I overthinking it? Does timing matter?

Yes you're right, timing does matter. Progesterone is usually tested on day 21, which assumes you have a 28 day cycle and ovulate around day 14, so it's not an exact science if your cycles are different to this time scale, but it's an indication! Its measuring your progsterone at whay should be its peak, so you can see if it's lower than it should be.

Other hormone tests that the GP will do (I can't remember exactly which they are now) are done on day 2 of your cycle.

I did at home, more in depth fertility testing through Hertility which tbh I found more useful than the NHS testing, although not free!

I had a similar issue, mine was done on day 21 but I have PCOS so it wasn’t mid-luteal phase. I spoke to the GP who basically said that it was for the best that it had come back out of range as that meant they could refer me to the fertility clinic straight away. I got the impression they felt there was limited support they could offer for fertility in primary care so it was better to get on the waiting list for secondary care as soon as possible. I think you’re right that it should usually be done on day 21 but depending on what they have said about next steps it might be better to accept a referral than wait for another blood test.

I'd echo that about primary care, my GP was really not very helpful, just didn't know much and in retrospect I should have pushed for a fertility clinic referral sooner! See what they say when you get the bloods back from the test you've already done but hormone testing and a pelvic scan would usually be the first port of call for investigations and that's probably a fertility clinic

Ok, will bring it up when I call back about my results. They were vague about next steps, after the nurse booked me in for the bloods I asked will there be anything else I need to do after that and she said no. She did send off a referral form to the fertility clinic, for DH to do a sperm test, but not sure if the referral was for just him or for me to have any tests as well. I’ll ask about that too.
In the past I’ve found my GP practice to be a bit rubbish and dismissive, so I don’t really trust them too much.