Load Up On Fertility Information
Borrow a few natural fertility books from the library or buy a few online or in a store.
My favorite in-depth fertility tracking book was Taking Charge of Your Fertility. This book taught me so much about womens cycles, tracking periods, and what everything meant.
Secondly, I loved the book Making Babies: A Proven 3-Month Program for Maximum Fertility. After doing a personal quiz, this book helped me determine how to eat for my body type in order to achieve pregnancy. I did get pregnant 2 months after using the recommendations in this book, however, I had also been trying a variety of things to balance my hormones prior to getting my hands on this book.
Have you been dealing with infertility for some time? Learn about your infertility root cause through the Pregnancy Miracle Program.
Do You Need To Talk To Your Doctor If Youre Trying To Get Pregnant And Have Irregular Periods
Like we mentioned earlier, its generally a good idea to check in with your doctor no matter what your reproductive goals are if your cycles are shorter or longer than 21-35 days, or if your periods are shorter or longer than 2-7 days. Its also important to schedule a visit with your doctor if you experience any sudden changes, spotting, unusually heavy or long bouts of bleeding, extremely painful periods, or no period for three months.
But if youve recently gone off hormonal birth control so you can start trying to conceive, depending on your contraceptive of choice, it could take several months for your periods to return or regulate after stopping. So when should you make an appointment?
If youve stopped your birth control and your period has not returned in 90 days or three months, then youll want to visit your healthcare provider, Dr. Conti says. If your period did return after you got off birth control but its been 90 days since your last day of bleeding, thats another reason to check in with your doctor.
In any of these situations, your doctor can work with you to order blood work and potentially diagnose the cause of your irregular periods.
Maintain A Healthy Weight
Maintaining a healthy weight can help with fertility issues. Being overweight and underweight can both cause hormonal imbalances that can disrupt ovulation, causing irregular cycles and making it harder to get pregnant naturally. Additionally, moderate exercise may be beneficial for fertility.
Maintaining a healthy weight can help regulate hormonal balance. Keep in mind that in some cases, weight issues are caused by hormonal imbalance, and not the other way around. A health care provider can help rule out any hormonal conditions that could be making it hard to reach and maintain a healthy weight.
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Establish An Exercise Routine
Exercise has a variety of benefits for your overall health. Exercising is one of the main recommendations for women with PCOS. Working out will also help you regulate your cycle as well.
Exercising can help women control their weight. Finding what type of exercise you like to do is important. Keeping your body moving will help you avoid PCOS from taking over your life.
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Signs Of Pregnancy When You Have Irregular Periods
A missed period is one of the most common ways that women know theyre pregnant. Once you conceive, your body releases hormones that basically shut down ovulation. But what if your period comes sporadically? One missed period can bring excitement or panic when youre not actually pregnant.
Watch for these other signs of pregnancy when you have irregular periods:
Keep in mind that many of these symptoms happen for other reasons. You might feel extra tired if you havent been sleeping well or you have an infection, for example. The only way to know for sure is to take a pregnancy test.
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When Does Conception Take Place
Conception starts at the moment of fertilisation, when the sperm penetrates the outer shell of the egg, and an embryo is formed. Over the next four to six days the embryo moves down the fallopian tube to the uterus, where it implants in the uterus lining and hopefully continues to grow. To check if you are pregnant, you should wait two weeks after ovulation before undertaking a pregnancy test.
What Can Cause Irregular Periods
Irregularity in menstrual cycle is normal during illness or stressful time and in most cases the periods becomes regular once the illness or the stress is resolved. Some women may experience chronic irregularity and it is caused due to hormonal imbalance. One of the common reasons for hormonal imbalance in women is Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome , a medical condition. PCOS symptoms include stimulation of many follicles that increases the level of estrogen in the body without the release of an egg . Increased levels of estrogen cause thickening of uterine lining, which then sheds resulting in a period without the ovulation..
Another reason for hormonal imbalance are lack of proper nutrition, physical stress and excessive exercise. Doing strenuous exercises for three or more hours every day can make it difficult for the brain to trigger the production of hormones required for the development of follicle and this could lead to deficiency of estrogen. Eating disorder can lead to irregular or absence of menstrual cycle.
Being overweight and underweight also increases the risk of irregular menstrual cycle. Overactive and underactive thyroid gland can also cause irregular periods, which may indicate that the ovulation process is inconsistent. Less ovulation means fewer opportunities to conceive..
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What Are My Options
If you have tried for a baby for 12 months without success its time to seek medical advice. Your GP is your first port of call, but she might refer you to a fertility specialist.
If you have very irregular or only sporadic periods, this is an indication you are not ovulating and need medical help to have a baby. The first line of medical treatment is ovulation induction. This involves a course of tablets or injections to stimulate the ovaries to release an egg that can be fertilised, either during intercourse or through intra-uterine insemination .
If this doesnt work, there may be other reasons why pregnancy cant be achieved and more invasive treatments such as IVF may be needed.
IVF involves a course of injections to stimulate the ovaries to produce multiple eggs. When theyre mature the eggs are retrieved in an ultrasound-guided procedure under light anaesthetic. Sperm are added to the eggs in the laboratory for embryos to form.
A few days later, an embryo is placed in the uterus where it may implant and grow into a baby. If there is more than one embryo, these can be frozen for later use if there is no pregnancy.
While IVF is safe in the hands of specialists, there are some possible health effects to be aware of, including ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome. This is an over-response to the fertility drugs that are used to stimulate the ovaries to produce multiple eggs. This can lead to abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting, rapid weight gain and blood clots.
Lifestyle Changes And Supplements To Regulate Ovulation
Fertility drugs aren’t your only option. You may be able to make lifestyle changes, depending on the cause of your irregular cycles.
If you are overweight, losing some weight may be enough to jumpstart ovulation and help you conceive. Research has shown that obese women who lose just 10% of their body weight can start ovulating on their own again.
Remember, though, that some weight problems are caused by an underlying hormonal imbalance. Dont assume your obesity is just a question of eating right. See your doctor, and then make a weight loss plan.
If extreme dieting is the problem, changing your diet to a more balanced plan, and even gaining some weight if you’re underweight, can help regulate your cycles. If your issue is over-exercise, cutting back may regulate your cycles. If youre an athlete, speak to your doctor about your options. You may need to take a break from your sport to jump-start your cycles again.
You may want to consider trying a fertility supplement . Two fertility supplements that may help regulate irregular cycles are myo-inositol and chaste tree berry . Whether or not these supplements can truly be effective in regulating periods and improving fertility is has not yet been determined.
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Irregular Periods And Ovulation
Its possible to ovulate without later bleeding like a period. This often occurs because of previous uterine scarring or certain hormonal medications.
Its also possible to have menstrual-like bleeding without ovulation. This generally happens when the uterine lining becomes so thick it becomes unstable and naturally sloughs off.
The uterine lining can become thick without ovulation if the hormone estrogen, which is produced prior to ovulation, continues to be secreted unopposed by the other female hormone, progesterone, which is produced after ovulation.
There are many possible causes for irregular menstruation, and many of the causes can affect ovulation or make getting pregnant more difficult. In some cases, the cause of irregular menstruation is unknown.
Some causes that may affect ovulation and your ability to carry a pregnancy include:
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Causes Of Irregular Cycles
Irregular cycles may point to a subtle hormonal imbalance. You may still be ovulating every month, but your ovulation day may vary. If you’re ovulating, you may be able to get pregnant without the help of fertility drugs. Here are some possible causes of irregular cycles that are also infertility risk factors.
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Irregular Menstrual Cycle And Pregnancy
Having irregular periods can be pretty frustrating, but it gets even worse when trying to conceive!Will irregular periods affect pregnancy? Keep reading to find out!Its possible for women to get pregnant with an irregular menstrual cycle, but it can be challenging. A menstrual cycle starts from bleeding that happens on day one and ends when the bleeding of the next cycle starts. Ovulation the release of the eggs usually occurs on the 14th day of the normal menstrual cycle .Couples who wish to get pregnant try having sexual intercourse while the woman is ovulating. This period, when the woman is ovulating, is known as the fertile window. The fertile window for most people consists of:
You have irregular periods if the length of your menstrual cycle keeps changing.
Your periods may come early or late.
The average menstrual cycle lasts 28 days, but its normal for it to be a bit shorter or longer than this.
After puberty, many women develop a regular cycle with a similar length of time between periods. But it can vary by a few days each time.
How To Track Ovulation When You Have An Irregular Period
While women with regular cycles can simply assume theyre ovulating at the same time each month, its a bit trickier for those with irregular periods. Fortunately, there are a few ways to figure out your bodys schedule.
The first sign to look for is mucus. If you get a lot of clear, sticky mucus in the middle of your menstrual cycle, then youre probably ovulating, says Beth Taylor, an OB/GYN with the Vancouver-based Olive Fertility Centre. The mucus, which is secreted thanks to an increase in estrogen, means your cervix is ready to be penetrated by sperm to get pregnant.
Another way to determine if youre ovulating at all is to track your temperature each morning with a basal body temperature thermometer, which can hone in on small changes up to 1/100th of a degree. After the egg is released in your body, both estrogen and progesterone are flowing. The progesterone causes your bodys temperature to increase by half a degree Celsius .
But this method is a bit tricky for women with irregular cycles. Because the temperature change indicates the egg has already released, it means you need to have sex just before the increase in order to hit your fertile window. Most women track their temperature and use the data to predict when its going to rise in future months. But even if your cycle is a little unpredictable, It can be useful in looking backwards to see: am I likely to ovulate? And when? says Carson.
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Online Due Date Calculators
These are found on the websites of various health organizations. They require you to plug in a date for the last menstrual period from which they determine the due date. The date of the last menstrual period can be determined as earlier explained.
It is important to note that none of the methods above is totally accurate. The doctor can at some point change expectant mothers due date. However, if the date of the last menstrual period was accurate, an allowance of a week before or after the due date is considered fairly accurate.
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Pregnancy brings joy and expectations. However, it can be a daunting task to determine your due date, especially if you have irregular menstrual cycles. The methods explained above can be applied to determine the due date and remove the worry from a period that is supposed to be exciting.
Although they may not be totally accurate, these methods help a great deal in having a rough due date in mind. This is much better than not having one at all as it enables you to plan and not be caught by surprise when the baby arrives. It also helps keep abreast with the babys development milestones as they are in the womb.
The author is a contributor. The opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Womanitely.
Go Light On The Fiber
Some research from 2009 led scientists to suspect that eating too much fiber could affect ovulation .
Thats because fiber contains low-level concentrations of these hormones that are important for your cycle:
- luteinizing hormone
- follicle-stimulating hormone
But take this research with a grain of salt the findings are a little thin, and not all experts agree that fiber affects your cycle.
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When Should I Take A Pregnancy Test
You should wait to take a pregnancy test until the week after your missed period for the most accurate result. If you dont want to wait until youve missed your period, you should wait at least one to two weeks after you had sex. If you are pregnant, your body needs time to develop detectable levels of HCG.
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When Should You See A Gynaecologist For Irregular Period
If you are under the age of 45 and have had regular periods up to this point but they suddenly become irregular, you may want to consult with your gynecologist to determine the cause of the problem. If you have your period less frequently than every 21 days or more frequently than every 35 days. In the event that your periods are unusually long and extend for more than a week.
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How Are Irregular Periods Treated
If irregular periods are bothering you or making it difficult for you to conceive, speak to your doctor to find out if theres a way to get them back on track. It could be as easy as lowering your stress levels or cutting back on intense exercising .
If your irregular periods are hormone-related, your doctor may suggest treating an underlying thyroid condition or using hormone therapies like birth control pills or certain types of IUDs that regulate your menstrual cycle. If youre trying to get pregnant, sometimes getting on the right birth control for a little while can get your cycle back on track so that its easier to tell when youre ovulating, which is a big step in helping you conceive, although this may not be successful.
If none of those work and youre trying to get pregnant, your doctor may prescribe a fertility drug like letrozole , clomiphene or injectable fertility meds to induce ovulation, but you should have a complete fertility evaluation before starting any of these drugs.
From the What to Expect editorial team and Heidi Murkoff, author of What to Expect When Youre Expecting. What to Expect follows strict reporting guidelines and uses only credible sources, such as peer-reviewed studies, academic research institutions and highly respected health organizations. Learn how we keep our content accurate and up-to-date by reading our medical review and editorial policy.
How Do Irregular Periods Affect Your Chances Of Getting Pregnant
Irregular periods can be a sign of anovulation which means that your ovaries are not releasing ova on a regular basis. Only when the eggs are being released by the ovaries can they be fertilized. Other reasons for irregular periods that affect your chances of getting pregnant are thyroid imbalances, hormonal imbalances, PCOS, hyperprolactinemia, premature ovarian failure, and low ovarian reserves. In the last condition, the number of eggs in each ovary is lesser than usual.
It is highly important that the reason for your irregular periods be correctly diagnosed and, if possible, rectified. Only then will your chances of conceiving improve. Irregular periods after marriage and chances of pregnancy are interlinked and must be addressed as quickly as possible.
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