How Can I Get Pregnant With Irregular Periods
You know the ovulation and pregnancy are interrelated. Women having irregular periods usually ovulate or produce eggs inconsistently and eggs are vital for pregnancy. Since the produce less number of eggs, therefore, their chances of getting pregnant are also less.Normally every woman has monthly menstrual periods and has 11 to 13 chances of conceiving in one year. Women experiencing irregular menstrual periods have less probability of getting pregnant as compare to those having regular periods. However, getting pregnant with irregular periods is not impossible, though the journey to parenthood can take longer and be potentially stressful.
How To Know If You Are Pregnant If You Have Irregular Periods
Most women know that one of the first signs of pregnancy is a missed period However, if you have irregular periods, it can be difficult to know when a period is missing. Lets explore the other signs of pregnancy that may signal the need to consult a healthcare professional or do a home pregnancy test.
Spots or light bleeding 6 to 12 days after your last period may indicate that a fertilized egg has invaded the uterine wall.
- Some women may feel cramps as if they are about to get their period.
- Spots can be mistaken for an easy period, especially if you have irregular periods.
Swollen and tender breast tissue is a sign that hormones in your body are changing. They can begin one to two weeks after conception. Your breasts may start to feel heavier.
- If you often have tender breasts, move on to other symptoms to determine the likelihood of pregnancy.
- Some women may even increase their bra size for several weeks after pregnancy. If so, you may be pregnant.
- Your nipples may also darken. This change is also caused by hormones from pregnancy.
As your body adjusts to pregnancy, women usually start to feel tired and lethargic. This can happen as early as the week of conception.
Morning sickness can begin about two weeks after conception and last up to eight weeks after conception. If you start to feel regular nausea, its time to take a home pregnancy test.
When To Talk To Your Doctor About Irregular Cycles
If you have irregular periods, the best thing to do is see your gynecologist. Even if you weren’t trying to get pregnant, it’s a good idea to get checked out.
Usually, the recommendation is that you try to get pregnant for one year , and then, if you don’t conceive, to see a doctor. This doesn’t apply if there are signs of a problem. Irregular cycles are a risk factor for infertility.
Your doctor can run some simple blood tests to see if you are ovulating or not. If your blood work indicates that you are ovulating, and you’re not over 35, you might want to keep trying to get pregnant on your own for a bit longer.
Don’t Miss: Dark Discharge Instead Of Period
Possible Causes Of An Irregular Menstrual Cycle
- Hormonal problems are the most common cause of irregular menstrual cycles. Polycystic ovary syndrome or problems with ovulation are two other possible causes.
- Another reason for an irregular menstrual cycle could be an eating disorder. Reduced or absent periods can be associated with anorexia or bulimia.
- High-performance athletes also have irregular cycles. In some cases, the period is completely absent. This is not just associated with physical activity, but also with stress.
- Chronic stress and depression can be the causes behind an irregular cycle.
- The use of contraceptive pills and pregnancy are other typical triggers for menstrual disorders.
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.
Also Check: New Hire 90 Day-probationary Period Template
How To Improve Chances Of Pregnancy With Irregular Periods
Irregular periods or oligomenorrhea is a condition defined as a menstrual cycle consisting either less than 21 days or more than 36 days. It is important to know How To Improve Chances Of Pregnancy With Irregular Periods. Menstruation is also regarded as irregular if the duration of the cycle does not fall in a specific period, or you have very long cycles or you tend to skip a cycle every once in a while.A lot of women know when they will be menstruating, an approximate date, but there are some who do not know when their cycles would start. Irregular periods account for about accounts for 30% to 40% of all cases of infertility but is largely treatable.
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 You’re 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.
Don’t Miss: Usaa Grace Period Auto Insurance New Car
How To Get Pregnant With Irregular Periods
If youre ovulating, you have the ability to get pregnant, but if you have irregular periods, your chances for pregnancy may be more limited than a woman with regular periods.
The most important thing is to have regular unprotected sex. Aim to have intercourse at least every two to three days.
If you have an underlying medical condition thats affecting fertility, treating that condition may increase your chances for pregnancy.
Your doctor may prescribe clomiphene citrate to induce ovulation. Clomid has when used in women with PCOS.
Side effects from Clomid may include:
- hot flashes
- abdominal bloating
- release of multiple eggs in one cycle, which can lead to pregnancy with multiples
Weight loss or weight gain may also help. According to the PCOS Awareness Association, losing just 5 to 10 percent of your body weight can help regulate ovulation in women who are overweight.
Get your doctors recommendations for gaining or losing weight. They may be able to provide you with meal plans and exercise guidelines, or point you to resources.
If your irregular periods are caused by an underactive or overactive thyroid, your doctor will prescribe drugs that increase the thyroid hormone or block it.
One study published in the found that of women with hypothyroidism and infertility who were treated with the drug levothyroxine got pregnant versus 26 percent treated with a placebo.
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.. Also Read – Skin Infections Can Lead to Rheumatic Fever: Study
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..
Don’t Miss: Can You Donate Blood While Menstruating
How Many Days To Confirm Pregnancy For Irregular Periods
With irregular menstrual cycles, it may become difficult for you when you miss a period, to say if you are actually pregnant or if its just those highly unpredictable and haphazhard cycles. Through this article I will bring to you few tips on early detection of pregnancy.
I will also take you through points to pay special attention to while doing pregnancy tests if you have unpredictable cycles. You will find answers to doubts like how many days to confirm pregnancy for irregular periods?
Before details on irregular cycles and the challenges associated with detecting pregnancy in women with irregular cycles let us try to understand a normal menstrual cycle.
The menstrual cycle:
A normal menstrual cycle is divided into two parts which are demarcated by the day of ovulation. The first day of your period or menstrual flow is considered as the first day of your menstrual cycle. So, the first part of the menstrual cycle will comprise of the days during which you experience menstrual flow and extend upto the day of ovulation. During the first part of a womans menstrual cycle the uterine lining is shed off due to withdrawal or low levels of the hormone progesterone and then it begins to regrow in thickness under the influence of the reproductive hormone namely estrogen.
Irregular periods
What are irregular periods?
Causes of irregular periods:
When do you need to seek medical help for irregular periods?
How to get pregnant with irregular periods?
Hormonal tests:
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.
Don’t Miss: Can You Donate Plasma On Your Period
What Should I Do If I Have Missed My Period
Don’t panic! In most cases there is nothing serious going on. The most important thing to do is to do a pregnancy test if there is any chance at all you could be pregnant. If you otherwise feel well in yourself, and you are not pregnant, then the chances are your periods will start up again in due course.
You should consult a doctor if:
- You have not had a period for three months and your periods were previously regular.
- You have not had a period for 6-9 months but your periods have always been infrequent.
- You could be pregnant.
- You wish to become pregnant.
- You have hot flushes or night sweats and are under the age of 45.
- You have lost weight or your BMI is 19 or less.
- You or someone close to you is concerned about your eating or weight.
- You have milk leaking from your breasts and are not breastfeeding.
- You feel unwell in yourself .
- You have not had a period for six months after stopping the contraceptive pill .
- You are worried about your lack of periods.
I Got A Negative Result What Should I Do Next
If youre still not sure about the result, you wait until the day of your expected period to test, or test again in three days time if youve missed your period, with a from a reliable brand and follow the instructions carefully. You can also go to your doctor if you have doubts. You may get tested at the clinic or your doctor may recommend another brand of test to use.
Read Also: Usaa Grace Period Auto Insurance
I Have Irregular Periods And Don’t Know When My Next Period Will Start When Should I Take A Pregnancy Test
Most pregnancy tests claim to be the most accurate after a missed period. But irregular periods can make it hard to predict when to take the test.
Periods are considered irregular if:
- The number of days between periods is either shorter than 21 days or longer than 35 days
- The number of days in the menstrual cycle varies from month to month. For example, your cycle may be 22 days one month and 33 days the next month.
If you have irregular periods, try counting 36 days from the start of your last menstrual cycle or four weeks from the time you had sex. At this point, if you are pregnant, your levels of hCG should be high enough to detect the pregnancy.
If your test says you are not pregnant, but you still think you may be pregnant, wait a few more days and take another pregnancy test. Or, call your doctor for a blood test.