There are many ways to determine the phase of the menstrual cycle in medicine. A woman can donate blood for hormones, but if she does it in dynamics, then the doctor will be able to tell with great accuracy when to expect ovulation. You can do an ultrasound of the ovaries, which will show the rate of follicle maturation. But these methods require repeated visits to a medical institution and are mainly used in preparation for IVF, when stimulating ovulation with hormonal drugs.
The rest of the women can easily determine ovulation on their own at home. How to do this, this article tells.
General information
The ability to determine the day of ovulation and the fertile window (days when conception is likely) allows a woman to independently, consciously make a decision about contraception, as well as plan a pregnancy. The fact is that a woman has no natural opportunity to get pregnant on any day of the cycle. This is possible only if there is a mature and full-fledged reproductive cell with which the male cell - the sperm cell - will merge.
A man produces up to 40 million spermatozoa in one ejaculation, and the egg matures in the singular and only once a month. She does not live long - from 24 to 36 hours, and then, if conception has not occurred, she dies, and after two weeks the cycle begins anew. That is why it is important to be able to determine the required day with maximum accuracy.
In the ovaries of a newborn girl, there is already a supply of follicles, it will not be replenished, new follicles with immature eggs inside are not formed during a woman's life, exactly that reserve given from birth, which is called ovarian, is consumed. When a girl reaches puberty, her body begins to work in cycles: every month one follicle ruptures (rarely two).
Follicles grow on the surface of the ovaries after the end of the next menstruation. This happens under the influence of the hormone FSH. Among several growing bubbles, the leader is gradually determined - the dominant follicle, the rest stop developing until the next cycles. In a dominant follicle in a liquid medium, an egg matures. By the middle of the cycle, under the influence of estrogen and luteinizing hormone, the follicle membrane breaks and releases the female reproductive cell, which becomes available for male germ cells for the next day.
Spermatozoa can arrive on the day of ovulation during this day, or they can wait for the oocyte to exit already in the genital tract, this happens if intercourse was performed a few days before ovulation. The beginning of the fertility period is the life span of the sperm. On average, fertile days start 3-4 days before ovulation and end 2-3 days after... But fertilization always occurs only during ovulation and while the egg cell lives, that is, no later than 1-1.5 days after the egg leaves the follicle.
In healthy women of reproductive age, ovulation occurs almost every month. Several anovulatory cycles per year are permissible (at the age of 20-30, usually 1-2 cycles without ovulation is the norm). With age, the number of such cycles without ovulation increases, because the production of sex hormones decreases, and already at 35 and older a woman can live up to 5-6 cycles per year without actual ovulation. Therefore, it becomes more difficult to get pregnant with age.
It is impossible to predict the anovulatory cycle, but on your own you can determine whether ovulation has occurred in the current month or not.
Learning to determine independently
Determining ovulation at home is not difficult, but it will require a certain responsibility and commitment from a woman. There are different methods and it will be better if they are used in combination, so that the data of one method is confirmed by the data of another. Then the results can be obtained more accurate. Let's consider the main methods and their effectiveness.
The calendar
This is the most common method called the calendar method. It is based on the average medical data on the timing of ovulation. The whole cycle is divided into two halves - phases. The first is called follicular, during this period the follicle grows and the egg matures.
The second is the luteal phase, when the body, under the influence of progesterone, proceeds to prepare for bearing a baby. If there was no conception, in the last days of the cycle, the corpus luteum, formed at the site of the follicle rupture, dies, the progesterone level decreases, and menstruation begins.
The first phase can be of different duration. But the second is usually more or less stable, and it lasts about 14 days (with an error of 1 day up or down). This information makes it possible to calculate the probable day of ovulation. To do this, 14 days are subtracted from the duration of the menstrual cycle (the duration of the second phase, which is most accurately known).
Cycle duration refers to the number of days between the first days of the last two periods. Most often, a woman's normal cycle is within 24-34 days.... If your cycle lasts less than 24 or more than 35 days, you need an individual approach to calculating ovulation, for this you need to see your doctor.
Example: a woman's cycle lasts 28 days. According to the method, she should ovulate on the 14th day of the cycle. With a cycle of 30 days - on day 15, with a cycle of 32 days - on day 18 of the cycle.
The period favorable for conception is also easy to determine. It is necessary to add 4 days before and 3 days after ovulation to the day of ovulation. This will create the boundaries of the fertile window - the time when unprotected intercourse can lead to pregnancy.
Pros: the method does not require financial investments, deep mathematical and medical knowledge.
Disadvantages:
- this method does not take into account the possibility of a malfunction of the menstrual cycle, individual characteristics of the age and state of health of a woman;
- under the influence of a wide variety of factors (from stress to flu or ARVI), the hormonal background can change, it is generally very unstable, and then the day of ovulation and the boundaries of the fertile window will shift.
The calendar method is not suitable for women with an irregular cycle... If she even calculates the average duration of her cycle, adding up the data for several months, then the error in the calculations will be too large - with an error "range" of up to several days.
This method can be combined with any of the following. This will help improve the accuracy of the calculations.
Online calculator
Special applications and services will do everything that was described above for you: they will help you calculate the day of ovulation and the days of a favorable period for conception before and after it. It is enough to enter a numerical value for the duration of the cycle, the duration of menstruation (from their first day to the end of menstrual flow), and also indicate how many cycles you need to calculate.
The counting algorithms are exactly the same as for self-calculation, only everything happens much faster.
Some calculators additionally calculate the probability of conceiving a child of a certain gender - a boy or a girl, which is fun and nothing more, because gender planning according to the calendar method has no scientific justification.
Pros:
- the calculation is free, the probability of an annoying mathematical error is excluded, which a woman can make mechanically when calculating herself;
- counts quickly;
- it is possible to print the calendar and carry it with you.
Disadvantages: the same low accuracy, as with an independent calculation, there is no account of the individual characteristics of the female cycle and age.
Predicting gender is an anti-scientific nonsense that cannot be guided at all. Supporters of the hypothesis point out that sperm of two different types have different characteristics: male cells with a set of genetic information in a pair of XX sex chromosomes are tenacious and slow, and XY cells are fast and mobile, but live shorter. That is why a woman is encouraged to have intercourse before ovulation in order to conceive a boy, and on the day of ovulation and days later, if an heiress is needed.
Reproductive scientists have examined millions of male germ cells of both types in the laboratory. No difference was found between them in terms of speed of movement, viability. The only difference is in the chromosomal information. It means that the probability of conceiving a son or daughter for a woman is exactly the same on any day of the fertile period.
To improve the accuracy of calculations, it is recommended to combine the method with any of the methods described below.
Basal temperature
Doctors have long noticed that a woman's basal temperature rises during ovulation. Basal temperature is called baseline, internal, in fact - the temperature of internal organs. In the first half of the cycle, when the follicle ripens and estrogens prevail in the body, the temperature does not rise to high values. On the day of ovulation, when the corpus luteum forms at the site of the bursting follicle, the production of progesterone begins, which increases the basal temperature. That is why the graph turns out to be clear, two-phase, it shows a decrease in the middle of the cycle - this is ovulation.
To determine ovulation by temperature, it is important to follow strict measurement rules and measure at least three cycles in a row, this will make it possible to draw up graphs that will show the individual characteristics of the cycle, the presence of anovulation, if any. Also, the BT measurement method can also talk about pregnancy at such an early stage, at which no test will show this yet.
Measurements are taken every morning, immediately after waking up, without getting out of bed, trying not to move after waking up.
It is important that the previous sleep was at least 6 hours long.
Every morning, measurements are taken for 5 minutes in the same place: either in the vagina or in the rectum, immersing a mercury thermometer 2-3 centimeters. The data is immediately plotted into the graph.
Pros:
- the method is quite accurate and does not require financial costs;
- allows you to suspect not only problems with ovulation, but also many gynecological problems, inflammation.
Minuses:
- decoding may seem difficult, especially with an abnormal schedule, the help of a doctor may be required;
- basal temperature - the indicator is not the most stable, the data changes with errors in measurement, with fatigue, stress, illness, after drinking alcohol, after sex;
- the method requires precision and commitment - measurements must be taken at the same time every day.
The method of measuring basal temperature is perfectly combined with the calendar option, and is also part of the symptothermal method for recognizing fertility (it is based on the confirmation of two or more parameters - by temperature, by secretions and by the cervix).
Discharge and cervix
A change in the nature of vaginal discharge is an important symptomatic sign of approaching ovulation. The cervix reacts to hormonal changes and with an increase in the amount of estrogen, which occurs 2-3 days before ovulation, the secretion of the cervical canal changes. The harbingers of imminent ovulation are abundant transparent discharge, in consistency reminiscent of raw chicken egg white... If you stretch them between the fingers of your hand, a continuous "thread" several centimeters long is formed.
Such secretions are necessary for procreation - the cervical secretion, which is an alkaline environment, partially reduces the acidity of the vagina, and this gives male reproductive cells a chance for survival. Spermatozoa, mixing with cervical mucus, pass faster along the genital tract to meet with the oocyte. Some researchers point out that cervical mucus even plays the role of a kind of filter: due to its porosity, it filters out defective sperm and passes on high-quality ones. But this is still only a hypothesis.
The amount of discharge increases. And it is this fact that will make it possible to easily recognize the onset of the fetal period, to understand that ovulation has come.
During this period, the cervix of the uterus is elevated relative to the exit from the vagina, slightly softened. This can be understood by inserting the index finger or two fingers into the vagina up to the outer part of the neck (do not forget to keep your hands clean!).
When ovulation is over, the next day, under the influence of progesterone, the discharge changes its color - from transparent and mucous membranes, they become white or lemon-yellowish, opaque, their number sharply decreases, and a period of relatively "dry" begins, when the woman's discharge normally does not bother up to menstruation.
Pros:
- the method for examining cervical mucus is very informative, it will help to notice late ovulation, to draw attention to the fact that the release of the egg is premature, which will increase the accuracy and efficiency of both planning and contraception;
- does not require special medical knowledge.
Disadvantages: does not take into account possible hormonal disorders when ovulation occurs without discharge or discharge is present without ovulation.
This method can be combined with the temperature and calendar (the most optimal option) or with the symptomatic and testing method.
Symptoms
In medicine, there is no official description of the symptomatic picture of ovulation. This means that all the signs and sensations that women describe are quite subjective: they are not necessary, they are not found in everyone, not always, and whether to focus on them or not depends on the individual sensitivity of a particular woman.
Most often, the fact that the phase of fertility has begun is indicated by increased sexual desire. This is conceived by nature as one of the components of the reproduction mechanism. A woman can feel increased libido both the day before ovulation and on the day of ovulation.
Many claim that there is a heat in the perineum before ovulation., which is probably due to increased discharge. Overall health remains good, but mood swings, emotional instability and irritability are possible. Not only the cervix reacts to hormonal changes, but also the tissues of the mammary glands, and therefore breast enlargement, moderate swelling are not excluded, many note that the nipples become especially sensitive.
Among other subjective signs that a woman can feel physically, minor discomfort can be noted in the lower abdomen on the right or left (depending on the location of the ovulating follicle). Some have a mild, bloody (brownish or pink) discharge one day after ovulation. They may be associated with the fact that when the follicle ruptures, not only the bubble membrane itself is disturbed, but also the blood vessels that fed it.
Women with a special perception of pain (even minor intolerance) may feel pain in the abdomen, in the retroperitoneal space, pulling pains reminiscent of menstrual... This is a sign of irritation of the peritoneum and the surface of the genital gland by the outflow of fluid, which was filled with the follicle, as well as a small amount of blood from the damaged vessels of the follicular membrane.
Some describe a feeling of fullness in the lower abdomen after ovulation, it is associated with the action of the hormone progesterone, which retains fluid in the tissues. In the second phase of the cycle after ovulation, episodic manifestations of a cold in the morning without rhinitis as such, edema may also occur. All these are the consequences of exposure to progesterone, it does not need treatment.
A really bad feeling during ovulation can be due to the presence of ovulatory syndrome, ovarian apoplexy, breakthrough bleeding of the intermenstrual type, and the threat of rupture of the follicular cyst.
An increase in temperature, sharp pains, quite abundant bleeding is not a sign of ovulation, but a sign of pathology, a woman should definitely consult a doctor without postponing a visit until later.
Tests
Ovulation tests "work" in much the same way as pregnancy tests, with the only difference that the reagents applied to the strip react not to the pregnancy hormone hCG, but to the luteinizing hormone LH. Accordingly, 1-2 days before ovulation, when there is a peak in LH in the body, the tests give a bright second strip.
You need to start testing with the beginning of the fertile window, that is, about 4 days before the expected ovulation according to the calendar... Packages with ovulation test systems usually contain 5 strips. It is necessary to carry out testing every day at the same time; before the test, it is advisable not to drink liquid for 4 hours. Morning urine is considered not the most suitable for determining ovulation; it is better to choose a convenient time for this purpose between 10 am and 8 pm.
It's important not to go wrong with ovulation tests. Carefully follow the instructions, do not violate the time of holding the test in urine, the waiting time for the result.
There are mini-microscopes that allow you to determine ovulation by saliva or vaginal discharge. Their action is based on the ability of estrogen (ovulation hormone, as we remember) to retain potassium and sodium in physiological fluids. Because of this, saliva dried on a test glass, when examined in an eyepiece, has a characteristic pattern resembling fern twigs or a pattern on a winter frosty window. On the other days of the female menstrual cycle, this pattern does not exist.
Pros: the accuracy of ovulation tests is significantly higher than that of the calendar method without a test.
Disadvantages:
- the accuracy is not 100%, although manufacturers claim high efficiency;
- reusable electronic test systems are more accurate, but more expensive, and disposable tests are not the cheapest pleasure.
This method can be combined with any others. Especially effective - with the method of measuring basal temperature and the method of assessing cervical mucus.
For information on how to determine ovulation at home without a test, see the next video.
