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Medical Video: Female fertility animation
When trying to get pregnant with irregular menstrual cycles, you will be faced with a lot of uncertainty. In women who have regular menstrual cycles per 28 days, their ovulation days will always be guaranteed to come on the 14th day, right in the middle of the cycle. Fourteen days later, the first day of menstruation arrived. Women with regular menstruation will have between 11-13 menstrual periods in one calendar year, which means that they will have up to 13 opportunities to get pregnant each year.
Conversely, women with irregular menstruation may have a much less chance of becoming pregnant to get pregnant each year because their ovulation is uncertain. Irregular or abnormal ovulation accounts for 30-40 percent of all cases of infertility. Having irregular cycles, no menstruation at all, or abnormal bleeding often shows that you are not ovulating, a condition known clinically with anovulation.
Irregular menstrual cycles can make planning a pregnancy much more difficult. But, that does not mean you will not be able to successfully get pregnant.
What is meant by irregular menstrual cycles?
A woman with a regular menstrual cycle has a predictable cycle per 23-35 days. That is, you can be considered to have a regular menstrual cycle if menstruation comes every 23 days or every 35 days or anywhere between this period.
On the other hand, irregular menstrual cycles are defined as menstrual cycles that are shorter than 21 days, or longer than 36 days. Your cycle can also be said to be irregular if the distance between cycles varies from month to month. For example, if this month your menstrual cycle is 23 days, last month is 35 days, and the previous month is 30 days, meaning you have an irregular menstrual cycle.
Normal to occasionally have irregular menstrual cycles. Stress or disease can cause delay in ovulation or menstruation, so that your cycle becomes longer, or sometimes faster, than usual. So, if you only have 1-2 irregular menstrual cycles a year, don't worry too much.
However, if your cycle is naturally irregular, more than often experience it, or the distance between your periods is long enough, you should see a doctor for a check-up.
Why does having an irregular menstrual cycle affect my chances of having children?
For pregnancy to occur, there is a need for an egg in your uterus. Irregular menstrual cycles can show that you do not ovulate consistently or, in some cases, do not ovulate at all. So, the less you ovulate, the less chance you have to get pregnant.
What can be done to increase the chances of getting pregnant with irregular menstrual cycles?
Completing your diet with fertility-enhancing supplements that are prenatal vitamin-fortified and hormone balancing agents may be what you need to get your cycle back on track. Every woman who is trying to get pregnant is obliged to take prenatal vitamins as guarantor that you absorb all the essential nutrients your body needs to support the success of your pregnancy and healthy fetal growth.
In many cases, irregular menstrual cycles can be "dealt with" with lifestyle changes (obese women who lose weight a little and eat healthily have more regular cycles) or fertility drugs like Clomid or letrozole. However, it is still important to carry out an evaluation to rule out other possible conditions that cause your ovulation problems, such as thyroid disorders or adrenal or pituitary gland disorders.
The next important step is to determine your fertility period in each cycle. Remember that in order to get pregnant, sperm must wait in your oviduct when the egg is released from the ovary. And because sperm can only survive up to 5 days in the female reproductive tract, it is important for you to be able to predict when you will ovulate so that you can have sexual intercourse properly.
How do you know if ovulation for the menstrual cycle is irregular?
If you are ovulating, but irregular, you have to dig deeper to detect your most fertile time. You can track ovulation with irregular menstruation by:
- Mark on calendar. Use the calendar to record your menstrual cycle data, and the longer you do this, the more clearly your actual menstrual pattern will be. For example, by marking your calendar you know that your menstrual cycle is every 45 days or every two months. This not only helps you to satisfy your curiosity about your ovulation day, but also as a track record to be taken to the doctor later, if needed.
- Check uterine mucus. Cervical mucus is a common vaginal secretion, and can be a good indicator for ovulation. After the menstrual cycle is over, you will experience the absence of mucus, and will appear in sufficient amounts before ovulation. During ovulation, this mucus will be clearly transparent, thick, and elastic in color - a texture similar to egg white. Your most fertile day is characterized by the most bright, slippery, and most stretchy mucus conditions.
- Check body basal temperature. To do this, you will need a special thermometer, a digital basal thermometer. This thermometer is capable of calculating very detailed body temperature, up to one tenth of a degree even more. You should check your basal body temperature in the day immediately after sleeping but before doing anything, including getting out of bed. Just a little physical activity can change your body temperature. Record body temperature every day and see a spike, which indicates ovulation.
- Urine test. A commercially available ovulation checker serves to check for excess hormones in the urine that indicate you are in ovulation. You can also buy a fertility monitor, which is a small machine to collect urine regularly to determine when you are ovulating based on your hormone levels.
- Blood test in the lab. The blood check routine in the lab for you can know exactly when you ovulate. Doctors can recommend blood tests that determine hormone levels and functions on different days during your cycle. These tests can help determine whether you are ovulating or not, and will be very useful for women who are trying to get pregnant. Your doctor may also be able to test your uterus and other reproductive systems to help determine ovulation.
When and how many times do I need to have sex to get pregnant if I have an irregular menstrual cycle?
To increase your chances of getting pregnant, you not only need to understand when you are most fertile, but you also need to know how long you are fertile, and how often you have to have sex. Studies have found that a woman's fertile period begins around five days before ovulation and ends on the day she ovulates, with the greatest chance of getting pregnant is 2 days before ovulation.
In women who have irregular menstrual cycles, you can still find out when your window of fertility is wide open by tracking your cycle for several months. To find the average fertile period, subtract 17 from the shortest cycle and 11 from your longest cycle. For example, if your cycle is 28 days this month, 21 days for the following month, and 32 days in the month after that, subtract 17 from your shortest cycle (21) and 11 from the longest cycle (32). This means that your most fertile day is between days 4 and 21 of your menstrual cycle.
Reporting from Baby Med, a number of studies have shown that you can increase your chances of successfully getting pregnant if you have sex once every 2 days a month if you don't know exactly when your ovulation is, or during the fertile period: once a day, 3-4 days before and at the time of ovulation - as long as the sperm is healthy, without other male fertility problems. A woman's egg can only survive about 24 hours after being released from the uterine follicle, while sperm can live on your reproductive tract for three to five days, depending on the quality and quantity of your cervical mucus. So it's important to have sex one or two days before you ovulate so that a fresh supply of healthy sperm is still stuck in the fallopian tube, waiting for the egg to be released.
Research has shown that it takes around 48 hours for the volume of sperm to maximize in the human body, so it is important not to have sex too often, for example twice a day. Most experts agree that, for most couples, having sex two or three times every week, and once a day around ovulation, is the most effective way to maximize your chances of getting pregnant.
