How do I know if I am ovulating?

If you are trying to conceive, it is absolutely required that you ovulate. But how do you know if you are ovulating? It can be very confusing. Today on InfertilityTV we will clear up the confusion.
There are a number of different methods that can indicate if you ovulate. Some are more reliable than others.

First the methods you use without the need for a doctor.

1) Are your periods regular?
Generally speaking, if you are getting your period regularly about every 28 to 30 days, you can say with a high degree of certainty that you are ovulating. Subtract 14 from the length of time from one period to the next and that is likely the day you ovulated. So if you have a 28 day cycle from the beginning of one period to the beginning of the next, then you probably ovulated around day 14. If it was 29 days, then you likely ovulated on day 15 and so on

2) Use a home ovulation predictor test.
There are several different kinds of ovulation tests. The most commonly used tests and the least expensive ones, are the urine tests. They measure a hormone in your urine called LH which triggers ovulation. Start checking your urine each morning before you think you will ovulate and keep checking until it turns positive. It is a very accurate and highly reliable way to determine ovulation. There are tests that use saliva but they can be trickier to interpret. More recently, there has been an explosion of high monitors that you put in your bed, wrap around your wrist, place in your bra or even in your vagina. These high tech devices measure a variety of things such as temperature, heart rate, electrical resistance in your skin. Its tough to determine how well these instruments work since the only evaluation of their effectiveness comes from the company selling them. They are however, very expensive and there isnt any data yet to say they work better than cheaper methods

3)A thermometer
Some of the high tech devices measure changes in body temperature. Another way to do this is with a special thermometer called a basal temperature thermometer. Its very inexpensive but can be tricky since there are many things that can cause your temperature to fluctuate. It is only accurate in telling you if ovulation happened after the fact. So its good for documenting ovulation but poor for trying to predict ovulation beforehand

Methods that do require a doctor
1) Follicle monitoring
When an egg matures before ovulation, it does so inside of a small cyst called a follicle, doctors can use ultrasound to measure how big a follicle is getting. At the same time, she can do blood tests to check your estrogen and LH levels. To predict when you are going to ovulate

2) Progesterone blood test
After you ovulate, the levels of another hormone called progesterone will increase. A blood test in the doctors office can look at the level of progesterone and tell you if ovulation occurred. In most labs, a progesterone level over 2.5 or 3 indicates ovulation. Like the temperature changes, progesterone only increase after ovulation so its good for documenting if ovulation occurred but not for predicting ovulation.

Documenting ovulation isn't the only thing you should be doing to investigate infertility. Make sure you are performing all of the testing in this playlist but remember to like this video first. If you have a question leave it in the comments. click the link in the description if you want to become a new patient. Or just subscribe to infertility TV now you'll get new episodes weekly. It's like having a fertility specialist in your phone.

Infertility TV is your weekly source for the best medical information if you have infertility, recurrent miscarriage or are just trying to conceive. (TTC). InfertilityTV covers infertility testing, fertility treatments such as Clomid, Follistim and Crinone and fertility treatments like IUI and IVF (in vitro fertilization)

One of the most popular playlists on InfertilityTV are the TTC tips which are great even you are not struggling with infertility

Dr Morris is a practicing IVF and infertility expert who sees patients at IVF! located in the Naperville Fertility Center.

Increase your "Infertelligence" ™

Subscribe to Infertility TV now!!!
A new episode of Infertility TV is broadcast weekly every Thursday afternoon

or visit our website at IVF1.com

*******************************************
Do you want to become a patient at IVF1?
*******************************************

Register online here:
https://patient.ivf1.com/PatientPorta...

Or call:
630-357-6540