Track Your Basal Body Temperature
Your basal body temperature, or BBT, that is. Taken with a special, basal body thermometer, basal body temperature is the baseline reading you get first thing in the morning, after at least three to five hours of sleep and before you get out of bed, talk or even sit up. Your BBT changes throughout your cycle as fluctuations in hormone levels occur. During the first half of your cycle before ovulation, estrogen dominates.
During the second half after ovulation, there’s a surge in progesterone, which increases your body temperature as it gets your uterus ready for a fertilized, implantable egg. That means your temperature will be lower in the first half of the month than it is in the second half.
Confused? Here’s the bottom line: Your basal body temperature will reach its lowest point at ovulation and then rise immediately about a half a degree as soon as ovulation occurs. Keep in mind that charting your BBT for just one month will not enable you to predict the day you ovulate but rather give you evidence of ovulation after it’s happened. Tracking it over a few months, however, will help you see a pattern in your cycles, enabling you to predict when your fertile days are and when to hop into bed accordingly.
Many women do find this approach a bit frustrating and it is important to know that studies have shown that the timing of ovulation does vary among women after the dip in temperature. Ovulation predictor kits are more precise.
How Do Doctors Treat Infertility
Infertility can be treated with medicine, surgery, artificial insemination, or assisted reproductive technology. Many times these treatments are combined. In most cases infertility is treated with drugs or surgery.
Doctors recommend specific treatments for infertility based on:
- Test results
- How long the couple has been trying to get pregnant
- The age of both the man and woman
- The overall health of the partners
- Preference of the partners
Doctors often treat infertility in men in the following ways:
- Sexual problems: Doctors can help men deal with impotence or premature ejaculation. Behavioral therapy and/or medicines can be used in these cases.
- Too few sperm: Sometimes surgery can correct the cause of the problem. In other cases, doctors surgically remove sperm directly from the male reproductive tract. Antibiotics can also be used to clear up infections affecting sperm count.
- Sperm movement: Sometimes semen has no sperm because of a block in the man’s system. In some cases, surgery can correct the problem.
In women, some physical problems can also be corrected with surgery.
A number of fertility medicines are used to treat women with ovulation problems. It is important to talk with your doctor about the pros and cons of these medicines. You should understand the possible dangers, benefits, and side effects.
How Reliable Are The Symptoms
Pregnancy symptoms vary for everyone. They also are easy to confuse with PMS. Thats why its impossible to tell whether youre pregnant on symptoms alone.
Your best bet is to take a home pregnancy test or see a doctor if you suspect youre pregnant and have already missed your period.
Home pregnancy tests are fairly reliable. But you may occasionally get a false-positive test. This can occur for a number of reasons, including having a chemical or ectopic pregnancy, or even taking certain medications.
Follow a positive home pregnancy test with a doctors visit for a urine or blood test to confirm the pregnancy.
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Calculate Your Fertile Window
To calculate your Fertile Window, you need to determine what day you ovulate.To do this, you need to know the length of your menstrual cycle . To calculate this you should note how many days have passed from the first day of bleeding in your last period, to the first day of bleeding in your next.From this figure, subtract 14 days from the end of your current cycle to determine the day you ovulate.If you have irregular menstrual cycles, or your cycle length varies from month to month, it will be difficult to calculate your ovulation date. Ovulation urine tests may be useful, and you should consider seeking further advice from your GP or a Fertility Specialist.
When Am I Most Fertile
The most fertile time in your cycle are the days leading up to ovulation, before the egg is released from the ovary. After ovulation the egg survives for just 24 hours, while sperm retain fertilising capability for two to three days in the fallopian tubes. For this reason, we recommend that couples have sexual intercourse every two days throughout the females Fertile Window. This means that sperm are ready and waiting for the egg when the female ovulates. If you wait until after the female has ovulated before you have sex, you will most likely have missed the opportunity for conception that month.
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Sign #: Breast Tenderness
You may have experienced that time of the month where your breasts are extremely sore, achy and have an overall heavy feeling. This is due to an increase in the hormone progesterone, which your body produces right after ovulation. So while sore breasts cant predict when youll ovulate, they may clue you in to the fact ovulation occurred that month, which can be a reassuring sign of fertility.
What About Recurrent Pregnancy Loss
Recurrent pregnancy loss happens when you have two or more miscarriages. Miscarriages are common and can occur for many different reasons, including genetic irregularities, hormone changes, uterus disturbances, and autoimmune problems. Most people who have recurrent pregnancy loss don’t have fertility problems. Having one or two miscarriages doesn’t mean you’ll have issues with infertility in the future.
If you’ve had repeated miscarriages, talk to your doctor. Testing can help you find and treat the cause, which can help you towards a healthy pregnancy. Sometimes it’s not always clear why there is repeated pregnancy loss, and, in these cases, some people choose to use assisted fertility treatments to help have a baby.
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How Soon Can You Find Out If Youre Pregnant
The symptoms of pregnancy explained above are the most common ones but often the signs and symptoms experienced are very mild and easily attributed to other reasons.
If you frequently experience headaches and can confidently chalk your mood swings up to, say, a social media article that just set you off, looking for stronger indicators like morning sickness and changes in discharge would be a good start.
If you do notice a cluster of symptoms, following up with a home pregnancy test is your best next move.
How Do I Know If My Child Has Autism
Pregnancy is the number one reason for missing your period.6After you’ve missed your period, you probably conceived between one and three weeks ago unless there is something else that could be interfering with your menstrual cycle.
It can be possible to have symptoms of pregnancy even before that first missed period. Personally, I knew I was pregnant within two weeks of conceiving on each of the three occasions I’ve been pregnant.
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Recognizing Signs Of Fertility
Can A Girl Get Pregnant If Her Periods Are Irregular
I have irregular periods. Can I still get pregnant if I don’t get my period all the time? Kim*
Yes! Any time a girl has unprotected sex, she could get pregnant.
Getting pregnant is related to ovulation. Ovulation is the release of an egg from the ovaries. It is the time when a girl is most likely to get pregnant. A girl with irregular periods usually still ovulates, just not on a regular, predictable schedule.
All girls, especially girls with irregular periods, can ovulate at different points from cycle to cycle. That makes it impossible for a girl to know when she is most fertile. Irregular periods also can make it hard for a girl to know if she is pregnant, since she doesn’t know when to expect her period.
Having unprotected sex at any time is risky. Along with the risk of getting pregnant, you could also get an STD, such as chlamydia, genital warts, or HIV. The only way to completely prevent pregnancy and STDs is abstinence .
If you do have sex, use a condom every time to protect against unplanned pregnancy and STDs. For added protection, many couples use condoms along with another method of birth control, like birth control pills or an IUD. Talk to your doctor about the best type of birth control for you.
*Names have been changed to protect user privacy.
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How Do You Know When Youre Pregnant
You may be pregnant if:
- You miss your period.
- Your breasts are big and sore. The area around your nipples gets darker.
- You have to urinate a lot.
- You feel sick to your stomach or throw up.
- You feel tired all the time.
- You feel moody.
- You feel bloated. This means your body feels full or like its swollen.
If you have any of these signs and symptoms and you think you may be pregnant, take a home pregnancy test and call your health care provider. Sometimes home pregnancy tests can give you a false-positive result. Your provider can confirm if you really are pregnant by giving you a blood test and a physical exam.
How Is Infertility A Unique Health Challenge For Women Of Color
Outcomes indicate that black, Asian and Hispanic or Latina women may have less success with fertility treatments compared to white women. Overall, we dont know exactly why this happens. However, we do know certain medical conditions that can impact fertility occur more frequently in some races than in others. For example, women of color have a higher likelihood of having uterine fibroids than white women.
Additionally, studies show that women of color are more likely to be affected by socioeconomic factors that can make it more difficult to get treatment or even to understand the need the need for treatment. At UChicago Medicine, we take a personalized approach to educating each patient about their reproductive health and family-building options. Our team is committed to providing excellent care for everyone.
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What Are Fertility Treatment Options For All Genders
Some couples need more help conceiving. To increase pregnancy odds, a woman may first take medications to stimulate ovulation before trying one of these options:
- Intrauterine insemination : A healthcare provider uses a long, thin tube to place sperm directly into the uterus.
- In vitro fertilization : IVF is a type of assisted reproductive technology . It involves harvesting the eggs at the end of the stimulation and placing sperm and eggs together in a lab dish. The sperm fertilize the eggs. A provider transfers one of the fertilized eggs into the uterus.
- Intracytoplasmic sperm injection : This procedure is similar to IVF. An embryologist directly injects a single sperm into each of the harvested eggs and then a provider transfers an embryo into the uterus.
- Third-party ART: Couples may use donor eggs, donor sperm or donor embryos. Some couples need a gestational carrier or surrogate. This person agrees to carry and give birth to your baby.
How To Know When Youre Ovulating
Knowing when you ovulate can help you plan for sex at the right time and improve your chance of getting pregnant. You can keep track of your menstrual cycles on a chart, in a diary, or on a free period-tracker app on your smartphone.
To work out the length of your menstrual cycle, record the first day you start bleeding . This is day 1. The last day of your cycle is the day before your next period begins.
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Some people think the menstrual cycle and a period are the same thing.
A period is when you bleed .
A menstrual cycle starts on the day when a period starts and ends the day before the next period. A cycles length is considered normal if its between 21 and 35 days. They can vary between women and from one cycle to the next.
- Working out your average menstrual cycle length
If your menstrual cycles are different lengths you can work out your average cycle length.
The number of days in a womans menstrual cycle can vary month to month. Periods are not always regular. It can be useful to work out an average cycle length, based on the length of three menstrual cycles, to estimate when youre most likely to be ovulating.
If you add the number of days in three cycles and divide the total number by three, it gives you your average cycle length.
Example
Sarah tracked her last three menstrual cycles by counting the time from the first day of one period, to the day before the next period.
Cycle 1 was 28 days Cycle 2 was 32 days Cycle 3 was 27 days
28 + 32 + 27 = 87
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Sign #: Increased Sex Drive
Mother Nature is pretty smart: When you enter your fertile window , right before ovulation, your sexual desire rises due to a jump in hormones such as estrogen and testosterone. Not only will your sex drive shift into high gear during this time, but your body will also undergo subtle changes that make you feel sexierand make your partner more drawn to you too. Those changes may include slightly fuller lips, a higher pitched voice and a change in your face structure, your walk and the way your hips move.
Not Trying Long Enough
The first thing to consider is how long have you been trying. It may feel like you’ve been trying foreverand maybe you have!but it’s important to know that many couples won’t conceive right away.
About 80% of couples conceive after six months of trying. Approximately 90% will be pregnant after 12 months of trying to get pregnant. This assumes you have well-timed intercourse every month.
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How Is Male Infertility Diagnosed
These tests can help diagnose or rule out a male fertility problem:
- Semen analysis: This test checks for problems with sperm, such as low sperm count and poor mobility. Some men need a needle biopsy to remove sperm from the testicles and test it. For most men, this is the only test that will be needed in the workup of infertility.
- Blood test: A blood test can check testosterone, thyroid and other hormone levels. Genetic blood tests look for chromosomal abnormalities.
- Scrotal ultrasound: An ultrasound of the scrotum identifies varicoceles or other testicular problems.
Changes In Body Temperature
When youve just ovulated, your body temperature may increase very slightly, by about half a degree Celsius. If youre using temperature as a means of keeping track of when you are most fertile, you need to use a special thermometer to take your temperature every morning before you get out of bed. If you record the readings every day using a graph or a spreadsheet, its possible to learn your pattern over time. The time when you are most fertile is 2 to 3 days before the rise in temperature.
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What Causes Infertility In Women
Most cases of female infertility are caused by problems with ovulation. Without ovulation, there are no eggs to be fertilized. Some signs that a woman is not ovulating normally include irregular or absent menstrual periods.
Ovulation problems are often caused by polycystic ovarian syndrome . PCOS is a hormone imbalance problem which can interfere with normal ovulation. PCOS is the most common cause of female infertility. Primary ovarian insufficiency is another cause of ovulation problems. POI occurs when a woman’s ovaries stop working normally before she is 40. POI is not the same as early menopause.
Less common causes of fertility problems in women include:
- Blocked fallopian tubes due to pelvic inflammatory disease, endometriosis, or surgery for an ectopic pregnancy
- Physical problems with the uterus
- Uterine fibroids, which are non-cancerous clumps of tissue and muscle on the walls of the uterus.
When To Call A Doctor
Doctors recommend that you see a doctor about your fertility if
- You’re 35 years or older and have been trying for at least six months
- You’re younger than 35 and have been trying for at least one year
If either of these fit your situation then see a doctor, even if you have no symptoms of a fertility problem.
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