One of the first signs of PCOS is irregular periods. Most of us Cysters realize there’s a problem when we’re teenagers and our cycle length is 35 days or longer. Of course, this can be inconvenient, but it’s also a sign that other things might not be right inside your body! The same root issues that are causing your irregular menstrual cycles are likely causing your other chronic PCOS symptoms, too! 

However, when you decide you want to have a baby, irregular periods aren’t just annoying– they’re getting in the way of optimal fertility. This is because ovulation with irregular periods is hard to track and sometimes doesn’t even occur at all. To conceive, you NEED to know when you’re ovulating! 

So, today, I’m going to discuss how exactly ovulation tracking works with irregular periods! If you’re careful about monitoring your menstrual cycle and can identify ovulation, your chances of getting pregnant are much better.

Here’s what you need to do:

How To Track Ovulation With Irregular Periods From PCOS

Periods with PCOS are a struggle for many of us Cysters. Many of the root issues of PCOS domino into symptoms impacting your period, fertility, and overall women’s health. Heavy, painful, and irregular (and even non-existent) periods are all super common with PCOS! Understanding the factors impacting your cycles can help you regulate your periods, ovulate consistently, and achieve your health goals! 

What Causes Irregular Periods with PCOS?

• Elevated Androgens and Other Reproductive Hormones
• Insulin Resistance 
• Obesity 
• Stress
• Thyroid Problems 
• Medications 
• Polycystic Ovaries 

Do Irregular Periods Affect Ovulation? 

Definitely! When your period isn’t regulated, ovulation may happen at irregular intervals (making it hard to predict), or you may not ovulate altogether! Beyond infrequent or absent ovulation, irregular periods can also worsen egg quality, increase insulin resistance, and prompt cysts to grow on the ovaries. All of this makes conceiving and carrying a child difficult for Cysters! 

How To Track Ovulation With An Irregular Period

Understand the menstrual cycle. 

Before you can track your ovulation, you need to understand your period. There are four stages of your menstrual cycle: your period, the follicular phase, ovulation, and the luteal phase. If you can keep track of where you are in the cycle, it’ll make predicting ovulation much easier! 

Use period-tracking apps. 

Most women track their periods using an app. If your period is regular, a period-tracking app can give you a really good predictor of where you are in the menstrual cycle. However, women with irregular periods may find these apps less reliable. When your period and ovulation occur at different times every month, the app won’t be able to distinguish patterns and therefore isn’t a very reliable method for tracking on its own.

That being said, our goal as Cysters is to heal our PCOS and regulate those periods through lifestyle changes! Even if you’re at the beginning of your PCOS journey, I recommend you still use an app and log when you get your period starts. This way, you’ll hopefully be able to track patterns and any improvements you’re making in getting your period back on track. Plus, a lot of these apps have technology that adjusts the cycle length and other aspects of its predictions based on the data you input. So, on the first day of your period, log that date and start tracking your cycles each month!

Keep an eye on your cervical mucus. 

During each phase of the menstrual cycle, different things are happening internally. Because of this, our bodies produce different types of discharge (AKA cervical mucus). If you pay attention to the color and texture of the discharge, you can get a good indicator of where you are in the menstrual cycle! Here’s our guide: 

• Menstruation: Of course, what you’ll experience more than anything during your period is bleeding! However, just before or right after the bleeding, you may have brownish or reddish discharge. 
• Follicular Phase: Right after your period, your discharge may be white and sticky or slightly damp. Closer to the end of the follicular phase, the cervical mucus will thicken up and turn more creamy in consistency. Expect it to be wet and cloudy. This means you’re getting more fertile! 
• Ovulation: Your discharge will become the consistency of raw egg whites stretchy and clear. This is when you know you’re ovulating!
• Luteal Phase: Once that thicker mucus goes away, the mucus will become more dry or sticky. The color will likely be white or yellow. Then, the cycle starts over again! 

Track your basal body temperature (BBT). 

Cervical mucus is a good indicator of where you are in your menstrual cycle, but it can still be difficult for some women to track. Plus, you won’t be able to determine exactly when you ovulate you’ll just know your general fertile window. 

To get a better indicator of when ovulation occurs, track your basal body temperature! Using a special basal thermometer, take your temperature every morning before getting out of bed at exactly the same time. Your temperature will stay pretty consistent until ovulation, where you’ll see a slight drop in temperature. Then just after ovulation you’ll see the temperature rise up to 1 degree higher than normal.  

By tracking when the temperature drops slightly, you can get a pretty accurate read on when you’re ovulating (which is the ideal time to conceive!) Seeing that temperature rise again will show you did, in fact, ovulate, which is also great for tracking purposes.

Test luteinizing hormone (LH) and pregnanediol glucuronide (PdG) regularly. 

You may be asking: “But is there a way to know 100% that I am ovulating?” YES! Ovulation predictor kits (OPKs) use urine sticks (like pregnancy tests) to measure hormones that indicate whether or not ovulation is occurring. 

When your cervical mucus and basal body temperature indicate you may be ovulating or entering that fertile window, it’s time to start testing! An ovulation test will measure the luteinizing hormone (LH) that will rise during the start of your fertile window, peak at ovulation, and then taper off again. How dark the dye is on your test will give you an indication if you’re moving toward ovulation, ovulating, or moving away from ovulation. It’s the best way to know when it’s time to try conceiving! 

That being said, sometimes women with PCOS experience that spike in luteinizing hormone (LH), but due to other hormonal imbalances, still don’t ovulate. The egg doesn’t release and attempts at conceiving won’t be fruitful. So, it’s a good idea for Cysters to also track pregnanediol glucuronide (PdG) after you believe you ovulated. This test will confirm your body not only produced the hormones to ovulate, but an egg was actually released and ovulation did occur. 

There are ovulation predictor kits (OPKs) at all price ranges, but I recommend the Predict & Confirm Kit from Proov that provides tests for LH and PdG. 

Work towards regulating your periods.

At the end of the day, if your periods are irregular, tracking ovulation is hard! Plus, the abnormal menstrual cycles are an indication of other fertility problems and internal issues, including hormonal imbalance, inflammation, and insulin resistance. Luckily, you can reverse all these issues using natural methods like adopting a PCOS-friendly diet, taking the right supplements, and committing to small lifestyle changes. 

For all the best PCOS resources, recipes, and workout routines, download The Cysterhood app and browse the blog for everything you need to know about how to create a life where you thrive even with PCOS! To get you started, begin tracking your period month-to-month and jump into A Cyster and Her Mister Podcast episodes, as well as these blog posts: 

• Period Repair Manual 
• How to Regulate Periods with PCOS
• How to Master Your Cycle & Fertility 
• Fix Your Period with PCOS 
• Tips to Regulate Your Period with PCOS 

There are lots of ways to successfully track ovulation with irregular periods!

There’s no doubt that one of the most difficult symptoms of PCOS for many Cysters is infertility. When you long for a baby, there’s nothing harder than realizing your body is working against you or doctors giving you more bad news. But I’m here to assure you, there is hope! We’ve helped so many women in The Cysterhood app have healthy pregnancies through our method, and we believe this is possible for all our Cysters.

Tracking ovulation is a great first step, but remember that managing all your PCOS symptoms is possible! Take back your fertility, increase ovulation, and live symptom-free with PCOS with the help of PCOS Weight Loss!

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