Reasons Why You Aren’t Ovulating

One reason why you may not be getting pregnant is that you’re not ovulating. You can tell that you’re suffering from anovulation if you have extremely short or long cycles. You might have unusually light periods or heavy periods. Our Melbourne fertility clinic staff would like to educate you on a few reasons why you’re not ovulating.

Stress

If you experience stress early in your cycle, it can disrupt ovulation and cause neither ovary to release an egg.

Weight Loss or Being Underweight

When you’re underweight, you might not ovulate normally. As a general rule, you need at least 22-percent body fat to have a normal menstrual cycle. If not, you might not ovulate on a regular basis. You could also experience this if you lose a large amount of weight at one time.

Weight Gain or Being Overweight

You could also not ovulate if you’re overweight or gain a large amount of weight. There are insulin receptors in your ovaries. When you’re eating unhealthily or experiencing insulin resistance, the body produces too much insulin to combat it. As a result, ovaries won’t release an egg. Instead, your body will make male hormones, which can lead to polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).

Poor Nutrition

Consuming a high amount of saturated fats and sugars have been linked to poor fertility.

To improve ovulation, you should eat a diet rich in the following:

• Whole grains
• Fish
• Vegetables
• Unsaturated fats

Excessive Exercise

We would like you to know that exercising regularly is healthy for you and can help with ovulation. However, if you’re exercising for hours each day, you might not ovulate.

Hormonal Irregularities

In order to stimulate your menstrual cycle to begin and for ovulation to occur, your body needs certain hormones in specific amounts. For instance, you need both estrogen and progesterone. If your levels are too high or too low, you might not ovulate as normal.

Keep in mind that the only way you can determine your hormone levels is through a blood test.

Breastfeeding

When you breastfeed, even if you pump, your body produces prolactin. This particular hormone may suppress follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH). As a result, you might not ovulate monthly or at all.

Perimenopause

Perimenopause is the phase your body goes through before menopause. It tends to occur several years before you reach menopause. In some cases, this period can last as little as a few months. However, it could last up to 10 years.

With the release of fewer ova, it triggers less estrogen production. This leads to irregular ovulation and menstrual cycles.

Once you reach menopause, you will no longer release eggs or produce estrogen, causing a complete halt in ovulation.

Thyroid Dysfunction Can Disrupt Regular Ovulation

Your body needs certain levels of thyroid hormones to function and sustain a healthy pregnancy. If you have thyroid dysfunction, you may not ovulate at all during some months. You could also experience high prolactin (PRL) levels or a luteal phase defect — both of which can interfere with ovulation.

Primary Ovarian Insufficiency

When you visit a Melbourne IVF clinic, your practitioner will check for primary ovarian insufficiency, which occurs when your ovaries begin to malfunction before the age of 40.

With this condition, you may have occasional or irregular periods for years. While it’s still possible to get pregnant in some cases, it’s less likely than for someone without this condition.

Taking NSAIDs May Prevent Ovulation

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, also known as NSAIDs, reduce inflammation to lessen pain. Unfortunately, when you take them regularly, they may prevent you from ovulating since ovulation is similar in nature to inflammation.

Sometimes, we give patients NSAIDs to stop ovulation from happening before the follicles mature.

Certain Autoimmune Disorders

You could experience anovulation if you have certain autoimmune disorders, such as lupus. This condition can also lead to recurring miscarriages. You might not ovulate if you’re having a flare or due to the medications used to treat the condition.

Contact Us

At our Melbourne IVF clinic, our job is to help you figure out what’s hindering your ability to get pregnant. Through various tests, we may find that you aren’t ovulating and one of the aforementioned problems are causing it, among other reasons. We then find a treatment for you that can correct anovulation. Contact our clinic today to start your fertility journey.