The cycle of ovulation and menstruation can affect the way you feel throughout the month. A basic understanding of how the cycle works can help you on your way to understanding your body better and to achieving the miracle of conception.
Ovulation occurs when your body releases an egg from one of your ovaries. It usually takes place between 12 and 14 days from the first day of your period, if you have an average 28-day period. For women who have shorter, longer or irregular periods, this calculation won’t be accurate. You shouldn’t rely on your knowledge of the ovulation cycle as a method of contraception – unless you don’t mind getting pregnant if it happens – because even if you have a regular cycle, you cannot predict when ovulation will occur with certainty, as it can take place anywhere from the 10th to the 19th day of the cycle. You are fertile starting a day before ovulation and up to three days afterward.
How does it happen?
The process of ovulation starts with the release of hormones in the brain. Once these hormones are released, they stimulate changes in follicles in the ovaries, causing 10 to 20 ovum (eggs) to mature. Eventually, a hole develops and one of these ovum is released from its follicle. After the ovum leaves the follicle, it travels through one of the fallopian tubes to the uterus. If it is fertilized, it may implant in the uterus within 6 to 12 days. If unfertilized, it will begin to degrade within 24 hours and menstruation will occur, getting the uterus ready for the next cycle.
Signs of ovulation
Women who are seeking to become pregnant often want to determine exactly when they ovulate to maximize their chances of succeeding. One of the most accurate ways of identifying when you ovulate is body temperature, because the hormone progesterone increases a woman’s basal body temperature by 0.25 to 0.5 degree Celsius at ovulation. For two days after ovulation, the body temperature rises progressively higher. To accurately track their cycle, women who want to get pregnant monitor their body temperature by checking it orally every day as soon as they wake up and keeping track of it on a calendar. In order to accurately identify when you ovulate, you have to monitor your temperature for at least two months because the slight shift won’t be recognizable unless you’ve tracked the whole cycle.
Some women also experience changes in cervical mucus, with the mucus increasing and becoming slippery and more liquid before ovulation. Breast tenderness and bloating often coincide with ovulation as well.
About 20 percent of women report cramping and pain, called mittelschmerz (meaning middle pain in German) that coincides with the actual release of the egg. Some women can even tell which ovary has released an egg by the location of the pain. The pain does not necessarily alternate sides every month since ovulation occurs in a random ovary every month and pain can even occur on both sides because follicles can ripen in both ovaries even though only one or two eggs usually mature enough to be released. This mid-cycle pain is sometimes severe enough to be mistaken for appendicitis. It usually only lasts from six to eight hours, but can last as long as 48 hours. Sometimes physical activity can aggravate the pain. Some women also experience spotting or nausea. While ovulation pain may occur every month, it is more common every three or four cycles. Over the counter pain medicine can be taken if pain is severe, otherwise no treatment is necessary. While painful ovulation does not lead to problems, it can be a symptom of fibroids and is worth mentioning to your doctor.
Relieving ovulation pain
• Take it easy – physical exertion can aggravate the pain.
• Drink plenty of water – at least eight glasses a day – to relieve bloating and water retention.
• Apply heat in the form of a heating pad or a warm bath.
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