How to know you are ovulating if you have irregular periods?

Dr Sonal Kumta explains about the tests and physical signs to find out whether you are ovulating.

For a woman with regular periods, knowing about the ovulatory phase is very simple. For example, if you have a 28-day menstrual cycle, then ovulation usually happens on the 14th day. If you have monthly periods whether it is a 28, 30 or 34-days cycle it is a sign that you are ovulating well. So if you are planning to get pregnant, having sex during this time (also called the fertile days) can help you to conceive. However, if you have irregular periods, it becomes difficult to know about ovulation. But there are ways to know if you are ovulating even when you have irregular periods, says Dr Sonal Kumta, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Fortis Hospital, Mulund.

How can you know if you are ovulating if you have irregular periods?

If a woman wants to know or check her ovulation, there are simple ways to know like basal body temperature charting. You can also use an ovulation kit in your most likely days of ovulation and check the urine to find out if the result is positive or not. However, the best method is doing a serial ultrasound which helps you to check the egg post and pre-ovulation in the ovary. In this, you need to get an ultrasound each day for a few days to check the egg. So if an egg was present on a day and the next day, the egg is not seen in the ovary, it is a sign that a woman has ovulated.

If a woman has periods every 20 days or has menstrual cycle after 45 days or sometimes if a woman fails to get periods even after 2 months, it is an indication of irregular periods. And this implies that a woman is not ovulating well. So if you have irregular periods undergoing an ultrasound is the best option to find out whether you are ovulating. The second best option that expert recommend is to get a set of hormonal tests done to check for the abnormality, which might be causing the anovulatory cycle (periods without ovulation). Here's more on how a woman can have periods without ovulation.

In addition to tests, there are few physical signs that can help a woman know about ovulation. These include lower abdominal pain and subtle changes in the cervical mucus (it becomes thick and sticky in nature). These signs can help a woman know that she is ovulating. Here are more signs of ovulation you should be tracking in your body.

Image Source: Shutterstock