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Iqra Mazhar

Ovulation calculators help track ovulation days and the ovulation cycle. Alternatively, the LH test may predict the ovulation period considering ovulation symptoms.

Ovulation: Are You Eggspecting?

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Introduction

Every process that takes place in your body means something; it’s your body’s way of communicating with you. Oftentimes, your body would feel a certain way, indicating what is going on inside. It goes without saying that everyone should know what goes inside their bodies. Especially processes like ovulation, which have unnecessarily been ridiculed as something bad or impure since ancient times. Ovulation is natural, but for this very reason, it is misunderstood by a majority of people, including women experiencing it themselves. In many countries, women were considered ‘impure’ to the point that they were deprived of human touch. This article explores the physiology concerned with ovulation so you can get a better grip on what you are going through. <div> </div>

Understanding Ovulation

Ovulation is the release of an egg from the ovary. It happens once a month, usually between days 10 and 18 of your menstrual cycle. The egg travels down the fallopian tube where it&rsquo;s joined by the sperm and fertilization happens. Ovulation can be observed through certain signs in women, including vaginal discharge as well as changes in body temperature and cervical mucus<a href="#accordion">[1]</a>. 
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The best way to know when you&#39;re ovulating is by taking your basal body temperature. This means that you note your temperature every morning when you wake up<a href="#accordion">[1]</a>. After several months of charting, you&#39;ll be able to see patterns in your temperature it will be higher than normal during the week before and after ovulation.&nbsp;

You can get a fertility monitor or thermometer that tracks this information for you automatically; it&rsquo;s convenient but not necessary if you have time to keep track of yourself.

There are also many apps that predict your ovulation based on other factors, like cervical fluid timing (how much cervical fluid changes with each cycle) or hormone levels (estrogen and luteinizing hormone rise sharply just before ovulation). These apps use artificial intelligence algorithms based on data from thousands of women so they&#39;re considered reasonably accurate at predicting fertile days over the course of several months&#39; worth of data collection and some even warn you when the period&rsquo;s coming early! 
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Conception is possible when a sperm fertilizes the egg in your fallopian tube. The fallopian tubes are two thin tubes lined with cilia. In order for an egg to be fertilized, it needs to be released from its follicle in the ovary and travel down through one of your fallopian tubes toward your uterus. As it travels, it will come close to a certain number of sperm (depending on the sperm health of your male partner). When these two meet - bam! The sperm attaches itself to the surface of the egg and they fuse together forming one cell called a zygote, which contains genetic material from both parents. The zygote then moves down into your uterus and implants itself into your uterine lining where it will grow for 9 months before being born!

Note: While sperms are able to survive for several days inside your body, the egg(s) traveling down your fallopian tube won&rsquo;t. If no fertilization takes place during the first 24 hours of its release, the egg would move along as usual to the uterus but it would break down and leave the body during your menses. 
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Ovulation kits and ovulation calculators can be purchased online or in drug stores, but you should know that they are no more than a way to try to predict ovulation based on your body&#39;s natural process.&nbsp;

If you&#39;re trying to conceive, testing for ovulation is a good idea because it can help ensure that you have sex at the right time of the month.&nbsp;

If you don&#39;t want to get pregnant, then avoid unprotected sex during 2-3 days that lead up to and include ovulation, since sperms only live inside a woman&#39;s reproductive tract for up to 5 days after ejaculation. 
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<ul>
	<li>
	<h5>The Day Of Ovulation</h5>
	</li>
</ul>

The most fertile days of your cycle are 2-3 days before you ovulate. If you want to get pregnant, then having sex on these days would increase your chances of conceiving.

&nbsp;

<ul>
	<li>
	<h5>5 Days Before Ovulation</h5>
	</li>
</ul>

If you are trying to avoid pregnancy, it&#39;s best to avoid sexual intercourse during this time as well. When an egg is released from an ovary in preparation for fertilization, it can be fertilized for only about 24 hours after being released. In addition, sperm can live in a woman&rsquo;s body for up to 5 days after ejaculation. So, if you have unprotected intercourse with your partner(s) during that time period, the risk of pregnancy is significantly increased<a href="#accordion">[2]</a>. 
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<ul>
</ul>

An at-home LH test is used to determine the amount of luteinizing hormone (LH) in your urine.

The test should be done on the first day of your period. You will have a negative result if you are menstruating. On the other hand, a false-positive indicates you have not yet ovulated, but your body&rsquo;s started to produce ovarian follicles<a href="#accordion">[3]</a>.

If there is no surge of LH, then it&#39;s either of these two possibilities:

<ul>
	<li>You are not ovulating, or producing eggs for fertilization</li>
	<li>You may be pregnant&nbsp;</li>
</ul>

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The symptoms experienced during ovulation are only different for each person but even the same person can have different symptoms during different cycles. Right now, you might be experiencing something and then next month, it&rsquo;s going to be a completely new set of symptoms. Maybe, the length of your cycle fluctuates or the periods are heavier. Also, there are many people out there who do not experience these symptoms at all and that&rsquo;s normal, too; it does not mean that anything is wrong with you or that you are not ovulating.&nbsp;

The symptoms include:

<ul>
	<li>Mittelschmerz &ndash; Also known as ovulation pain, this is characterized by pelvic discomfort or cramps that occur due to the rupturing of the follicle that eventually leads to the release of blood or fluid</li>
	<li>Variations In Body Temperature &ndash; Basal body temperature tests are used because your temperature rises by at least one Fahrenheit due to the increased secretion of progesterone</li>
	<li>Cervical Mucus &ndash; Cervical mucus allows for the sperm to stay alive for around 3 to 5 days; it normally contains water only, but the consistency of the mucus changes when ovulating</li>
	<li>Tender Breasts</li>
	<li>Bloating</li>
	<li>Change In Saliva<a href="#accordion">[4]</a> 
	&nbsp;</li>
</ul>

Conclusion

Hopefully this article helped you figure out what ovulation is, when to expect it and how to use ovulation tests. Learn more about your body, how it functions, and what you can do to maintain its optimum condition.

Key Points

<ul><li>Ovulation is a very natural process of the maturation and release of the egg from an ovary.</li><li>You can know you are ovulating by taking your basal body temperature.</li><li>You are most likely to conceive when the egg is fully matured and attached to the fallopian tube.</li><li>The best way to monitor your ovulation cycle is through tracking apps. The app tells you when you can or cannot have unprotected sex based on your cycle. </li></ul>