Menstruation and ovulation are closely related. Whether menstruation is normal or not determines the date of ovulation. If there is no ovulation, there will be no menstruation. To be precise, without ovulation there is no ovulatory menstruation, and it is impossible to get pregnant successfully.
1. Menstruation does not necessarily mean ovulation.
For Ms. Xu, who is already 30 years old, her journey to conceive has been exceptionally difficult. A few days ago, the test results finally came back after three years of trying to conceive without success: Ms. Xu had anovulatory menstruation. Ms. Xu was stunned. She had always thought her periods were regular, unaware that regular periods don't necessarily mean ovulation. Without ovulation, conception is impossible.
The relationship between menstruation and ovulation: No ovulation means no menstruation.
Menstruation and ovulation are closely related. Simply put, ovulation determines menstruation; without ovulation, there will be no menstruation. More precisely, without ovulation, there is no ovulatory menstruation, and therefore, infertility. Therefore, to determine whether menstruation is normal, one should first determine whether ovulation has occurred; menstruation with ovulation is normal.
Under normal circumstances, the menstrual cycle is controlled by the cerebral cortex and regulated by the interaction between the hypothalamus, pituitary gland, and ovaries, as well as by other endocrine hormones such as thyroid hormones. Therefore, women generally secrete estrogen before ovulation and progesterone and estrogen after ovulation.
The uterine lining in women undergoes proliferative and secretory phases under the influence of these two hormones. When hormone levels drop, the uterine lining loses hormonal support, dies, and sheds, resulting in menstruation – this is normal ovulatory menstruation. In anovulatory menstruation, the ovaries only secrete estrogen, not progesterone, so the uterine lining only undergoes proliferative changes. When estrogen levels drop to a certain level, the uterine lining sheds, and menstruation occurs again.
II. Four situations that disrupt the menstrual cycle
A woman's menstrual cycle is affected by many factors, but the following are the most common.
1. Uncontrolled weight loss
In today's era where thinness is considered beautiful, many women born in the 80s and 90s often skip dinner or eat very little at all in order to fit into beautiful clothes and maintain a slim figure. They often rely on fruit for lunch and breakfast as their primary source of nutrition. These behaviors are irresponsible towards women themselves, and nutritional deficiencies play a crucial role in changes to a woman's menstrual cycle.
2. Excessive emotional fluctuations
Some women are overly sensitive in their emotional world, often experiencing excessive tension, sadness, joy, and other emotions over trivial matters. These abnormal fluctuations inevitably interfere with the normal functioning of the central nervous system, thereby affecting the regulation of ovarian function, which determines menstrual changes, and causing menstrual irregularities.
3. A life with reversed day and night
Some women have irregular sleep patterns due to work, such as reversed day and night schedules, irregular daily routines, and early mornings and late nights, which can disrupt their menstrual cycles.
4. Having an untreated or uncured illness
The body isn't a machine; minor ailments occasionally require medication. Some young women, however, tend to be stubborn, thinking they can just tough it out. But conditions such as local inflammation of the reproductive organs, intracranial diseases, other endocrine disorders like thyroid or adrenal cortex dysfunction, and liver disease can all cause menstrual irregularities in women.
III. Causes of Anovulation in Women
Regular ovulation is essential for fertility. Anovulation is often caused by pathological disorders in any part of the hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian axis, but it can also be influenced by other endocrine disorders. Therefore, if a woman experiences anovulation, she should investigate which link in the process is causing it.
1. Causes of anovulation symptoms
In general, the causes of anovulation in women include:
1) Ovarian diseases, including congenital ovarian hypoplasia, polycystic ovary syndrome, premature ovarian failure, ovarian tumors, etc.
2) Dysfunction of the hypothalamus-pituitary-ovarian axis can cause anovulatory menstruation or amenorrhea. Prolonged stress, anxiety, anger, sadness, or other negative emotions in women can lead to brain dysfunction, resulting in anovulation or abnormal ovulation. Anovulation can also be caused by Sheehan's syndrome or hyperprolactinemia.
3) Other systemic diseases, such as severe malnutrition and hyperthyroidism, can also cause anovulation.
2. Normal ovulatory menstrual cycle, leading to successful conception.
Based on the analysis above, we now understand the relationship between menstruation and ovulation. In short, menstruation and ovulation are closely related; ovulation determines menstruation. Without ovulation, there will be no menstruation; more precisely, without ovulation, there is no ovulatory menstruation, and therefore, it is impossible to conceive successfully.
Therefore, to determine whether a woman is infertile, the first thing to do is to determine whether she is ovulating. Only menstrual cycles with ovulation are normal, and only then is it possible to conceive successfully!
