Hello doctor, I am a 46-year-old female and my periods have become increasingly irregular. They used to be around 24 days in length and my current cycle is now 36 days. My basal body temperature indicated that I may have ovulated on day 10. But I have not menstruated at all this cycle - not even spotting. Late last week, I had slight cramps and pains in the regions near my ovaries, which made me think that perhaps my body was trying to ovulate again. I have taken a pregnancy test, which was negative. I do not believe I am pregnant; rather, I think I may be entering into perimenopause. I have been trained for a marathon last year and during training, I ran up to 50 km or more per week. I had a cycle of 36 days. However, since that time, my cycles have been as short as 14 days but no longer than 31 days. My partner and I use condoms and I track my cycle so that we do not need to use these on infertile days. However, given the length of this cycle, I am unsure whether condoms are necessary until after I have menstruated next. My question relates to fertility in this perimenopausal stage. As I believe I ovulated on day 10, does this mean I remain infertile until I get my next period? Or is my body going to ovulate again, meaning that I will again be fertile?
Hello. No, you have not ovulated on day 10 because if it would have been so you would have had your period by now. Menstruation usually occurs 14 days after ovulation and the duration between ovulation and menstruation is always fixed. Ovulation occurs only once in one cycle. I suggest you repeat the pregnancy test after one week. Since your cycles are irregular now, you cannot rely on fertile period method. Take proper contraception during an entire cycle. If you do not get your period even after a week and pregnancy test comes out to be negative again then you should undergo some investigations to find out the cause. I suggest you get a thyroid profile, prolactin levels, serum LH (luteinizing hormone) and serum FSH (follicle-stimulating hormone) checked. For more information consult an obstetrician and gynaecologist online -->