My Own Experience with Irregular + Anovulatory Cycles

Maybe it’s because FAM educators have this illusion of having “perfect” cycles, because when I share about my experience, I get quite the response. I wanted to share a little bit about my journey with irregular and anovulatory cycles, and if you’re reading this, chances are you’ve experienced it too.

There is really no such thing as a perfect cycle, no matter what you’ve been led to believe. Know that your body is working so hard to heal and regulate - having patience with yourself (when believe me, I know it’s hard) - is really what helped me stay sane during this time.

Because I chart my cycles, I know right away when stress or other factors are impacting my body’s ability to function normally.

The telltale sign is that gradually my cycles begin to get longer and longer and they are not all necessarily ovulatory cycles. I am also able to monitor whether I’m having true periods or withdrawal bleeds. A “true” period is one that follows ovulation. A period following an anovulatory cycle or a pill bleed is called a withdrawal bleed.

When we experience irregular cycles and we’re charting with FAM it can be especially frustrating. Most people wouldn’t necessarily know they weren’t ovulating unless they were tracking their cycle with basal body temperature and cervical mucus.

This added information can be really amazing in some cases, and really anxiety-provoking when we’re experiencing anything other than a “textbook” cycle.

With the information we have when we’re charting with FAM, there is some really helpful troubleshooting we can do if we’re struggling with irregular or anovulatory cycles. It’s important to find out what exactly is causing the irregularity.

Irregular Cycles and Ovulation

Thinking about irregular cycles in terms of ovulation can help provide an explanation as to what the heck is going on! Once you ovulate, the time between ovulation and your next period is called the luteal phase. This phase of the cycle remains relatively the same (+/- 1 or 2 days) for each menstruator. The length of the luteal phase is generally between 11-16 days long. Once ovulation happens, there is a hormonal dance happening between your brain and your ovaries. This means that the event of ovulation will trigger your period around 11-16 days later.

If you’re not getting your period, it means that the hormonal dance between ovulation and menstruation is not happening.

We need to ask, what’s going on with ovulation?

There are many possible causes for delayed or absent ovulation:

Post hormonal birth control: often times hormonal birth control will interrupt the conversation between your brain and your ovaries. This means that when you come off birth control, your body must remember how to ovulate again and produce its own hormones.
Stress: your body needs to feel safe to ovulate! From a biological perspective, our bodies don’t want to get pregnant when we’re under stress. This means that if you are experiencing chronic stress, your body will not prioritize ovulation. Cortisol, the stress hormone, is a precursor to progesterone. If your body is using up all of your cortisol under constant fight-flight-freeze, it will not have the resources it needs to cycle normally.
PCOS: Polycystic Ovary Syndrome is a common disorder that impacts regular cycles. PCOS is less an issue with polycystic ovaries, and more an issue with androgen excess. There are many different drivers for PCOS, but usually folks with PCOS experience irregular cycles.
Hormone Imbalance: Our hormonal system is a complex, interrelated system. We have hormone receptors in all parts of our bodies. If our hormonal system is stressed out due to environmental toxins, inflammatory foods, stress, or another system in the body that isn’t functioning optimally (like the digestive system or thyroid) your cycles may suffer as a result.
Postpartum: In postpartum, it may take some time for your cycles to “reset” and for a normal cycle to return. This is especially true if you are breastfeeding, due to the presence of prolactin which plays a role in suppressing ovulation.
Overexercising or under eating: Both of these things can cause a cycle to disappear. From a biological perspective, if your body is working hard to balance and is not getting enough nutrients or is exercising too much, ovulating and making a potential baby will be bottom of the priority list.

Practicality of using Fertility Awareness to Avoid Pregnancy with PCOS

Most Symptothermal methods of Fertility Awareness use what’s called a double-check rule to open the fertile window, where they’ll use a population based or individual cycle data based calculation to open the fertile window. If ovulation is delayed and you’re outside of the double-check calculation cutoff, it might be a long wait until your fertile window closes and unprotected sex is available again.

The solution for this is learning a method that allows you to re-open the fertile window by establishing a basic infertile pattern (BIP) and using patch rules. However, determining a BIP isn’t a DIY project; it's best done with the guidance of a trained instructor to ensure accuracy and safety. Remember, in a longer cycle, ovulation can theoretically occur at any time. But by paying attention to cervical mucus changes, you can get a heads-up that your hormones are shifting and you might be gearing up to ovulate. When in doubt, or if you haven’t worked with an instructor to determine your BIP, it’s safest to stay protected until you confirm ovulation.

Troubleshooting irregular cycles

The first step in healing irregular or anovulatory cycles is finding out the root cause of the imbalance. It is so important to address that root cause first, and identify where in your cycle things might be awry. Any changes that you implement may take time to see the effects. It is so crucial to be patient and loving towards your body as you nourish it and wait for it to heal. If you can begin to charting your cycles to identify if you are ovulating or not, and to track your progress, this can be immensely helpful.

Having irregular cycles helps me stay really in tune with what my body needs. I know very quickly if something needs attention, because my cycles will tell me. It is a really reliable measure of my overall health and wellbeing. This is why charting can be so empowering, and can help you become more connected with your body.

If you are not already charting your cycles, and you feel confused or disempowered by your hormonal health, charting is a great place to begin. From there, you can troubleshoot and identify what is going on. This is not a replacement for a consultation with your healthcare provider, but by working with your healthcare provider, you will have so much more information with your cycle charts. How amazing is that!