What Hormones Are In What Part Of Your Cycle?
Have you ever wondered if or which of your many hormones shine throughout your cycle? For example, how do the hormones at your period differ from ovulation? How does that differ from the week before your period if you’re having PMS symptoms? And does this change in perimenopause?
The menstrual cycle is normally divided into 2 phases - the follicular phase and the luteal phase.
We can then divide it out further to help you understand your hormones.
The day you start your period is counted as day 1 and is the start of the follicular phase.
At this point, your progesterone and estradiol (type of estrogen) are pretty low.
It’s called the follicular phase because some of your follicles that contain the eggs start to grow, develop, mature and make hormones.
Gradually as you move through that first week, your estradiol starts to rise up but your progesterone stays really low.
Eventually in week 2, your estradiol rises up really high to help with ovulation (egg release) which is often between days 10-17. Your testosterone might bump up temporarily here as well to help your libido.
This whole time between day 1 and ovulation is still the follicular phase.
At ovulation, you release the egg. This is known as the Luteal Phase. It’s called the luteal phase because the cells that form after the egg is released is called the corpus luteum.
Just after ovulation, estradiol dips down and progesterone starts to rise.
In week 3 of the luteal phase, estradiol increases a bit (not to the same degree as the follicular phase before ovulation) but progesterone should skyrocket to the moon! You want a lot of progesterone relative to estradiol by the middle of the luteal phase. Progesterone should rule in the luteal phase.
If no implantation occurs, both estradiol and progesterone fall eventually triggering your next period (back to day 1). If implantation DOES occur, then the hormones from your ovary should stay high enough to maintain your pregnancy until the placenta is strong enough to take over around week 10.
What happens if you don’t ovulate, can you still have a period?
Yes!
It’s called an anovulatory cycle which means progesterone is not made. This can be common in women with PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome) and perimenopause.
Not ovulating can cause a number of hormonal symptoms as estradiol is all out of balance compared to the very low progesterone.
You might have:
Heavy periods, clots
Enlarged or sore/tender breasts
Mood swings that include irritation or low mood
Water retention/swelling
Sleep difficulties
As you can see, it’s an entire process from start to finish! Women often ask me how they can increase their progesterone in the luteal phase. However, it depends on several factors in the follicular phase up to ovulation! This also includes the ability of their brain to send signals down to the ovaries and the cells in the ovaries to make the hormones.
Several things can negatively affect hormone production and ovulation such as:
Age - being perimenopausal and menopausal
PCOS especially with high androgens and insulin
Medications such as the birth control pill and progestin IUD
High stress
High prolactin hormone
Thyroid problems (hypo or hyper)
Over-training (exercise)
Disordered eating
Rapid weight loss or gain
etc.
By understanding this entire process, it will only help you get an appropriate work-up including lab work at the right part of your cycle! If you still have regular cycles, ask for your estradiol and progesterone test to be done 5-7 days AFTER ovulation. This is called the mid-luteal phase (week 3). Your goal is to see how high (or not) your progesterone rises compared to estradiol.