Since the hormonal household is affected by stress, antibiotics and what not. What happens to the menstruation when it is „late“ but not pregnant? Is there more tissue in the uterus lining? Stronger flow? What happens in the body?
In: Biology
The time between ovulation and the start of menstruation is usually fixed and around 14days. The time before ovulation is the variable part.
If for some reason the time before menstruation really is delayed the mucosa is just sitting there, ready, pumped up with blood and waiting for a fertilized egg to come around, or not. It doesn’t keep on thickening indefinitely (in healthy people). The thickening part happens *before* ovulation (also not indefinitely), afterwards it just gets squishy and full of blood like a sponge.
The cells surrounding the egg cell start producing progesterone after the egg was released. That’s the signal for the mucosa to prepare for the egg to connect. The yellow body, the little clump of cells producing hormones, lasts for about 9 days on its own, after that progesterone levels drop again and the mucosa slowly begins to shed.
The yellow body only persists and keeps on producing hormones when the mucosa sends the hormone signal “Hey, fertilized egg is here!” That signal (hCG) is what pregnancy tests measure. The levels of hCG slowly go up around the 5th day after fertilization, and should be measurable the latest after 3 weeks. That means if menstruation is late by a week, a test should give you an answer.
So if you know when ovulation was (by mucus texture, cervix consistency, temperature jump), and it’s now later than usual, test time.
If you’re worried you might be pregnant, test time.
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