What happens if your menstrual cycle isn’t 28 days? First, know it’s okay. You’re normal. Second, there are things that can help, such as Fertility Tea. Third, keep reading for more.

Following a huge response from my ovulation segment on healthtalks, there have been questions flying all about the place about healthy menstrual cycles and some concern from women who’s cycles looked a little different.

Know this: very few women have a perfect menstrual cycle every single month, otherwise there would be no such thing as Fertility Tea.

Your Ovulation Cycle

This is because there are so many factors that influence ovulation—stress, excess weight loss, grief, lack of appetite, exercise, medication, the list goes on. For this reason, the body simply tries to ovulate until it eventually gets the job done. This may mean it attempts the deed several times until it actually completes the job. To you, this will look like variations of fertile mucus that come and go over a week or two depending on the situation. What this should also do in a healthy situation is push your ovulation out. So where ordinarily you would ovulate on cycle day (CD) 14, you may find yourself ovulating on CD20 (if you need help calculating your cycle WebMD offers a free calculator). For this to be a healthy fertile cycle, we would hope to see the luteal phase (from ovulation to menstruation) be at least 11 days, meaning that we wouldn’t potentially see a period until at least cycle day 31. In this situation, if you did see the period arrive on it’s normal cycle day of 28, your luteal phase would be too short hormonally and inadequate for fertilisation of an embryo. You see, the body has got it all figured out!

But if you are finding you are ovulating later in the month and having a short luteal phase, it’s a good idea to try and figure out exactly what your body is telling you. In every instance, it shows that your progesterone levels are inadequate and can’t maintain a strong luteal phase. How we go about fixing that however will differ for everybody. Fertility Tea can be a great place to start as it naturally supports your hormones

Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS)

But how about those with Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS)? I’m not finished with you by a long shot! Good news is, the methods I talk about in the healthtalks clip can be applied to anybody trying to conceive. Just remember, if you feel wet cervical mucus, your body is at least trying to ovulate. And if you are trying for a baby, drink Fertility Tea and no matter when you see that mucus, go for gold my friend!

Whether it is PCOS or other ovulatory issues, the same principles apply in terms of diet and lifestyle. They are all outlined in my e-book, Fertilise Yourself (let’s not forget there are also 25 recipes in there too to have you on your fertile way) and are pretty much the same across the board however, PCOS does require some specific details.

Insulin and PCOS

Insulin resistance adds a level of complexity. There is a link between PCOS and sugar. Whilst the cause of PCOS is unknown, what is well understood is that by altering your sugar intake, your symptoms of PCOS are decreased dramatically.

In short, insulin is produced by your body and is a normal response to rising blood glucose levels. It’s main function is to reduce the amount of glucose in the blood. Glucagon is also secreted by the same organ and does the opposite. The secretion of both hormones is controlled by the amount of sugar in the blood. So, to cut a very long story short, insulin acts on the ovary to make testosterone. This is a necessary body function as testosterone is required for the body to go and make the female hormone oestrogen.

Characteristically, women with PCOS generally have higher blood insulin levels, which have an affect on the ovary, meaning that they overproduce testosterone. High levels of this lead to lots of symptoms including lack of menstruation, facial hair, weight gain, and acne. Given this, it is very important to treat women and regulate their hormones. TCM and Fertility Tea both do this very well.

Fertility Tea

Fertility tea plays a key role in helping your menstrual and ovulation cycle, including PCOS symptoms, by using natural ingredients. In each bag of Fertility Tea, you’ll find:

• Black Tea
• Wu Wei Zi
• Man Jing Zi
• Pu Gong Yin
• Gou Qi
• Bo He

Each ingredient in our Fertility Tea works together to help PCOS, PMS, endometriosis, candida, hormonal imbalance, fertility issues, digestive issues.

Written by Dr. Nat Kringoudis TCM.

Image via @melcarrero_