If you have a fertility irregular period - or where your menstrual cycle is unpredictable - you may wonder why. There is one excellent way aside from seeing a physician and under going a serious of invasive tests - keep fertility charts and in particular your basal body temperatures. Learn how to judge the variations on the chart and figure if there is an infertility problem. Then you can take measures with your charts in hand to your physician to find out how to correct the issues.

Please note that fertility after pregnancy can be irregular because of hormonal imbalances.

The most important reason you chart your basal body temperatures is to pinpoint ovulation. Some women are lucky enough to have a "text-book" looking chart, meaning the lows will be in the 97.0 F range and the highs in the 98.0 F range, with a .4 rise the day after ovulation and a 14 day luteal phase (the time from ovulation to menstruation.) However for the majority of women, this is not the case. There are variations or discrepancies noted on their charts. This article is to explain some of these.

Erratic Basal Body Temperatures

When you don't see a definite shift in temperatures around ovulation or if your chart zigzags this is known as anovulation. Anovualtion is the absence of ovulation. Even if you have menstrual bleeding - this could be high estrogen causing the bleeding. You can definitely tell whether or not you ovulate by your fertility chart. Ovulation is shown by an upward shift in temperatures.

High Basal Temperatures the Entire Cycle

High temperatures during the entire cycle and especially in the first half of the cycle is a possible indication of hyper-thyroid. If you have high temperatures consistently you should ask your healthcare provider to run a thyroid test. If hyper-active thyroid is indicated there are medications you can take that will help to bring the basal body temperatures back to normal - and also helps to restore fertility.

Low Basal Body Temperatures the Entire Cycle

If you consistently see low temperatures throughout the cycle this is indicative of hypo-thyroid. Both types of thyroid dysfunctions can cause infertility. A simple test with your physician can confirm this. Medications can correct it.

Note on being either too high or too low on the basal body temperatures: It's possible that it's not the thyroid. Hormonal imbalances can be the blame for the fertility irregular period. Too high or low of either estrogen or progesterone can cause this. There again - a simple blood test at the doctor's office can make the diagnosis and then treatment prescribed to help balance the hormones and normalize the basal body temperatures.

Slow Upward Shift in Basal Body Temperature

If your chart seems normal, with low temperatures first half of the cycle and high temperatures second half but your shift slowly rises, this makes it difficult to pinpoint ovulation. Normally the basal body temperature will have a definite .4 of a degree rise the day following ovulation. In a slow rise you will see it climb .1 a day. In this case you need to pay extra attention to other fertility signs such as cervical fluid and cervical position. Adding these two to your charting routing will be a better aid in pinpointing ovulation.

It really pays off to learn to chart your fertility signs and to know ahead of time these little things to look for. If you find that you do indeed have a fertility irregular period, you can then take measures to correct it.