# Females only: Ovulation time, ovulation time (TMI?) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 21, 2005, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/females-only-ovulation-time-ovulation-time-tmi/304855 "2005-05-21T05:37:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![GilaB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@GilaB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GilaB)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2005, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/females-only-ovulation-time-ovulation-time-tmi/304855/21 "2005-05-22T02:34:00Z")
I’ve never felt anything. You can actually feel it? Like you can tell which ovary is in use this month? ---
**Author:** ![Sarah\_Woodruff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sarah\_Woodruff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarah_Woodruff)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2005, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/females-only-ovulation-time-ovulation-time-tmi/304855/22 "2005-05-22T02:54:32Z")
Never felt anything. But if I did I probably put it down to indigestion or something. I’m on the Pill now so, obviously, no ovulation. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2005, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/females-only-ovulation-time-ovulation-time-tmi/304855/23 "2005-05-22T03:51:02Z")
Middel = Middle Schmerz=pain (that’s my translation, I could be wrong.) It’s german. ---
**Author:** ![phouka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c5a1d2/32.png) [@phouka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phouka)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2005, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/females-only-ovulation-time-ovulation-time-tmi/304855/24 "2005-05-22T03:57:27Z")
I went off my BCP back in Jan/Feb for a few months (script ran out, and I was too broke to go to the doc), and for two whole months, I was on a practically regular cycle! Wow! I had mittelschmertz, which had never happened to me before. I knew _exactly_ where my ovaries were, and felt the PING! when my right ovary ovulated. I thought it was so cool, I wanted to run around and tell people. Hey! I’m fertile! I could make a baby! Then, of course, I remembered that most people don’t consider this an appropriate conversation topic and remain quiet. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2005, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/females-only-ovulation-time-ovulation-time-tmi/304855/25 "2005-05-22T04:08:40Z")
> [@GilaB](#): > > I’ve never felt anything. You can actually feel it? Like you can tell which ovary is in use this month? Yes, definitely. They take turns tormenting their owner. ---
**Author:** ![Telperien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@Telperien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperien)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2005, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/females-only-ovulation-time-ovulation-time-tmi/304855/26 "2005-05-22T09:48:00Z")
I have mittelschmertz very rarely. I have this theory that I possibly don’t even ovulate half the time (before you nag, I am going to the doc about it) due to all sorts of girl-part weirdness, which has been steadily getting weirder. I do have a couple of cramps a day or so before my period starts. That’s how I generally know it’s on its way. That and the week before, my skin goes insane. My face probably qualifies as an OPEC nation all on its own. I look forward to getting on the pill again, because at least then I had regular periods, not this crazy stuff. > [@conurepete](#): > > I get a symptom I never see referenced in books: my rear end freezes. When I am on the pill, the freeze effect is premenstrual, but when I am not, it appears to hit at ovulation. Other female relatives have reported this. My rear end is always cold, but when I’m menstruating, it gets colder. ---
**Author:** ![irishgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@irishgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishgirl)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2005, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/females-only-ovulation-time-ovulation-time-tmi/304855/27 "2005-05-22T11:52:59Z")
If you’re having mittelschmertz on BCP one of two things is happening: 1. You’re ovulating…which is a BAD thing and means either your pill isn’t working, or you’re not taking it right. 2. You’ve got something else going on there…if the pain is by your right hip, possibly appendicitis (it could be lots of other things too…constipation, muscle spasm, ectopic pregnancy, ovarian cyst etc) either way, see a doctor ASAP to get to the bottom of it. I’ve been on BCP for most of the last 5 years. I’m one of those people who has crap ovulation symptoms, and crapper periods, so the BCP is my best friend. Unlike most teenage girls, I ovulated every month from my first period onwards (you don’t ovulate before your first period). I know this because I got mittelschmertz from hell every month on day 10-11 of my cycle (I have a 24 day natural cycle, so this is fine). Sharp, stabbing pain radiating from down into my hip and knee, either on one or both sides is NOT fun, even if it only lasts for an hour or two. I also get pre-ovulation headaches, so I have warning it’s going to happen about 6 hours before the mittelschmertz hit. On the plus side, I won’t have to fiddle around with thermometers when I do want kids. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2005, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/females-only-ovulation-time-ovulation-time-tmi/304855/28 "2005-05-22T15:53:32Z")
> [@GilaB](#): > > I’ve never felt anything. You can actually feel it? Like you can tell which ovary is in use this month? Yep, it switches from side to side. I didn’t start feeling it until maybe my late 20s – oh, that wacky reproductive system, always having some surprises in store. I had noticed the feeling occasionally, and then I read some descriptions of mittelschmerz and had the light bulb moment – OH, so THAT’S what that is! For me, the mittelschmerz isn’t exactly painful, it’s more _weird_. If you picture the standard diagram of one’s ovaries, fallopian tubes and uterus, it feels like a tiny hand is repeatedly pulling down on the ovary, and every once in a while, the pull becomes more like a sharp yank. That part is more uncomfortable, but it’s sharper and faster than menstrual cramps. It reminds me of picking fruit off a tree – the tugging, tugging, and then a harder snap. To answer the OP, I can’t decide if I think it’s worse or not. The _pulling_ sensation gives me the willies, as if my internal organs are trying to migrate out of my body. Some months, there’s no mistaking the ovaluation, but other times, it’s not as bad and I barely notice it, or don’t notice it at all. ---
**Author:** ![Lola\_Granola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Lola\_Granola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lola_Granola)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2005, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/females-only-ovulation-time-ovulation-time-tmi/304855/29 "2005-05-22T19:31:34Z")
Oh thank all the deities!!! Other people know when they ovulate!!! For years I had people telling me it was all in my head. And for some reason, my right ovary likes to pop more than my left. I would get these really strange, almost pulling sensation, cramps. Just for a second. It would take my breath away, and then be totally gone. My mid section would get all tender and bloaty, and sitting would become uncomfortable. I knew when this happened, I had about 10 days untill the KILLER CRAMPS would decend on me like a heavy blanket of pain. But still, I would forget about these things. EVERY TIME. Then when it would happen again , I would be all , “What the hell is wrong with me?” Does anyone else have PMS amnesia? ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2005, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/females-only-ovulation-time-ovulation-time-tmi/304855/30 "2005-05-22T21:19:18Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > 😕 Menopause? But with that, there’s no ovulation. After the final ovulaion, there will be a period. I’m not sure what else you could mean. > > … Peri-menopause. You can still have periods and you can still ovulate but they are not necessarily regular and a late period does not mean you’re pregnant. You’re earlier comment seemed like an either/or comment, either you get your period or you’re pregnant and that’s that, which isn’t always the case. Since I am experiencing this I was feeling a little cranky about being left out. [sub]I was also feeling a little cranky about the dirty dishes in the sink, that annoying TV commercial was on again, a bill I got in the mail that I shouldn’t have to pay, my boyfriend being totally clueless, my mom being too needy and my bra strap was too tight.[sub] ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2005, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/females-only-ovulation-time-ovulation-time-tmi/304855/31 "2005-05-23T00:41:19Z")
> [@Wile E](#): > > Peri-menopause. You can still have periods and you can still ovulate but they are not necessarily regular and a late period does not mean you’re pregnant. You’re earlier comment seemed like an either/or comment, either you get your period or you’re pregnant and that’s that, which isn’t always the case. > > Since I am experiencing this I was feeling a little cranky about being left out. > > [sub]I was also feeling a little cranky about the dirty dishes in the sink, that annoying TV commercial was on again, a bill I got in the mail that I shouldn’t have to pay, my boyfriend being totally clueless, my mom being too needy and my bra strap was too tight.[sub] My earlier comment is still accurate during peri-menopause: > [@](#): > > Once you ovulate, there’s a finite and very regular amount of progesterone to be had from the corpus luteum… True, there are times during peri-menopause when you don’t ovulate. If this goes on long enough, the estrogen level builds up high enough that you’ll shed lining. It’s caled “anovulatory bleeding,” and can happen to young women as well. Basically, if the body doesn’t ovulate for any reason (stress, illness, peri-menopause) for long enough, you’ll get an anovulatory period. But when you \*do \*ovulate, the 12-16 day period before menstruation is still very regular - even during peri-menopause. Don’t feel left out - you’re still one of us! 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/females-only-ovulation-time-ovulation-time-tmi/304855.md?page=1)