Nausea during ovulation is common experience. Many women during their monthly cycle may, at one point or another, feel vomit-like sensations surfacing.
It can be an unpleasant feeling, we know. But could it reveal something about your health?
Most people are familiar with nausea being a common symptom of pregnancy. But ovulating women too may be inclined to feel nauseous.
Understanding common symptoms during your ovulation will help you plan a pregnancy accurately or even avoid getting pregnant.
Let’s dive right into what nausea during ovulation indicates and whether or not you should be worried.
Ovulation symptoms: What should I expect?
Ovulation occurs when your ovary releases a mature egg for fertilization. The process occurs 12 – 14 days before your next period. The first day of the period is calculated as the day you start bleeding.
Ovulation was believed to occur during the middle of the cycle.
However, some women have cycles that last as short as 21 days or as long as 35 days. So, in such cycles, ovulation cannot occur midway through the cycle.
For a 21-day cycle, ovulation occurs on day 7 (21 – 14 = 7) and for a 35-day cycle, ovulation occurs on day 21 (35 – 14). Here’s the lowdown on early ovulation and late ovulation.
The time around ovulation – specifically 4 days before ovulation, the day of ovulation, and a day after – is known as your fertile window. This is the best time to try for a baby successfully.
But ovulation doesn’t always come as a lone soldier. Some changes may accompany it, and nausea is one of the dreaded few symptoms.
Some other ovulation symptoms include a change in mucus discharge, light spotting, pain in one side of your abdomen, and a change in your basal body temperature. We’ll get to this a little later in the article.
Causes of nausea during ovulation
One of the signs of early pregnancy is nausea and vomiting. Like most other pregnancy-related issues, your hormones are to blame for nausea and vomiting as well.
We very well know that the placenta of a pregnant woman produces a hormone called human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) after implantation.
Research states that the higher your hCG levels, the more nauseous you become.
You may be wondering why you experience nausea during your ovulation when you aren’t pregnant. The hormones at play through your menstrual cycle cause various symptoms through your cycle.
Pregnancy hormones—progesterone and estrogen—are responsible for the queasy feeling you have just before your period, during your ovulation, and also in the early stages of pregnancy.
Ovulation hormones—estrogen, and luteinizing hormone (LH) work together to ensure that you ovulate. When the level of estrogen increases, it triggers the production of LH which starts your ovulation. Your progesterone levels rise once you have ovulated. Then progesterone and estrogen prepare your body for possible fertilization.
The rapid changes, especially in the levels of estrogen and LH, could be responsible for the nausea you experience during your ovulation.
Other women may feel nausea because of the pain they get from ovulation, also known as mittelschmerz. However this pain is normal and lasts for a short while, between a few hours to days.
If you are on fertility medications, certain anti-inflammatory drugs, or pain-relievers, your chances of feeling nauseous around ovulation may increase.
How To Make The Nausea Go Away?
Feeling nauseous during ovulation is normal. So you can breathe easy! There is generally nothing to worry about and any sensations of light dizziness or sickness you may feel subsides naturally.
Although nausea goes away on its own after some time, won’t it be a lot better if you can make it go away faster? Well, there are antiemetic medications that help subside the sensation of nausea. Before you go for these over-the-counter medicines, it is important to seek a doctor’s consultation.
If you are trying to get pregnant, and feel nauseous while ovulating, it would be best to discuss your medications with your doctor to get the correct prescriptions. Note that oily or hot and spicy food can contribute to the nauseous feeling, so avoiding them can help you.
How long does nausea last during ovulation?
Not long—that is under normal circumstances. However, if you notice that nausea lingers on for a while, you should visit your doctor. They can help you find out if there is another thing causing you to feel nauseous other than your ovulation.
Other Symptoms Of Ovulation
Asides from nausea, some other symptoms can also show you are ovulating. Although, relying wholly on these symptoms to track your ovulation isn’t such a good idea. Not all women experience all these ovulation symptoms.
Here are some other ovulation symptoms, besides nausea, to keep an eye out for:
- Changes in Cervical Mucus: One of the signs you will see during your ovulation is a change in your cervical discharge. This is because your body increases the estrogen levels towards your ovulation day, causing the cervical discharge to become stretchy and clear. This helps sperm to swim to the egg much better during ovulation.
Read more : What can your cervical mucus tell you about your body?
- Changes in Cervical Position: During your ovulation, the position of your cervix may move higher and become soft, making it easy for the sperm to pass through. Although you can check by inserting a clean finger, it may not be a straightforward way to tell you are ovulating. So using a tracker can help with getting accurate results.
- Basal Body Temperature Changes: Your basal body temperature (BBT) is the temperature of your body at rest. It rises during your ovulation and remains steady for that period. If you track your basal body temperature for a while, you will notice when it begins to increase and discover your ovulation phase.
- Heightened Sense Of Smell: Some women have an improved sense of smell during their ovulation. A study has also shown that women may have an increased sense of taste towards the later part of their menstrual cycle.
- Breast Tenderness: Breast tenderness or sore nipples could signal that a woman is about to ovulate. This is simply because your hormones spike up right before your ovulation and immediately after. As a result, you may experience sore breasts around the time of ovulation.
- Ovulation Pain: Just as you feel cramps before or during your period, ovulation too may bring some abdominal pain. Ovulation pain is a sharp or dull sting that occurs at one side of your abdomen when your ovary releases a mature egg. Thankfully this pain is short-lived and subsides within a few minutes to a few hours.
Read More : How can I know if my pain is from ovulation? - Ovulation spotting: Spotting during ovulation is commonly seen in women as a sign of ovulation. This happens when the follicle ruptures to let the egg out and releases a small amount of blood.
As the blood gets exposed to oxygen in the surrounding environment and it changes color as a sign of oxidation, from red to brown. So your discharge may be dark red or brown when it flows out.
Signs That Ovulation Is Over
Tracking your hormones and testing the levels periodically can help you determine if ovulation has occurred, but what about when it’s over?
Once ovulation ends, your hormones—estrogen and LH—reduce drastically. On the other hand, progesterone begins to increase steadily as it prepares the body for pregnancy, in case conception has been successful.
If you don’t get pregnant then the level of progesterone decreases.
To confirm that you have ovulated, get a test done to confirm the presence of progesterone in your body. You can get the test done approximately 6-8 days after your ovulation day. This is when your progesterone levels peak and elevated levels indicate you have ovulated.
Hormone trackers like Inito are the best way to consistently monitor your progesterone (PdG) levels at home. It will help you to determine if you have successfully ovulated by showing a comprehensive report of your hormones.
Summary
- Knowing when you are ovulating is essential for planning pregnancy, so you should be familiar with the signs of ovulation.
- The constant spikes in your hormones—mainly estrogen and LH—towards the release of a mature egg cause nausea during ovulation.
- This sensation doesn’t last longer than a few hours. However, you should see your doctor if it persists.
- Other signs that can show you are ovulating include; changes in cervical position, changes in cervical mucus, pain in the lower back, heightened senses, and breast tenderness
- To know if your ovulation has ended, check the level of your hormones. After ovulation, estrogen and LH reduce while progesterone rises.
