Persistently absent LH surges can lead to issues with ovulation. Here’s why, and what that means for your fertility.
Luteinizing hormone (LH) is a critical reproductive hormone that plays many roles in fertility. The LH surge , in particular, is key to conceiving. When LH surges, it triggers ovulation—a crucial part of the conception process.
But what happens if you’re testing and aren’t seeing an LH surge? What does no LH surge mean for your fertility? Read on to find out.
What is the LH surge? Luteinizing hormone (LH) is actively involved in fertility. LH helps :
Stimulate estrogen and progesterone production Control ovulation Regulate the corpus luteum, a temporary structure that helps prepare the body for a potential pregnancy What is the LH surge, and how does it fit into these roles? The answer has to do with ovulation and fertility.
Prior to ovulation, a hormone-driven series of events makes LH levels begin to rise. This hormone climbs until it hits its peak level—that’s the LH surge.
The LH surge tells your ovaries it’s time to ovulate, or release the mature egg that’s been growing since the start of your cycle. Ovulation generally follows 10 to 12 hours after LH hits its peak.
What does the LH surge mean for my fertility? The LH surge triggers ovulation . Ovulation, in turn, is essential for fertility: it provides the egg that can be fertilized and become a pregnancy. You’re fertile when LH surges and you ovulate.
Having consistent and regular LH surges is generally a sign of healthy and regular ovulation. Healthy and regular ovulation typically means you can potentially conceive in any given cycle (provided you have sex during your fertile window ).
In other words, the LH surge is a crucial piece of fertility cycle to cycle.
What does no LH surge mean for my fertility? If the LH surge is a key part of fertility, what does it mean for your fertility if you don’t have an LH surge?
The LH surge triggers ovulation, but if LH doesn’t surge, you don’t ovulate . If you don’t ovulate, there’s no egg to fertilize. Without an egg to fertilize, pregnancy can’t occur.
In short, without an LH surge, you don’t ovulate and you can’t get pregnant in that cycle.
If you’re trying to conceive, having no LH surge for extended periods of time can lead to fertility problems.
How do I detect my LH surge? If you want to determine whether you regularly have LH surges and whether you regularly ovulate, you can test your LH with ovulation tests .
Ovulation tests, also called ovulation predictor kits or OPKs, measure LH levels in urine to capture the LH surge and tell you whether ovulation is about to happen.
When you’re trying to conceive, ovulation tests can be a useful tool. That’s because LH is a key part of fertility—when you have a greater understanding of your LH surge, you have a greater understanding of your fertility. Knowing when your LH surge happens can help you figure out when your fertile window is.
Choosing a reliable test kit is an important step to understanding whether you’re experiencing LH surges, and some traditional OPKs aren’t up to the task (more on this below). Quantitative, personalized, and multi-hormone ovulation tests like the Oova kit are a good option for an accurate OPK.
Why don’t I have an LH surge? If you’re taking ovulation tests and those tests aren’t detecting an LH surge, there could be a few reasons for this.
In some cases, it’s possible that you are actually experiencing LH surges, but the tests aren’t detecting it. In other cases, you may have no LH surge.
You have LH surges, but your LH baseline is high or low Traditional OPKs rely on a preset window of measurement to detect LH.
But it’s possible that your LH may not fall within that window. Factors like fertility medication, reproductive health conditions, or perimenopause can all impact your LH baseline , making it high or low.
It’s also possible for your LH surge itself to be low—meaning what’s a surge for you may look like a small bump for others.
If your LH baseline is outside of the measurement range used by OPKs, or if your peak is small, these traditional tests may not capture a surge, even if you do have LH surges.
That’s why a test like the Oova kit can be more accurate and reliable. The Oova kit measures your specific hormone levels instead of comparing them to a standard range that you might not fall in.
You have LH surges, but you didn’t test at the right time You only have about a 36-hour window for testing LH, spanning from the moment LH starts to surge, to when it peaks, to when the surge ends and you ovulate.
But traditional OPKs don’t offer much insight about when to test. If you have irregular cycles or irregular ovulation , predicting when to test on your own is hard. Even if your cycles tend to be regular, the exact moment of ovulation can vary from cycle to cycle.
All this guesswork makes it easy to mistime your ovulation test. Without the correct timing, a traditional OPK won’t detect your LH surge—even if you did actually have an LH surge that cycle.
You’re not experiencing LH surges If you’re using a reliable, multi-hormone, quantitative OPK and you aren’t detecting an LH surge, it may mean that you’re not experiencing LH surges.
There are a few possible reasons for this.
No LH surge could be a one-off event—bodies are complicated, and sometimes things happen. Try testing LH for a few months to get a better picture of your hormones.
If you consistently have no LH surge, though, you may have an underlying issue such as a hormonal imbalance or reproductive health condition.
Lots of factors may cause absent or irregular LH surges, whether once in a while or consistently, including:
What to do about no LH surge If you believe you may not have LH surges, try not to jump to any immediate conclusions about your ovulation and your fertility.
Consider testing your LH with OPKs for a few months. If you’re trying to conceive, try to have sex regularly throughout your fertile window. Timing sex around your LH surge and ovulation optimizes your chances of conceiving.
If you’re still experiencing no LH surge and fertility issues, your doctor can help you understand what’s going on. Options like lab LH tests can be used to figure out the cause of issues with LH surge and fertility, and diagnose any underlying conditions.
No LH surge and fertility: The bottom line The LH surge is a crucial part of fertility. That’s because LH triggers ovulation, and ovulation is necessary for pregnancy.
If you have no LH surge in a given cycle, you don’t ovulate, and you can’t get pregnant.
Ovulation test kits can help you measure LH and determine whether you have LH surges, but it’s important to consider whether you’re using the right test for you—some traditional OPKs may not be right if you have higher or lower LH levels. If you suspect you have no LH surge, consider testing your LH for a few months and talking with your doctor. Your doctor can help you get to the bottom of your LH and fertility issues, and find a treatment plan that’s right for you.
