How Can Progesterone be Measured?
The progesterone hormone is produced in your body and measured in blood tests; Pregnanediol (PdG) is the metabolite that comes from metabolized progesterone and is the compound measured in progesterone urine tests.
For a normally fertile women, PdG rises to the detection high level (5 ug/ml) 5 days AFTER ovulation. This timing is opposite to the LH rises before ovulation day. So, the progesterone test is normally used to double-check or confirm that ovulation has occurred.
When could Progesterone (PDG) help me on my TTC journey?
- Haven’t found any positive ovulation test results at all after several cycles.
- Sometimes find positive ovulation test results during some cycles, but not consistently.
- Have found LH surges lasting longer than 7 days or have found positive ovulation test results across the whole cycle.
- Have an irregular ovulation cycle and menstrual cycle.
- Have suffered PCOS (Polycystic Ovary Syndrome) and other potential infertility symptoms.
How Progesterone (PDG) helps you through 3 possible results
1. 🗙 No LH Surge BUT ✓ Yes PDG Spike
First, if you don’t find an LH surge with an ovulation test, but you find a PDG positive result, you most probably have ovulated during this ovulation cycle. With that information, you can focus on the following causes:
- Your LH surge level is too low to be detected.
- Your LH surge is too short and has been missed.
- Your LH surge is not typically following the pattern of low-high-peak-low, but you have ovulated.
- Your luteinizing hormones are imbalanced.
2. 🗙 No LH Surge AND 🗙 No PDG Spike
If you could neither find an LH positive result nor a PDG positive test result, we recommend you do a BBT chart to find out whether you have ovulated or not. If the BBT Chart doesn't show a spike, we recommend that you visit your doctor earlier to check whether there is an ovulation dysfunction issue, i.e, not ovulating.
3. ✓ Yes LH Surge AND ✓ Yes PDG Spike
Most fertile women normally can find both peaks of LH and PdG, so these results can assure you are ready to get pregnant. If you use the Premom ovulation predictor app, it can accurately predict both your next ovulation day and period day with the double-check ovulation result.
Use the Progesterone (PDG) test when you are are not sure the LH ovulation tests result alone can answer the question: “When do you ovulate?”
