Everyone is familiar with the corpus luteum, which secretes progesterone, an important hormone. The female menstrual cycle is divided into two distinct phases based on ovulation: the follicular phase and the luteal phase. Before ovulation is the stage of follicular development and maturity, called the follicular phase. After ovulation, the follicle wall after the egg is discharged is indented, and blood fills the follicle cavity to form a blood body. After that, new blood vessels grow in, the remaining follicle cells proliferate, and luteinizes under the action of LH. The granulosa cells and intima cells are transformed into granules respectively. The luteal cells and theca luteal cells accumulate yellow lipids in the cytoplasm and appear yellow, which is called the corpus luteum. The corpus luteum will continue to develop, and progesterone will rise significantly, peaking at the peak of the corpus luteum 5 to 10 days after ovulation, and then decrease slightly, and then decrease rapidly when the corpus luteum degenerates. This stage is called the luteal phase. For expectant mothers, the corpus luteum is very important. Insufficient corpus luteum will cause poor endometrial secretion and difficulty in implantation. Even if implantation occurs, pregnancy may be terminated or miscarried due to insufficient progesterone support.
◎ What is abnormal luteal function
Abnormal luteal function mainly has the following two manifestations:
1. Insufficient corpus luteum function. There is ovulation but the corpus luteum is underdeveloped, premature decline, insufficient secretion of progesterone, sometimes unable to maintain the endometrium, causing irregular shedding and bleeding; often occurs in a few days before menstruation, a small amount of vaginal bleeding, basal body temperature measurement high temperature period Less than 12 days, or the temperature rise is less than 0.5°C, or the body temperature fluctuates greatly during the luteal phase, and endometrial examination shows poor gland secretion.
2. Incomplete atrophy of the corpus luteum. Although the corpus luteum is well developed, the atrophy process is prolonged, estrogen and progesterone cannot withdraw as scheduled, and the endometrium sheds irregularly, which prolongs the bleeding period, sometimes by more than 10 days, and the basal body temperature drops slowly, even during the menstrual period. The high temperature is still maintained. If the endometrial examination is taken on the 5th to 6th day of the menstrual period, there seems to be glandular secretion.
◎ How to judge the function of the corpus luteum
Progesterone is produced by the corpus luteum, so the function of the corpus luteum can be measured by the level of progesterone secreted. High secretion of progesterone indicates good luteal function, the secreted progesterone is low, indicating insufficient luteal function. If you want to know the status of your corpus luteum, you must do a sex hormone test during the luteal phase, that is, 7 to 8 days after ovulation, because the progesterone level is the highest at this time.
Measuring basal body temperature can also determine the function of the corpus luteum. Because the trend of the body temperature curve basically reflects the fluctuation of progesterone, it is correct to use it to determine the function of the corpus luteum. We can see many problems in the trend of the basal body temperature curve: when the high temperature is more than 0.3°C higher than the low temperature, the number of high temperature days remains for 12 days, the climb from low temperature to high temperature is very fast, and the body temperature in the high temperature area does not fluctuate violently up and down. It shows that the corpus luteum function is normal! If one of the above conditions is not met, it means there is a problem with the function of the corpus luteum.
There are three most common types of body temperature curves:
1. Typical biphasic body temperature curve. After ovulation, the corpus luteum secretes progesterone, and the body temperature rises rapidly by 0.3 to 0.5°C, and continues to fall until the next menstrual period.
2. Biphasic body temperature curve of abnormal luteal function.
·Slow rise in body temperature;
·Insufficient rise in body temperature;
·Luteal phase less than 12 days;
·Menstruation After menstruation, the body temperature continues to be at a relatively high level.
3. Single-phase body temperature curve. In an anovulatory menstrual cycle, there is a lack of progesterone, and although the body temperature fluctuates, there is no sustained increase in temperature.
◎ What to do if you find that you have a corpus luteum deficiency
When you find that you have a corpus luteum deficiency, the sisters are very anxious. At this time, they often ask a question: What to eat? Can food supplement the corpus luteum? No doctor will give you a clear answer, because it is difficult to find a food containing progesterone in food.
For sisters with insufficient corpus luteum, doctors often take hormone therapy. Since your corpus luteum does not produce enough progesterone, it is supplemented from outside the body. Some sisters will then ask, after hormone therapy, will the luteal corpus function be solved in the future? no. The so-called hormone therapy only solves the problem of this corpus luteum. As this corpus luteum disappears, its effect disappears. No one can tell what will happen to the next corpus luteum. If the corpus luteum function is still insufficient in the next session, then this treatment must continue.
So, hormone therapy in Western medicine is only a temporary solution.
To strengthen the corpus luteum, we must start from scratch. My point of view is: Only with a well-developed follicle can we have a good corpus luteum.
But it seems that not many people believe in this view, because many sisters are constantly asking, how to treat insufficient corpus luteum? However, no attention is paid to how to enhance follicular development. I now quote Dr. Fredrickson, MD, from the United States, to enhance the authority of this statement. He said: The normal function of the corpus luteum requires good follicular development before ovulation.
For this reason, everyone must pay attention to the good folliclesIn terms of development, by the luteal stage, the problem is complete, and no matter how you treat it, it will just be tinkering. We need to adjust the entire endocrine system to allow follicles to develop and mature normally. This is the fundamental solution to the corpus luteum problem.
◎ How to have a good follicle development before ovulation
The development of follicles from primary follicles to mature follicles requires a suitable endocrine environment. Modern medicine has fully studied the changes in female sex hormones and found that there are as many as 6 hormones that are directly related to fertility. These are the 6 sex hormones that everyone is familiar with: androgens, prolactin, progesterone, and follicle-stimulating hormone ( FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), and estradiol (E2). After further analysis among these six items, it was found that androgen and prolactin are constants. As long as they are lower than a certain value, they have nothing to do with follicular development. Although progesterone changes, it appears in large amounts after ovulation. It rarely exists before ovulation, so it has nothing to do with follicle development; there are only three remaining hormones: LH, FSH and E2, which are closely related to follicle development.
FSH is called follicle-stimulating hormone, LH is called luteinizing hormone, and E2 is estradiol, the most active part of estrogen. The naming of these hormones is very scientific, and as the names suggest, their functions are known.
The initial stage of follicles is initiated under the stimulation of FSH. The initiation time is during the woman\’s menstrual phase, and then the follicles gradually develop and mature with the participation of FSH and estrogen.
Sisters usually check their hormones on the third day of menstruation. At this time, estrogen is very low, but it doesn’t matter. Estrogen must be getting higher day by day during the entire follicular phase, and it reaches 50~ before ovulation. It reaches its peak in 80 hours. This peak of estrogen is very important. When it reaches above 200pg/ml, a positive feedback is generated, causing the pituitary gland to secrete a large amount of FSH and LH, so the follicles undergo a process of quantitative change to qualitative change – the release of eggs. Then, the corpus luteum appears in the ovary, and its maintenance depends on the continued strong secretion of LH.
I have mentioned the data of 200pg/ml many times. Please note that it has a special name, called the threshold of estrogen. The so-called \”threshold\” means threshold, indicating that it has a special unusual meaning. Once this value is exceeded, it will have a positive feedback effect on the pituitary gland. If this high level is maintained for 50 to 80 hours, it will cause an increase in LH and FSH. The increase in LH and FSH will initiate mitosis of the oocyte. , to prepare for follicle rupture and granulosa cell luteinization.
I guess not many sisters know that estrogen has a threshold, and even fewer know whether their estrogen has crossed this threshold. Because most hospitals administer this hormone on the third day of menstruation, when estrogen is very low during this period. It is very difficult to accurately predict future changes based only on this data.
So we conclude that we need toIf you want to have a good follicle development before ovulation, the female body must have good estrogen secretion.
This article is provided by Baidu Reading and is excerpted from \”Pregnancy Can Be Simple\” Author: Feifei Mom