It s late on a Friday and I can t bother my OBGYN with this question.
OBGYN suspects I don t make enough estrogen, and make way too much progesterone. The details of that are unnecessary, though; right now I m just curious if I could even get pregnant if I m not making much estrogen?
LizB
Progesterone is supposed to be low before ovulation, and too much progesterone can prevent a follicle from maturing and releasing an egg. This is why most forms of BC include synthetic progesterone. If you are anovulatory due to hormone imbalances, then depending on the reason your hormones are out of whack, there are potentially a number of different things that can be done. For example, a reproductive endocrinologist might suggest you use a follicle stimulating drug like Follistim or Gonal-F to help increase estrogen, build a good lining, and mature a follicle to ensure that you ovulate.
And speaking of, while your OBGYN can order some basic tests, she is not trained to treat infertility. If you've been actively TTC without success for 6-12 months, I'd suggest making an appointment with a fertility specialist. There are many more specialized tests they can do compared to an OBGYN to try to figure out what's going on. It typically takes 2 or 3 months to get in as a new patient, just be aware of that.
Suzy Q
An important function of estrogen is to make your cervical mucous suitable for sperm cells to swim through the cervix. An important function of progesterone is to prevent ovulation, usually if ovulation has already happened this cycle or when you are pregnant.
So yes, this would make it hard to conceive. But even if this is the case with you (suspicion is not fact) there are ways to correct hormonal imbalance.