Gingersnaps: I was on it the last 13 mos of my 18 mos TTC. Egg cycle is actually MUCH longer than 3 mos. From randine Lewis article on AMA and Egg quality:
...."Contrary to popular reproductive belief, follicular growth from the
resting state until ovulation takes up to 100 days, or more than three
menstrual cycles. Follicles are selected from the primordial pool of menstrual cycles. Follicles are selected from the primordial pool of
resting follicles almost a year before ovulation, and are recruited to
become active. During the initial pre-gonadotropin period the follicle
responds to regulatory factors within the ovary itself, which are like
hormones. These growth factors are like hormonal precursors. One
important ovarian growth factor, insulin-like growth factor, is the
precursor to the youth hormone which is secreted by the thymus
gland called growth hormone. Others have names like insulin-like
growth factor binding protein, interlukin, tumor necrosis factor,
inhibin, vascular endothelial growth factor, and activin. These ovarian
growth factors help determine the eventual fertility potential of the
oocyte (egg).
During this period which lasts for many months, the healthy,
responsive follicle determines its own fate with these regulatory
proteins. The (0.03mm) follicle is first chosen from the primordial pool
to double in size (to about 0.06 mm) and become a primary follicle,
about 150 days prior to ovulation. It reaches its secondary phase
approximately 120 days before ovulation, when it again doubles in
size. The follicle then cycles through the pre-antral and early antral
phase and grows from about 0.12 mm to about 1.0 mm in
approximately 65 days. It has quadrupled in size during this time, and
has gone through many stages of proliferation.
It is only during the last two to three weeks of its cycle through the
ovary that the follicle becomes dominant and responsive to FSH.
During the selection phase, which lasts approximately ten days, it
more than doubles in size as it differentiates further? The follicle itself
acts as its own gland by autocrine and paracrine mechanisms to
make itself responsive to FSH. Now the follicle grows to twice its
previous size again, surfaces and becomes the estrogen-producing
follicle which then makes itself receptive to luteinizing hormone by
expressing a receptor at the preovulatory phase. It fulfills its major
purpose as it releases its egg, whose chromosomes are beginning to
rearrange, for a chance to become fertilized. The follicle then
finalizes its life cycle by becoming its own endocrine gland called the
corpus luteum, which secretes progesterone to maintain a
pregnancy. Imagine the potential energy required for these great
follicular achievements! This is not an undertaking for the frail!"
for your next month.
