Q&A: Do you still continue to ovulate after the age of 30?

by Dr. Randy Morris

I am 30 years old, I have been on the pill for five years. We have been trying to conceive for 10 months now. My cycle is 28 to 29 days so far. I have on occasion taken my temperature to track ovulation which as I understand happens when your temperature goes up a few degrees (i.e. 97.5 to 98.7 Fahrenheit), which is on my 16th day in my cycle. I also have also occasionally tried an ovulation kit to predict my ovulation with has read positive from about the 13th day of my cycle. I have been told that when you reach 30 you do not ovulate (release an egg) every month, but can be as seldom as two to three times a year. 1) How true is this? 2) If my ovulation tests have been positive does this mean I have in fact ovulated or released an egg or is this just chemical reaction that happens anyway. 3) If my temperature goes up on the 16th day does this indicate an egg has been released or is this also just part of the bodies cycle?

When women first start their periods at age 10 to 13, the first few years there may be intermittent ovulation. Older women with regular menstrual cycles will reliably release eggs until menopause. Women who are not ovulating will usually have infrequent or irregular menstrual cycles.

If your ovulation test is positive (assuming that you are reading them correctly), then an egg is going to be released the vast majority of the time. Instances of your body triggering ovulation and the egg not being released are very, very rare. In the human body, you can never say something happens 100 percent of the time but it's going to be pretty close.

The temperature rise that occurs a few days after ovulation is due to the progesterone produced from the ovary after ovulation. It is a less reliable indicator of ovulation due to the large number of things which can result in a temperature rise.

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