- The cannabinoids found in cannabis interact with your endocannabinoid system, which regulates many important internal functions, including your reproductive system.
- While few conclusive studies exist, researchers believe the cannabinoid THC may delay ovulation or cause periods of anovulation (when no ovulation occurs). Fortunately, this doesn’t create health concerns or any permanent damage, and hormonal levels can return to normal after abstaining from cannabis use.
- If you’re a medical marijuana patient trying to conceive a baby, you may want to consider alternative treatment options. Note that doctors recommend abstaining during pregnancy to protect the fetus during development.
When you consume cannabis, chemical compounds known as cannabinoids enter your body and go right to work to relieve pain, suppress nausea, produce a euphoric “high,” and more, depending on what form you use.
But for women or people assigned female at birth (AFAB), cannabis may put in some unnecessary overtime on your reproductive functions, including ovulation.
Some research shows that regular cannabis use can delay or prevent ovulation, though the larger impacts it has on fertility and pregnancy need to be studied further.
Learn more about how cannabis interacts with your reproductive system, common misconceptions surrounding cannabis and fertility, and how you can find out if medical marijuana is the right treatment for you with help from TeleLeaf.
Ovulation and the Reproductive System: A Hormonal Chain Reaction
Some of your body’s most significant internal processes are controlled by chemical signals known as hormones. Your stress response (“fight or flight”), sleep cycle, blood sugar, and more are all regulated by a series of hormone releases from different glands and organs—a feedback loop known as a hormonal axis.
Hormones also control many of your reproductive functions. For people AFAB, this includes:
- Puberty
- Ovulation
- Menstruation
- Fertility
- Pregnancy
To regulate these processes, your body releases hormones via the hypothalamus-pituitary-ovarian (HPO) axis. Here’s the chain reaction that occurs right before ovulation:
- The hypothalamus releases gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH).
- The anterior pituitary gland senses the GnRH, signaling it to release follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH).
- FSH and LH then alert the ovaries to make estrogen and progesterone, which facilitate ovulation.
Now, what do reproductive hormones have to do with marijuana?
The Connections Between Cannabis and the Reproductive System
Cannabis contains hundreds of different chemical compounds; the compounds responsible for producing its therapeutic and psychoactive properties are called cannabinoids.
The cannabinoids interact with your body’s endocannabinoid system (ECS), a wide-reaching network of signals and receptors that help regulate some of your most essential functions—including reproduction.
The ECS also regulates:
- Pain
- Sleep
- Appetite
- Mood
- Memory
Let’s take a closer look at the most well-known cannabinoid: tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC.
THC both relieves pain and creates the psychoactive effects most commonly associated with marijuana. It does this by binding to and activating both cannabinoid receptors, CB1 and CB2.
Most cannabinoid receptors live in the brain and central nervous system—often outnumbering other types of receptors—but they’re widespread throughout the entire body, including the HPO axis. CB1 receptors can be found in the:
- Hypothalamus and anterior pituitary, both found in the brain and two of the main glands responsible for regulating sex hormone release
- Ovaries, the organs responsible for releasing an egg during ovulation
Cannabinoids like THC may interact with the receptors in these areas, impacting their normal duties—for example, facilitating ovulation.
How Cannabinoids Disrupt Ovulation
All cannabinoids interact with your ECS in various ways. Unfortunately, in the case of ovulation, you can’t selectively control how the cannabinoids will impact your ECS functions.
Cannabinoids, specifically THC, may affect ovulation in two ways by:
- Delaying ovulation
- Causing periods of anovulation, when you don’t ovulate at all
Researchers have a few theories for why this occurs:
- THC may inhibit the hypothalamus from releasing GnRH, the hormone that signals the anterior pituitary to make FSH and LH, which in turn trigger ovulation.
- Your ovaries naturally release endocannabinoids, which surge during ovulation to maintain a regular cycle. But when you have cannabinoids like THC in your system, your ovaries become “confused,” disrupting the natural surge of endocannabinoids and stalling ovulation.
However, these effects only occur with current cannabis use. If you choose to abstain, and your body returns to its normal ECS function, your HPO axis will begin functioning normally and your hormone levels should rebalance.
Why It Matters
Delayed ovulation or anovulation may not concern you; it doesn’t cause any pain or other adverse health effects. If you’re trying for a baby, however, this side effect can potentially hamper your efforts.
You have the greatest chance of becoming pregnant during ovulation. Your ovary has released an egg, which can then be fertilized and implanted in your uterus, another important organ primed and ready to go during ovulation.
You can usually guess when ovulation occurs either by tracking your cycle or taking an ovulation test. But if cannabinoids cause a delay in ovulation, or even prevent it, you won’t know when it will happen—or the best time to conceive.
If you’re starting the exciting process of trying for a baby, remember that using marijuana only temporarily impacts your ovulation; abstaining can quickly put you back on track. If you use marijuana to treat a medical condition, discuss your pregnancy plans with your doctor to find alternatives that won’t impact ovulation.
Marijuana Use and Fertility: Common Misconceptions
While information shows that marijuana use can impact ovulation, marijuana and fertility share a complex relationship that researchers still don’t fully comprehend.
Understandably, you may have heard certain misconceptions about how marijuana impacts fertility. Generally, little research exists to make sweeping arguments one way or the other. Let’s dispel some of the more harmful rumors now.
1. Marijuana causes infertility.
Very few studies have measured the impact of marijuana use on the fertility of women or people AFAB. While some have found that marijuana can delay or prevent ovulation, there isn’t enough information to confidently make the claim above.
2. Marijuana only impacts the reproductive health of people AFAB.
Some research indicates that regular marijuana use can lower sperm counts for men and people assigned male at birth (AMAB). This may also contribute to a couple’s conception issues.
3. Marijuana permanently disrupts ovulation and reproduction.
This is false. When you stop using cannabis, the THC will fully clear out of your body and will no longer inhibit the components of the HPO axis. Your reproductive functions, including ovulation, will likely return to normal in time.
The Potential Impacts of Cannabis Use on Pregnancy
Medical marijuana offers unparalleled pain and symptom relief to patients across the country, but each person has unique needs and preferences that a single medication can’t always accommodate.
If you’re planning to conceive, cannabis use may not be the right treatment for you at this time.
In addition to making it more difficult to become pregnant by delaying and inhibiting ovulation, regular marijuana use during your pregnancy may harm your baby. Potential impacts can include:
- Low birth weight
- Birth defects
- Cognitive and behavioral issues
- Slightly increased risk of miscarriage and stillbirth
Researchers have thoroughly documented the adverse effects of substances like alcohol and tobacco on fetal development, but they haven’t extensively explored the effects of marijuana. Currently, no one knows the full extent of the relationship between marijuana use and pregnancy.
That said, it’s important to take precautions against any substance use during pregnancy, especially with so many unknowns. If you rely on medical cannabis for symptom relief, discuss your options with your healthcare provider to find the best solution for both you and your baby.
TeleLeaf: Cannabis Guidance Made Personal
The best way to discover whether cannabis is the right treatment for you is by speaking with a state-licensed medical marijuana clinician. And with TeleLeaf, you have the most experienced and compassionate providers at your fingertips.
During your virtual appointment, your physician will assess your qualifications for a medical marijuana card, answer all your cannabis questions, and offer you a recommendation if they believe you can benefit from cannabis’s holistic healing potential. And if you don’t qualify, or you decide to pursue other options, you’ll receive your money back, guaranteed.
Schedule your appointment now for same-day medical card approval and cannabis pharmacy access. For more information, give us a call at (504) 264-3123, or message us directly through our website.
Sources:
Journal of Ovarian Research. “The role of the endocannabinoid system in female reproductive tissues.”
https://ovarianresearch.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13048-018-0478-9
Harvard Health Publishing. “The endocannabinoid system: Essential and mysterious.”
https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/the-endocannabinoid-system-essential-and-mysterious-202108112569
ZRT Laboratory. “The Effects of Cannabis on Your Hormones.”
https://www.zrtlab.com
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. “Marijuana Use During Pregnancy and Lactation.”
https://www.acog.org/clinical/clinical-guidance/committee-opinion/articles/2017/10/marijuana-use-during-pregnancy-and-lactation
Ashlyn Saucier 
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