The New Moon Note is a monthly message Leilani Wong sends out on each new moon to her clients. It contains a tip for successful Fertility Awareness charting, the answer to a question she has been recently asked, and some other thing she has found interesting or inspiring that month. Leilani Wong is a Holistic Reproductive Health Practitioner Trainee and Naturopathic Medical Student.
New Moon Note - December 27, 2008
A charting tip:
Traveling, moving, changing jobs, getting sick – any time your routine is interrupted, it can be hard to keep up with charting. It's those same times when it's especially important to chart, because our cycles can change their timing in response to stress.
Do your best to keep paying attention to your body's signs, and really try to chart every day. It's easy to confuse one day for another if you try to record more than one day's observations at a time, so even if you don't have your chart with you, jot your observations down somewhere before you go to sleep. If you didn't do your observations to your usual standard or you forget what you saw, write whatever you remember: "no mucus / 0-4(?) AD," "non-peak," or "lubricative, maybe clear." Even if you're missing the details, this will help you keep track of what you need to know.
If you're in doubt at all consider yourself fertile, and do a count of three for the three days following the day of doubt. And relax, don't worry about it too much, and enjoy and/or take good care of yourself during whatever changes of routine come your way.
An interesting question:
I recently had a period after having had two years without any. I thought I had gone through menopause, but I remember a twinge like I used to feel with ovulation some time last month, and then I had this bleed. Was it really a period? My gynecologist didn't find anything abnormal, but could this be something I should worry about?
It's not at all unusual for women to have a menstruation in the first year or two after what seemed to be their last one. Around menopause, fertility awareness can be very helpful in seeing if cycling really has stopped or not. During those months without any bleeds you might have seen cervical mucus appear as your body continued to attempt ovulation, and then you might have seen an ovulatory pattern of mucus and temperature change a couple of weeks before this surprise menstruation. Without charting, it's hard to be sure if the bleed you had was a "true" menstruation (meaning it followed ovulation), but if it seemed like a normal period to you, it's possible that your body managed to ovulate one more time.
It's also possible that you simply bled as part of the continuing ebb and flow of your reproductive hormones, without an ovulation beforehand. Your hormones continue to cycle after menopause, whispering what they used to call out loudly. They might not be able to lead up to ovulation or menstruation most of the time, but if estrogen levels rise enough to build up your uterine lining, that lining will eventually shed, even without ovulation happening first.
It was a good idea to see your gynecologist, but if she or he didn't find anything worrisome, this is probably not a problem. Seeing it again in the next year or so wouldn't be unusual either, but if you have continual or on-and-off bleeding or spotting, or if any other symptoms come up, it would be worth seeing your doctor again.
Thanks to Geraldine Matus and Megan Lalonde for help answering this question.
And one more thing...
Keeping with the mood/emotions theme of last month's quote, here's a great resource for when you're not quite satisfied with the idea that your moods are just following their natural flux, and you think something is really off: http://www.moodcure.com/ This site has some of what's in Julia Ross' book The Mood Cure. Her treatment plans for "false moods" like depression and anxiety (she calls them "false moods" to distinguish them from true, healthy emotions in response to life's events) are based on healthy eating and amino acid supplements, so they give your body what it needs rather than just shifting symptoms with medication.
New Moon Note - November 27, 2008
A charting tip:
If you observe more than one type of mucus on a single day, you only need to remember the most fertile sign and write that down at the end of the day. That's the mucus that is the most slippery, stretchy, and/or clear. For example, one instance of clear mucus that stretched an inch would be the one you record, even if white mucus that stretched an inch was seen more often that day.
We call it this the "most fertile" sign, but it's really the "highest estrogen" sign. Fertile is fertile – as soon as you have mucus you can pick up or have a lubricative sensation, you're fertile. Sperm can survive in any cervical mucus discharge. But, different types of mucus do signal different levels of estrogen. The more estrogen there is, the slipperier the mucus gets, the clearer it is, and the more it stretches. The observation that signals the most estrogen circulating in your body is the one you want to make a note of, because it helps you know how close you are to ovulation, identify your peak day, and monitor your reproductive health.
An interesting question:
I notice a long gap between my peak day and the day my temperature rises. I have a peak day around day 12 or 13, and then my temperature rises around day 16. I thought temperature was supposed to rise on peak day or right after. Why do you think there's 3 or 4 days in between?
Usually, basal body temperature (BBT) does rise on peak day or within a day or two of peak day. There are a few possibilities as to why your observations aren't quite lining up that way. The first two are charting-related, and the third is about reproductive health.
How are you determining peak day? It's important to make sure you're doing all your observations (every time before and after you go to the bathroom, and before and after bathing or showering) so that you don't miss any cervical mucus discharge. Peak day is the last day of peak-type mucus, which is not necessarily the day of the most mucus. Sometimes there's only one instance of peak-type mucus on peak day, and it's easy to miss that if you're not doing all your checks – especially if you've already seen a day of really obvious, large amounts of mucus and think of that as "peak." The other possibility is that something is a little off with how you're checking your BBT, but if you're confident about it and you keep seeing this pattern cycle after cycle, that's probably not it.
It's also possible that your corpus luteum (the gland left behind after ovulation) is a little bit slow getting going in its production of progesterone. Sometimes women see a slow or "stair-step" rise in their BBT after ovulation as the corpus luteum builds up momentum. There are some holistic ways to support your hormonal balance that might be helpful to you if this is the case.
And one more thing...
Here are some thoughts from Alexandra Pope about the liminal spaces – the in-between, transition times – that we enter during our menstrual cycles. This is from her book, The Wild Genie: The Healing Power of Menstruation.
"While menstruation is a place of arrival, it's also the time between, neither pregnant nor yet fertile again. … A woman often thinks she's stupid or clumsy at the premenstruum because she's dreamier, less clear in her thinking, and behaves in apparently illogical ways. She's not less intelligent – her intelligence is simply operating in a different way. She may feel less focused because she's so much more open. … The 'disturbance' we experience leading up to and at menstruation could be just this. That moment of letting go of something before anything else has arrived to replace it. Momentarily we're faced with nothing. This is the nature of transitional states. When we understand this we recognize our unsettled and awkward feelings in the premenstruum as a sign that we're changing, rather than that we're flawed."
New Moon Note - October 28, 2008
A charting tip:
Be sure to do a "finger test" of any mucus you observe on the tissue. I'm sure some of you think this is the most fun part and never skip it, but for those of you who are tempted to just feel for sensation and then glance at the tissue, remember that picking it up, holding it at eye level, and stretching it is the only way you identify color and consistency. And identifying color and consistency are the main ways you determine whether or not you're fertile.
As a reminder: If you can pick anything up, you're fertile. If the color is clear, even if it has some cloudy threads in it, it's peak-type mucus. If it stretches an inch or more, it's peak-type mucus. (And, since we're going over this, if it had a lubricative (slippery) sensation before you looked at the tissue, that too means peak-type mucus, and you're fertile even if there's nothing you can pick up off the tissue.)
An interesting question:
What are ovarian cysts and why do women get them?
Cysts are fluid-filled sacs. Cysts in the ovaries can occur at any age, but usually occur in the fertile years. As you might remember from your Justisse Method introduction, multiple follicles start to develop every month. The "dominant" one reaches maturity and the egg inside it is released at ovulation. After the egg is released, the follicle stays behind and becomes the corpus luteum.
Sometimes, developing follicles turn into cysts during the pre-ovulatory phase. The dominant follicle might fail to rupture, or the immature ones might turn into cysts instead of getting reabsorbed. Less commonly, the corpus luteum can turn into a cyst during the post-ovulatory phase. Also uncommon are cysts associated with endometriosis, and cysts that grow on the outside of the ovaries. Most cysts go completely unnoticed and disappear on their own, coming and going throughout a woman's reproductive years. Sometimes a cyst is discovered when a woman is having an ultrasound for some other reason, or if it's one of the rare cysts that causes abdominal pain or a few other symptoms.
As for why they develop, the causes vary. The ones I'm aware of all fall under the category of "hormonal imbalance," such as hypothyroidism, taking fertility drugs which hyperstimulate the ovaries, iodine deficiency (which affects the thyroid and estrogen metabolism), and the same sorts of hormonal imbalances that can cause irregular menstruation or infertility. There's also a syndrome called Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) that involves multiple ovarian cysts from follicles that didn't rupture, insulin resistance, obesity, irregular menstruation, and high levels of androgens ("male" hormones). Treatment of ovarian cysts from a holistic perspective would focus on hormonal balance.
(Sources for this answer: http://www.emedicine.com/EMERG/topic352.htm and http://www.4woman.gov/faq/ovarian-cysts.cfm. Thanks to Geraldine Matus, director of Justisse Healthworks for Women, for some additional information.)
And one more thing...
One of my favorite quotes about holistic healing recently re-occurred to me:
"The emotional needs met by illness are all valid. ... When the needs are accepted, a person can move on to satisfy them in constructive ways, without the disease." --Bernie S. Siegel, Love, Medicine and Miracles
I love the way this takes the blame out of the idea that physical diseases involve emotions, or that an illness might actually serve a person's needs. People don't so much "want to be sick" as have an otherwise unmet need, and maybe illness was the best way their body could find to meet it at one point. Realizing the emotions connected to our dis-ease is about freedom to take better care of ourselves, and not about guilt.
New Moon Note - September 29, 2008
A charting tip:
In addition to mucus, temperature, and maybe cervical position changes, jot down on your chart any other notable physical and emotional experiences. This could include symptoms that reflect your cycling hormones, like breast tenderness, changes in sex drive, acne, and shifts in mood. Also note things that might impact your hormones and signs of fertility, like getting a bad cold, being stressed, or starting to eat a healthier diet. It's also worth noting things you might not think are related to your cycle, like headaches, low back pain, or shifts in being extraverted or introverted. You might find that changes/symptoms that have always seemed random actually correspond with your cycle.
When you keep track of these signs, you'll not only become more in touch with your body and get a great record of how any treatments are affecting you, but you may even have a clearer sense of your fertility. For some women, changes like increased sex drive or mild breast tenderness are consistent enough to help identify ovulation.
An interesting question:
Sometimes I notice a little bit of brown or reddish blood in my peak-type mucus. Is that a bad sign?
Not necessarily. There are acutally a few not-to-worry-about reasons you might see bleeding around ovulation. When bleeding happens early in the mucus phase or accompanying peak-type mucus (when estrogen levels are rising or at their highest), it's often coming from the cervix. During the mucus phase, the cervix gets more blood flow and its capillaries are more fragile, so slight bleeding can happen. There could also be a cervical cyst or some kind of cervical irritation going on.
If you were seeing bleeding at the end of the mucus phase (maybe accompanying some non-peak mucus), that would likely be estrogen withdrawal bleeding. At ovulation, estrogen levels drop suddenly and the endometrium can slough off a little until estrogen levels rise again. Estrogen rises very soon, so you don't see any extensive bleeding like you would at menstruation.
If bleeding with cervical mucus happens for you just once in a while, it's probably not a problem. If it heppens several cycles in a row, or several times in a year, or if you have any other reason to be concerned about your gynecologic health, it's worth checking on it with your doctor.
And one more thing...
I've found some interesting women's health information recently on Tori Hudson's website: http://torihudson.com/. Tori Hudson is a naturopathic physician in Portland. You may have seen her book, Women's Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine, in health food stores. On her website, she regularly posts articles, often about recent research studies on natural medicine and women's health, and sometimes with general advice. Enjoy!
New Moon Note - August 30, 2008
A charting tip:
One of the more confusing things a new charter can run into is continuous mucus. Continuous mucus is mucus that isn't part of the classic mucus phase that indicates the approach of of ovulation, but mucus that is present before or after this phase. Not really what we expect, right? Usually we consider any and all mucus that can be picked up off the tissue to be stuff that sperm can live in and stuff that means ovulation is approaching.
Continuous mucus isn't generally a healthy mucus pattern, although it might not be an indication of anything very serious. It's associated with coming off of hormonal contraceptives, other types of hormonal imbalance, imbalance in the flora of the vagina, or cervical inflammation. (It's also common with breastfeeding, in which case it's a temporary condition that will change as the breastfeeding woman's hormones change.) So, one of the goals in a situation of continuous mucus is a restoration of reproductive health. But, in the meantime, you can still determine times of fertility and infertility.
The goal is to determine your "Basic Infertile Pattern" (BIP). In a healthy mucus pattern, the BIP is dryness. If you have continuous mucus, it might be, for example, pasty white discharge. Determining your BIP in a continuous mucus situation can be a little challenging, and for birth control you want to make sure you're 100% confident, so I'd encourage you to check in with me or another HRHP as you begin.
Here's the first step: Look for any "points of change." For example, after menstruation, you may notice sticky, pasty white discharge every day. Then one day it's more stretchy than it was before. Note that day with an arrow. Two days later, maybe it becomes clear and lubricative. Note that too. And if it goes back to sticky, pasty, white again, make another arrow. As you learn what your points of change look like and see some consistency from cycle to cycle, you'll be able to identify your BIP. And one more thing: always chart your basal body temperature (BBT) when you're having continuous mucus. It's an invaluable confirmation of ovulation.
An interesting question:
The idea of only getting 4 periods a year with some of the new pills, or having no periods at all by taking the shot, doesn't seem right to me. I don't have any great reason other than the female cycle seems like something that shouldn't be tampered with. Are there any medical reasons to keep bleeding?
That is a great question. The short answer is YES.
The longer answer is: Menstruation - and, just as importantly, the hormonal cycle that leads to menstruation - helps protect our cardiovascular system and our bones, and keeps our sexuality vibrant. Bleeding rids us of excess iron, which is one of the reasons pre-menopausal women have fewer heart attacks and strokes than men and post-menopausal women. Our hormonal cycle gives us some time of naturally lowered blood pressure for part of the month. Women on hormonal contraceptives have higher blood pressure. Healthy bone density is promoted by the estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone we have as a result of our normal cycling. Depo-Provera, or "the shot," is known to cause bone loss. KNOWN TO. Even in very young women. It also interferes with libido and sexual sensitivity, which can also happen with other forms of hormonal contraceptives.
Some of you may be thinking, and rightly, that if you're on oral contraceptives right now, you're missing out on the benefits of any hormonal cycling already. Why bother having the withdrawal bleed, the "fake period," at the end of the month? Two main reasons: one, to still rid the body of some excess iron, even if it isn't as much as you lose when truly menstruating. And two, to stand up to the idea that menstruating is a problem! Menstruating is normal, healthy, and health-promoting. If we are disgusted by our bodies, or too busy to slow down even for a couple days a month, is suppressing our bodies' functions an answer?
Now, one extra thought. For women with debilitating pain around menstruation, life-threatening levels of bleeding, or other extreme situations, it might not be a bad idea to suppress menstruation temporarily while these problems are addressed. That's a question for her and a doctor she trusts. For most of us, though, I'd say the risks outweigh the benefits - and I also feel confident saying we do not yet know what all the risks are.
And one more thing...
An essay about the importance of mothers giving their daughters healthy messages about sexuality, to get you thinking about what you had and what you'd like to give:
http://www.alternet.org/module/printversion/84155
New Moon Note - August 1, 2008
A charting tip:
For each cycle that you chart, take a minute to count up the number of days that make up your whole cycle, your menstruation, your pre-ovulatory phase, your period of cervical mucus discharge, and your post-ovulatory phase. Get an idea of how long these phases are for you normally. When you know what's normal for you, you can watch for changes that might indicate improvements or new concerns in your reproductive health.
We're all different, but to give you a general idea: healthy cycle lengths range from about 25-36 days (and it's normal for them to vary by 8-10 days from cycle to cycle). Healthy menstruations range from 3-7 days, cervical mucus is normally present for 3-6 days, and post-ovulatory phases range from 9-17 days.
As you're counting these phases up, remember that this is for reproductive health monitoring, not birth control. Remember never to expect your current cycle to look like past ones. The beauty of fertility awareness methods is that we check every day to determine our current state of fertility and don't rely on calculations or predictions.
An interesting question:
I am having a much longer and dryer cycle than normal. I was sick at the beginning of this cycle and I'm wondering how that may be affecting what I'm seeing or will see.
The typical way that stress and illness affect a cycle is to postpone ovulation. You may see an extended dry phase before the mucus phase begins and ovulation occurs, or you may see a "double" or "split" peak.
Your body is aware that times of stress and illness are not good times to get pregnant, for you or a new embryo, so it turns down the hormones and delays ovulation. If this happens early in the cycle, you'll see a long dry phase before your mucus phase begins. Or, if the stress happens when ovulation is already approaching and mucus has begun, hormone levels can suddenly drop, making mucus disappear for a few days or longer. Mucus will return when your body is ready to give it another go. Your final peak day is the one associated with ovulation; the earlier one is a false start. Your true peak day will be accompanied by a BBT rise, and followed by menstruation 9-17 days later.
Double or split peaks can be stressful themselves, because the return of mucus may be unexpected -- you thought you had ovulated and move into your infertile phase, but you're fertile again! Keep in mind that as long as you are doing all your checks for mucus and observing your Count of 3 rule, you will be guided reliably as to your state of fertility. If there is no mucus present and you are not within a count of 3, you can consider yourself infertile. If mucus returns, consider yourself fertile again. (The possiblity of double or split peaks is a great reason to take your BBT daily. A BBT shift confirms ovulation and lets you know whether you have seen a true peak.)
And one more thing...
I know many of you have seen this already, but it's too cool for any of you to miss. Human ovulation photographed in detail for the first time:
http://www.newscientist.com/channel/being-human/mg19826604.200-human-egg-makes-accidental-debut-on-camera.html
New Moon Note - July 2, 2008
A Charting Tip:
Use color. It's really helpful. Use the Justisse Method stamps, make dots with colored pencils, or draw little symbols - anything you like. The goal is to give yourself an at-a-glance way of seeing whether your day's observation was dry, non-peak, peak, or menstruation/unusual bleeding.
Seeing cycle after cycle as a series of colors helps with comparing your mucus patterns, cycle lengths, etc. from one cycle to the next, without you having to re-read all of your notes and codes from every single day.
Also, color codes require the extra step of interpreting your observation, not just recording it. Does something shiny on the tissue mean non-peak mucus, or does it count as dry? Does clear mucus that only stretches a little count as peak or non-peak? Going through those questions in order to choose a color helps you make sure you know whether you're fertile or not (the whole point, right?). It also helps me see anywhere there might be confusion when we meet for follow-up sessions.
Plus, stickers are just fun.
An interesting question:
What's happening when a female athlete stops getting her period?
Female athletes, especially very serious athletes, more commonly have amenorrhea (they don't menstruate) than other women do. The disturbance seems to be at the level of the hypothalamus, which is the gland at the base of the brain that kicks off the monthly fertility cycle by telling the pituitary gland to stimulate the ovaries.
Explanations for why a female athlete's hypothalamic function might be suppressed include: the effects of stress hormones released as part of strenuous exercise, an "energy drain" where she is using more calories than she takes in, an eating disorder and its associated nutritional and psychological aspects, or having low body fat content. There is no consensus about what the cause is, and my guess is that the cause can vary from woman to woman. Whatever the cause, the big concern is that having amenorrhea means having low estrogen, which means lower bone density. While athletics in general are good for bone density, female athletes with amenorrhea are at risk for lower bone density and increased stress fractures. In other words, their bones are more likely to break, even though they're athletes.
The moral of the story is, any time a woman stops ovulating and menstruating, it's worth looking at her overall health. The menstrual cycle is a woman's fifth vital sign, her fertility is a sign of her vitality - we want it to be happening!
And one more thing...
Another fertility awareness teacher recently shared the link to a blog by one of her students with our listserv. The blog is by a woman who was on oral contraceptives for 11 years and just started charting last month. She's documenting her experience taking a Fertility Awareness course, and I'm sure many of you can relate! Here you go: http://gettingoffthepill.blogspot.com/
New Moon Note - June 3, 2008
A Charting Tip:
Charting your Basal Body Temperature (BBT) is a great way to improve your accuracy and confidence in identifying the day of ovulation. It also lets you know whether your peak day is reflective of a true ovulation, or whether you might want to expect a double peak. Plus it's fun to have a graph, and connecting those dots can improve both your and your partner's confidence in the method.
But, sometimes it's hard to remember to take your temperature right away when you wake up. One thing that might help is putting the thermometer right next to your alarm clock, or under your pillow, so you notice it in the morning. Also, be sure to write down the temperature as soon as you take it. This will help you form the habit.
Don't be discouraged if you have an irregular schedule - staying up late some nights, getting up early some mornings. Just make a note of the time you took your temperature, and how much sleep you got. Circle any dots on your graph that were taken on mornings of "disturbances" (including different timing, drinking alcohol the night before, or being sick) so you know that they might not fit your pattern. With time, you'll see a pattern even in your unusual temperatures. For example, the days you sleep late will give you a higher temperature than you normally see, but if you slept in once pre-ovulation and once post-ovulation, that pre-ovulation temperature will still be lower than the post-ovulation one.
An interesting question:
What causes the pain that I feel around ovulation? It's usually a sharp pain on one side or the other, but sometimes it feels central. Is it coming from my ovaries or uterus?
Abdominal pain accompanying ovulation is one of many "other" events that can be useful markers of where you are in your cycle. ("Other" as in other than cervical mucus, BBT, or cervical position.) It has a great name: mittelschmerz, which is German for "middle pain." About 50% of women experience mittelschmerz. A sharp, stabbing pain near the ovaries is common, but mittelshmerz can also be experienced as a dull ache near the ovaries, in the sacrum, or in the lower back. It may last a few minutes, or several hours.
As for where it comes from, there isn't complete certainty, but I can say that if it's ovulatory pain it shouldn't be coming from your uterus. It may be one or more of the following: One, as the follicle grows before ovulation (getting to be about 2 cm across!), it stretches the ovarian wall, which could be painful. Two, as the ovum bursts from the ovary, a small amount of fluid and blood could be released into the abdominal cavity, causing an inflammatory response. Three, painful contractions in the uterine (Fallopian) tubes can occur at ovulation.
And one more thing...
A client recently told me about Maya Abdominal Massage, which sounds amazing. She was able to resolve extremely painful menstruations by being treated with this type of massage, after trying a wide variety of other options that hadn't helped. You can read more about it at http://arvigomassage.com/, but I'll give my basic understanding here. It addresses the position of abdominal and pelvic organs, particularly a tilted or prolapsed uterus. A prolapsed uterus, to sum it up, can happen from a variety of causes and be behind many if not most of a woman's reproductive health issues. (There are lists of causes and symptoms on the website.) The massage can also help with health in general, by improving flow of blood and lymph, and is useful even for women who have had hysterectomies and for men (particularly for prostate health). There's a practitioner directory on the site, and since most of you are in Portland or Olympia, I checked - there are nine practitioners in Portland and one in Olympia. If you try it, let me know what you think!
New Moon Note - May 5, 2008
A Charting Tip:
When to do a "Count of 3" can sometimes get confusing, so here's a reminder:
Do a "Count of 3":
- Right after your last day of peak-type mucus, when you change to having no mucus (green stamp) or non-peak mucus (light purple stamp). Remember that your last day of peak-type mucus could also be your only day.
- When you change to having no mucus after three or more days in a row of non-peak mucus.
- After any days of unusual bleeding.
Why?
- The last day of peak-type mucus, also known as Peak Day, is when ovulation is most likely to occur. Ovulation can also occur 1-3 days after Peak Day. We do a "Count of 3" after Peak Day to make sure that ovulation has passed.
- When you have had three days in a row of non-peak mucus, your vagina and cervix become alkaline enough for sperm survival. Your estrogen levels could also be high enough for ovulation to occur.
- Unusual bleeding (i.e., bleeding or spotting that isn't menstruation) can accompany ovulation.
You can review the "Count of 3" rules in your Justisse Method Guidebook. Look at the sample charts to see examples of all these scenarios. And as always, if you have any questions, feel free to email or call me.
An interesting question:
I'm not too crazy about the code system in the Justisse charts. Can I forget about S/6PC and just write "smooth pasty white mucus" instead?
Absolutely. Chart wherever and however makes the most sense to you. But however you record your observations, whether you use words or symbols or any other method, make sure that you are indicating the mucus':
- Sensation on your perineum as you wipe (dry, smooth, or lubricative)
- Consistency (how far it stretches)
- Color
You always want to be clear on whether there was mucus you could pick up off the tissue (that means you're fertile!), and if there is, whether it was peak or non-peak. Peak mucus only has to meet one of the three criteria (slippery, stretchy, or clear), so it's important to be noting all three factors.
And one more thing...
The New York Times published an article a couple weeks ago on the menstrual suppression debate. It's worth a look: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/20/health/20period.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&hp
New Moon Note - April 6, 2008
A Charting Tip:
It's easy to forget to check for mucus now and then, but remember, doing your observations consistently is essential for the effectiveness of the Justisse Method, and for your confident, comfortable use of natural birth control.
Think of it this way: Any time there might be cervical mucus present at your vulva and it could be wiped or washed away, you want to know about it.
So, the times to check: before and after urination or a bowel movement; before and after bathing or showering; and - just to be complete! - before going to bed at night.
Some of you have probably noticed that on fertile days, you might see mucus a few times and be dry a few times. That's why it doesn't work to just check a few random times during the day.
And be patient with yourself. It takes time to develop a habit, but once you do, it becomes second nature. (And how cool is peak-type mucus when you find it? That's worth looking for, isn't it?)
An interesting question:
I'm in the middle of a pill pack right now, but I'm ready to start charting. Is there any advantage/disadvantage to discontinuing oral contraceptives before the cycle ends?
Nope - any time is fine, and, from the perspective that these hormones are problematic to be consuming, the sooner the better! Just like when you stop taking your pills (or take the placebo pills) for a few days at the end of a pack, you may have a "withdrawal bleed." A withdrawal bleed is when the hormonal support for your endometrial lining disappears (or is withdrawn), and the lining sheds. (It's different than a true menstruation, since it doesn't follow an ovulation.) The pill "cycle" is unrelated to any natural, physiological cycle happening within your body, so it doesn't matter if you cut it short.
And one more thing...
A curse? A sacred aspect of womanhood? A nuisance? A relief? A medically valuable "vital sign" of a woman's health? There are more intellectual and emotional takes on the idea of menstrual suppression than probably any of us are aware of. Now that more drugs are available that can stop a woman's period or reduce it to one or four times a year, it's a subject well worth investigating. I haven't seen this film yet, but now that I know about it I'm going to make it happen sometime soon! Check it out: http://www.periodthemovie.com/
New Moon Note - March 7, 2008
A Charting Tip:
Remember to note sensation on your chart. This is the sensation you feel as you pass the tissue over your perineum. You may feel a DRY sensation (an obvious one -- scratchy, halting, like nothing's between you and the tissue), a LUBRICATIVE sensation (another obvious one -- slippery and sliding), or a SMOOTH sensation (there's something there helping the tissue move along, but isn't really slippery).
The big reason to pay attention to sensation is that sometimes you will have peak-type mucus present, but it will have enough water content to be absorbed by the tissue. It will still be lubricative, though, so if you're noting sensation, you're sure to catch its presence, even if you can't pick it up!
An interesting question:
Do you know any hormonal or energetic reason for constipation around the time of ovulation?
At ovulation, estrogen levels are at their highest. Estrogen suppresses thyroid function and slows your metabolism. (As you may remember, this is the reason for your lower basal body temperature (BBT) before ovulation, whereas progesterone speeds up your metabolism after ovulation.) Constipation is one symptom of your whole metabolism slowing down. Constipation at ovulation might be a good reason to get your thyroid function checked out. (Constipation in general can be due to many other things such as foods you're allergic to, not drinking enough water, etc. But that's for another conversation!)
And one more thing...
Tomorrow is International Women's Day. Here's a link to a page of the IWD website with pictures of events around the world: http://www.internationalwomensday.com/events.asp. As they say on their About IWD page, let's "make a difference, think globally and act locally!! Make everyday International Women's Day. Do your bit to ensure that the future for girls is bright, equal, safe and rewarding." May everyone's future be so.