Fertility Awareness (as means of natural contraception)

[bigborer Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close bigborer]

Hello,

Do any of the ladies here use the fertility awareness method as natural contraception? Or any of the guys reading here ladies? Please note that I'm not talking about "the calendar" (which IMO is shit), but about sympto-thermal methods. Please share any of your experiences about this. Also, please feel free to private message me if you don't feel like publicly discussing this.

It's nothing new or groundbreaking, it's been around for at least 50 years. Short story- you observe what the most fertile period is (the time of ovulation and some days before and after) based on basal body temperature, cervical fluids (unaroused) and (optionally) the position/hardness/opening of the cervix. You cannot (accurately) predict the ovulation, but you can observe when it happened, and (theoretically) have green light from after the ovulation until the menstruation (note that contrary to locker room bro-science, in some circumstances "period sex" can also result in pregnancy).

From my personal research- various studies indicate a failure rate of 0,4-4% for the sympto-thermal method if done right. The condom seems to have a failure rate of 2-15%.

For more detail see here Fertility Awareness: Natural Family Planning (NFP)

The most popular book is "Taking Charge of Your Fertility" by Toni Weschler.

About STDs- everyone should figure out that this methods offer zero disease protection, so let's assume that you are in a relationship where STDs are not an issue, and please keep the discussion strictly about contraception.

[BigO AdministratorPEGym Hero Find all posts View Profile Close BigO]

I have heard of it but I would not put my pickle in any woman without birth control unless we Both Know that we love each other enough to be a mommy and daddy.

[Pegasus AdministratorPE Gym EditorPEGym Hero ☺ Admin of the Month Mar 2015 Find all posts View Profile Close Pegasus]

A man can take charge of his fertility by using a condom.

[someone_like_u Retired ModeratorPEGym Hero Find all posts View Profile Close someone_like_u]

Do any of the ladies here use the fertility awareness method as natural contraception?

Sort of....but the opposite. We used it to help aid in pregnancy. It did make me more aware of my body and the slight changes that happen throughout a month's cycle. I can tell when I'm near ovulation, just by my mucus (Ick, that sounds so gross, right? Haha) Never really checked my cervix that much to see where it was at but in this thread, there is a chart that shows where the cervix is at throughout the month.

I was never that one that called her husband and said, "You must come home now to have sex because I'm ovulating!!!" LOL! I was just aware of the changes and we made sure to have sex around that time, and every other chance we got

I don't know that it helped or not, but I was always quick to get pregnant(within 3 months of stopping BC).

I just like having sex when me and my husband are in the mood, and I'd hate to be like, "Umm, sorry Baby, now's not a good time....maybe in a couple days though." I'd have 15 kids using that method

Personally, I wouldn't rely on it as a form of bc, but I've known a few ladies that it just works for them and they've been successful in not getting pregnant.

[closed224 Senior Member Member of the Month Dec 2014, Feb 2017 Find all posts View Profile Close closed224]

It is risky, but if you and your partner Dont mind the tracking you definitely have better odds than just being spontaneous. Most of these methods are higher risk of pregnancy than proper condom use.
Spermicidal foam, sponges and other forms of additional birth control can increase the efficacy of this method.

[not2big Senior Super ModeratorPEGym Hero Find all posts View Profile Close not2big]

When my wife and I decided to start a family, she stopped taking her contraception pills. However, after a year we had no results. Her doctor recommended a basil thermometer to track her menstruall cycle so that we would know the point she became most fertile. Three months later, we got the good news.

[Obsidian Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Obsidian]

I would just add that you must take into account that actual conception can happen as fast as 30 minutes and if that doesn't happen and you have really health sperm that the conception can happen anywhere from that 30 minutes to 7 days

So I would say that this 'ailure rate of 0,4-4%' is pretty stretched if you ask me

There is simply too much variations taken into account to be even 10% sure and if you don't want conception I would not use this method as a 'birth-control'

this method plus you were saying + 'pulling it out' method would MAYBE have ''failure rate of 0,4-4%''

[islander Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close islander]

We can tell when we are ovulating. For many we feel the ovary more than usual. If we are sitting down and pop up real quick you will see a grimace and possible an eeeekk sound out of our mouth. It gets in the way lol.
Also what slu said about the vaginal discharge it changes. Me I get crazed sexually in the days before and during. Then crazed first two days of period. So yea basically two weeks if craziness for sex then back down to regular yearn for it lol

But as someone said up there I would NOT chance it unless I knew I would keep the baby and be able to properly care for the child.

[Pegasus AdministratorPE Gym EditorPEGym Hero ☺ Admin of the Month Mar 2015 Find all posts View Profile Close Pegasus]

I would just add that you must take into account that actual conception can happen as fast as 30 minutes and if that doesn't happen and you have really health sperm that the conception can happen anywhere from that 30 minutes to 7 days

So I would say that this 'ailure rate of 0,4-4%' is pretty stretched if you ask me

There is simply too much variations taken into account to be even 10% sure and if you don't want conception I would not use this method as a 'birth-control'

this method plus you were saying + 'pulling it out' method would MAYBE have ''failure rate of 0,4-4%''

I would not count on the plus pull out at ALL.

[bigborer Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close bigborer]

Thanks all for your input on this!

I had the same reticence until I started researching more about this, both learning more about the female cycle and fertility and reading various studies of the efficiency rates, which are not really 100% even for the consecrated methods (even tube ligation still has a failure rate of 0,5%!), changed my opinion on this. Still wouldn't rely solely on it as BC at the current moment though.

As Wishful noted, multiple methods can be combined to decrease the risks. Yes, anything could happen, but more or less, it all comes down to probability theories. If method A has a failure rate of 30%, and method B a failure rate of 20%, combined use of method A and B (provided they don't have a negative interaction) has a theoretical failure risk of only 6%. And apart from failure rate, also to be taken into account are the (negative) health effects. I for one wouldn't ever make (or happily let) any woman I care about take any hormonal contraception (pills, shots, IUDs). Not looking to start a debate of this vs that, or the real side effects of this or that, as there is already a ton of information on the internet covering this.


So to sum it all up, nobody here is fully familiar with the sympto-thermal method (apart from SLU ) and let alone has anyone had personal long term experience with using it as contraception method. Well, I did try... lol
I still recommend anyone curious to read at least the book from the first post, it's only about $15 on amazon.

[Pegasus AdministratorPE Gym EditorPEGym Hero ☺ Admin of the Month Mar 2015 Find all posts View Profile Close Pegasus]

Thanks all for your input on this!

I had the same reticence until I started researching more about this, both learning more about the female cycle and fertility and reading various studies of the efficiency rates, which are not really 100% even for the consecrated methods (even tube ligation still has a failure rate of 0,5%!), changed my opinion on this. Still wouldn't rely solely on it as BC at the current moment though.

As Wishful noted, multiple methods can be combined to decrease the risks. Yes, anything could happen, but more or less, it all comes down to probability theories. If method A has a failure rate of 30%, and method B a failure rate of 20%, combined use of method A and B (provided they don't have a negative interaction) has a theoretical failure risk of only 6%. And apart from failure rate, also to be taken into account are the (negative) health effects. I for one wouldn't ever make (or happily let) any woman I care about take any hormonal contraception (pills, shots, IUDs). Not looking to start a debate of this vs that, or the real side effects of this or that, as there is already a ton of information on the internet covering this.


So to sum it all up, nobody here is fully familiar with the sympto-thermal method (apart from SLU ) and let alone has anyone had personal long term experience with using it as contraception method. Well, I did try... lol
I still recommend anyone curious to read at least the book from the first post, it's only about $15 on amazon.

Oh what an example of pretention.

[bigborer Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close bigborer]

Oh what an example of pretention.

What was pretentious from that message?

[bigborer Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close bigborer]

...it's just that I was hoping to learn something about this from the members here, with responses more than "sounds risky/wouldn't do it", especially since this is an open minded community with educated people. At least some responses like:

1-haven't/wouldn't use it BECAUSE of spontaneous ovulation or any other x, y, z reason(s) which makes it (too) risky/unreliable
2-have used it for x time, and got this or that result\

[someone_like_u Retired ModeratorPEGym Hero Find all posts View Profile Close someone_like_u]

...it's just that I was hoping to learn something about this from the members here, with responses more than "sounds risky/wouldn't do it", especially since this is an open minded community with educated people. At least some responses like:

1-haven't/wouldn't use it BECAUSE of spontaneous ovulation or any other x, y, z reason(s) which makes it (too) risky/unreliable
2-have used it for x time, and got this or that result\

Hey bb. Like I said earlier, I've got a few girl friends that have successfully used this method most of their adulthood and it does work, as most others do. All methods have some error to take into account. It's really all about which method you and your partner think is best for yourselves. I'd probably be comfortable using this method if we wanted/didn't mind another pregnancy(I'm just too old for that now, lol).

Pros:

• no added medications to the body with BC pills
• skin to skin contact with long term trusting partner without use of condoms or other methods
• gets very aware of your own body and your monthly cycle(which is awesome)

Cons:

• even if you have a regular cycle, ovulation can be off schedule
• can't have spontaneous sex during a period of time throughout the month and have to be aware of those dates
• possible pregnancy
• illness can change vaginal discharge, esp if using cold meds, etc. and can skew results during charting
• remnants of sex can also throw off charting of vaginal discharge

That's all I got for now

[CUSP82 Administrator Admin of the Month Dec 2014PEGym Hero Find all posts View Profile Close CUSP82]

Oh I just love these threads in the morning!