Non-Hormonal Birth Control: Fertility Awareness Method

Have you heard of the Fertility Awareness Method (FAM)? 

FAM is a method of tracking your menstrual cycle and fertility through measuring and tracking cycles and physiological symptoms such as basal body temperature, cervical mucus, and cervical height. This tracking method is a non-hormonal way to either avoid or plan for pregnancy and gives you the awareness to take control of your fertility.

♀

To review some menstrual cycle basics - most women only ovulate once per cycle, usually around day 14 of a 28 day cycle. However, everyone is unique and some will ovulate twice with the second ovulation occurring within 24 hours of the first ovulation. This period of ovulation is known as a woman’s peak fertile window, but the few days before and after ovulation are also considered part of the fertile window. Women can only become pregnant if they have unprotected sexual intercourse within their fertile window, so it’s important to understand how to figure out the fertile window period of a cycle. The fertile window is defined by the maximum lifespan of sperm in the uterus (up to 5 days) and lifespan of unfertilized egg (up to 24 hrs after ovulation). So even if you have sexual intercourse on a Monday but don’t ovulate until Friday, you could still become pregnant.
♀

There are a few different methods of fertility awareness tracking:

1. Calendar method - which is a purely statistical calculation of the fertile window

   ⟐ This method uses the average length of previous cycles to predict ovulation and assumes the luteal phase is 14 days long. Based on this, the fertile window opens four days before and closes three days after the predicted time of ovulation. *

   ⟐Realistically, a typical cycle of a female can fluctuate by an average of 5 days within a year, making this method not nearly as reliable as other methods using physiological signs.
   

2. Methods that track physiological symptoms - involve tracking physical symptoms such as basal body temperature (BBT), cervical mucous, and cervical height

   ⟐ Basal body temperature (BBT) rises slightly (~0.2° C) around 24 hrs post ovulation. This rise is caused by the hormone Progesterone and temperature remains high until the onset of menstruation. (If you become pregnant, progesterone stays high and your BBT remains higher during pregnancy)

   ⟐ Cervical mucus is influenced by the hormone estrogen in the phase before ovulation . As maturing follicles release more estrogen, cervical mucus liquifies - making for a more ideal environment for sperm to travel to the uterus. So when you get close to peak ovulation you will notice cervical mucus that closely resembles egg whites.
   

3. Combination methods - combines two or more of the above tracking methods (most accurate)

   1. Sympto-thermal method - uses symptoms picture and thermal effect (cervical mucus +BBT)

   2. Calculothermal method - uses BBT and the calendar method and assumes that all days after menstruation could be potentially fertile due to the variability of the female cycle.