Natural Progesterone and Contraception?!
Question: I have been using Natural Progesterone cream now for over 6 years. I started using it after I was diagnosed with PCOS. After months/years of using synthetic hormones -pill/injection etc..I finally started getting my period. My cysts have shrunk from 11mm-6mm to insignificant now.
I'm no 28, in a serious relationship and we don't wish for me to go any form of birth control that is going to interfere / be unnatural. Condoms are just a pain. I am becoming more regular now and we are thinking about using the Natural Family Planning method-how safe is this? Also Im finding I am suffering with bad PMS and it's getting worse with age, sometimes I think going on the pill would alleviate this but don't want to mess around. Any advice would be appreciated.
Answers: I have been using Natural Progesterone cream now for over 6 years. I started using it after I was diagnosed with PCOS. After months/years of using synthetic hormones -pill/injection etc..I finally started getting my period. My cysts have shrunk from 11mm-6mm to insignificant now.
I'm no 28, in a serious relationship and we don't wish for me to go any form of birth control that is going to interfere / be unnatural. Condoms are just a pain. I am becoming more regular now and we are thinking about using the Natural Family Planning method-how safe is this? Also Im finding I am suffering with bad PMS and it's getting worse with age, sometimes I think going on the pill would alleviate this but don't want to mess around. Any advice would be appreciated.
Hi,
I have experience with both PCOS and Natural Family Planning. My husband & I began using NFP when we got married almost 9.5 years ago. I was diagnosed with PCOS in 2000. It sounds like you are getting some good relief from the cysts & getting more regular is a big plus as well.
First, to answer one question - NFP is 100% safe. You are not injesting any chemicals or using any barriers or chemicals to prevent pregnancy. NFP is the monitoring of the natural symptoms of fertility and infertility. And the method is 99%+ effective in preventing pregnancy.
I was able to use NFP with my PCOS with very few problems. Even though I am very very irregular, the signs of fertility are still the same and so even though I might not ovulate every month, I still know when ovulation is approaching and when it has passed.
Below I will cut & paste some info on NFP that I have posted on answers previously; I hope it will help you with resources on how to learn NFP.
I wanted to also suggest a vitamin supplement: Optivite. It was developed to help women who suffer from extreme PMS and it is a little pricey ($30-40/month) it is worth it to alleviate the PMS! And better for you than birth control pills.
Hope that helps & here's the extra info on NFP. Best of luck!
NFP is using a woman's natural signs of fertility to determine if she is in a fertile or infertile part of her cycle. A woman's fertile window is 5-6 days long. This is because sperm, under good circumstances, can live for up to 5 days. A woman's egg can only survive for about 12-24 hours. And once she has ovulated, she will not ovulate again in a cycle (with the rare exception of double ovulation - like for fraternal twins - and ovulation always takes place within 24 hours; all NFP rules take this into consideration). Since you cannot ovulate again, the time after the egg has passed is highly infertile.
So, how does a woman know if she is fertile? The menstrual cycle is dominated by 2 hormones: estrogen and progesterone. Before ovulation, when estrogen starts to kick in, the body starts to produce a special kind of cervical mucus that sort of resembles egg-whites. Her cervix also changes in its position, openness, and firmness. After ovulation, the body triggers a production of progesterone. This hormone makes the cervical mucus dry up, causes the cervix to lower and close, and causes a woman's temperature to rise.
A woman using NFP watches the changes in her mucus, cervix and temperature and from that knowledge knows which part of the cycle she is in. If she is fertile (close to ovulation) and doesn't want to get pregnant, then she will refrain from having sex. If it is before ovulation she can use special rules to know which days are safe for sex. After ovulation there is no chance of another ovulation so she can have sex at any time.
NFP is scientifically based and has been proven to be effective in scientific studies, up to 99% rate of effectiveness. It has the same effectiveness as the pill and is MORE effective then condoms or other barrier methods.
To do NFP correctly, you should take temperatures and also monitor cervical mucus. I highly recommend taking a class in NFP to learn the method well; it may sound complicated from my explanation, but once you start practicing it really only takes a month or two to really get the hang of it. That's why it's nice to have a teacher who can answer your questions.
There are tons of resources for learning NFP. There are a number of organizations that teach NFP. A good resource is www.omsoul.com, from there you can search for NFP teachers in your area. Go to NFP directory and then to "Doctors, teachers and centers." Some of the best groups to learn from are The Couple to Couple League, Billings Ovulation Method, Northwest Family Services, Foundation of the Americas, the Creighton Method, the Marquette method. Google any of those to learn more about them and how they teach. Some groups, like the Couple to Couple League (www.ccli.org), have homestudy classes. Other groups have online classes, like Northwest family services: http://www.nwfs.org/
You can also go to www.nfpandmore.org and they have a downloadable, free manual for learning NFP. But again, if you want to use the method with the highest level of effectiveness, please consider taking a class!
Fertility friend and other online charting sites are good if you have a hard time interpreting your charts. But once you learn the method, it is easy to use and you shouldn't need too much help. That's another reason why it's nice to have a local teacher to help answer your questions.
Toni Weschler's book "Taking Charge of your Fertility" is good, another good book is "The Art of Natural Family Planning" by John & Sheila Kippley. It is very thorough and covers just about any circumstance dealing with charting.