By timed I mean, charting ovulation and avoiding unprotected sex during those few days.
My GF isn’t very interested in using traditional BCPs and after attending a “women’s show” with her a few weeks ago I found a booth displaying a “ladycomp” device. It basically checks her temp every day and charts when she ovulates. After a month it compiles the data and it then displays when not to have unprotected sex (during ovulation) and when anything goes. All it takes is a quick morning temp check and that’s it. It seems pretty straight forward to me but I’ve never had any experience in “timed” birth control.
Does anyone know how well this device (would) work? How good is the traditional method of timing ovulation (I remember from a sex ed class back in highschool it’s a BC method but I’ve never heard more about it).
The device is pretty pricy but to me it looks like a great deal (if it works).
Many women find that the length of their cycles can vary from month to month, especially younger women (early twenties or younger) and women under stress or lifestyle changes. I’d be leery of the plan extrapolating future cycles based on one cycle.
Oh, it’s not extrapolating the cycle, it checks everyday and charts ovulation. I mentioned the first month because I believe the device needs 1 month to “set up” and get ready to work.
I don’t know much about ovulation cycles in women, but I’d think the device would need to detect the first ovulation cycle to help it detect further cycles with better accuracy.
I wouldn’t rely on temperature alone to avoid pregnancy if avoiding pregnancy was crucial. (i.e. If there simply wasn’t enough money to raise a child because mom and dad were barely making it or there were health reasons which made pregnancy inadvisable.) Because temperature variances can occur for other reasons, it’s just too risky.
Now, temperature charting along with cervical condition could be more effective. The book “Taking Charge of Your Fertility” by Toni Weschler can explain this process, known as Fertility Awareness, better than I possibly could in a forum post.
I second Taking Charge of Your Fertility. Kept me not-pregnant when I didn’t want to be pregnant. Then I got pregant the first month we started trying. It is the fertility bible. Well, mine anyway.
The temperature/cervical condition method is not the rhythm method. The rhythm method was basically “assume you have a 28 day cycle and figure that certain days were unsafe”.
No one but you is discussing the rhythm method, AndrewT.
The ovulation method, which tracks changes in cervical mucous, was found to be 98-99% effective by the WHO and others (list of studies here: http://www.billingsmethod.com/bc_evi.htm; my source is a brochure from the Natural Family Planning center at the Diocese of St. Cloud, MN). Cervical mucous can be combined with tracking basal temp too, for better accuracy.
That said, I wouldn’t recommend jumping into this without being trained in the method by a professional teacher. As Ravenman points out, you have to do it correctly for it to work. You can find a teacher and more info here: http://www.boma-usa.org/.
Any method involving timing sex around your ovulation IS the rhythm method, including the Billings method, the tempurature method, and the calendar method. Even the far-more-accurate daily urine test is not suitable for birth control (it’s used to maximize the chances for conception). The Billings method hyped by kaio is estimated as having a 3% failure rate (when used perfectly) by Planned Parenthood, versus 2% for the thermometer method and 9% for the calendar method. Probably fine for most people, but not something I’d rely on.
Any method involving timing sex around your ovulation IS the rhythm method, including the Billings method, the tempurature method, and the calendar method. Even the far-more-accurate daily urine test is not suitable for birth control (it’s used to maximize the chances for conception). The Billings method hyped by kaio is estimated as having a 3% failure rate (when used perfectly) by Planned Parenthood, versus 2% for the thermometer method and 9% for the calendar method. Probably fine for most people, but not something I’d rely on.
According to an organization that promotes it (http://www.ccli.org/), the Couple to Couple League, it’s 99% effective (http://ccli.org/nfp/effect2.shtml lists individual studies supporting that statistic), but as this is a site that advocates the method pretty strongly, this may be exaggerated. The potential for error is no doubt greater than with barrier methods. Neutral sources have convinced me that it’s a fine method if you wish to avoid getting pregnant but are willing to accept a small risk - therefore, it’s really only appropriate for monogamous couples, particularly those with religious objections to more effective types of birth control.
Barrier methods probably have lower failure rates. Note that statistics may not be directly comparable - these studies looked at the number of unplanned pregnancies; condom failure rates may appear to be much higher because they track how frequently condoms break or tear, which impacts their efficacy at preventing STDs. However, most of the time exposure does not lead to pregnancy, as a woman is fertile for only a portion of her cycle.
At any rate, modern fertility awareness/natural family planning techniques are reasonably effective, and a good choice for monogamous couples who don’t like barrier methods, can’t tolerate or don’t wish to use hormonal methods (which when used properly are extremely effective) but for whom a pregnancy, should it occur, would not be a crisis.
The actual tracking methods are complex, involving daily temperature readings and examination of cervical mucus. It’s considerably more effective than the older versions of the rhythm method, which depended far more heavily on a woman having an extremely regular cycle. However, women with highly irregular cycles shouldn’t use this method, and there’s no foolproof test for ovulation - even people who do their homework face some risk of pregnancy.
Finally, there are many people who don’t wish to abstain from intercourse during the eleven days or so when the woman is fertile - so either plan to use a barrier method during these times, or else stick with the many other exciting forms of sex. Unless of course you’re Catholic, in which case you wouldn’t dream of committing any of the various fun types of sodomy.
My GF read Weschler’s book five years ago, because she didn’t want to mess around with trying to trick her body’s endocrine system. So far, no babies.
This exactly matches the effectiveness of condoms.
I would also like to point out that withdrawal, used perfectly, is 96% effective. Which is a hell of a lot better than nothing. (I know no one was talking about withdrawal.)
Finally, according to the chart, praying is 15% effective.
erm, not very.
I’m the result of that method, so it’s obviously not very reliable.
I can understand your girlfriend, though, I’m allergic to latex, so condoms are out of the question (causes the sahara-syndrome).
I feel uncomfortable about hormonal treatment, so I don’t take the pil, either.
Ive opted for an IUD (or the coil).
It’s a bit painful to place, but at least it lasts for a whole three years, and the cycle is allowed to proceed naturally.
And I’m curious about ovulation timing. I seem to recall reading recently that ovulation is now found to occur more than once per cycle and that the instances weren’t ‘bunched’.
If that’s the case them perhaps temperature timing doesn’t really track ovulation but rather ease of implantation?
Try this one instead: