The Most Accurate Way To Track Your Cycle For Natural Birth Control: BBT Basics

Cyclotest MyWay: An Easy To Use Fertility Monitor

Rely on Cyclotest to unlock the secrets of your fertility so you can plan or avoid pregnancy completely naturally.

Take your temperature under your tongue every morning and Cyclotest automatically displays your current fertility status. RED days indicate sex will likely result in a pregnancy, GREEN days indicate you are no longer fertile. With that knowledge, you're now officially in the driver’s seat.

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Add an additional indicator along with your daily temperature reading is called the Symptothermal method (bodily symptom + temperature) and bumps the efficiency up from 99% to an unbeatable 99.4%. And as an added benefit, becoming accustomed to these subtle indicators gives a unique understanding of the way your body communicates with you!

 Mark the days you had protected or unprotected sex, and a heart shaped symbol will appear on your graph. If you are trying for a baby, this is essential for your "get pregnant quickly" strategy. If you are avoiding pregnancy, tracking your love life is a great way to spice up your relationship.

With a thermometer integrated right into the device, you eliminate the risk of human error or lost temperatures. If you roll over to take your temperature and promptly fall back asleep, that's totally fine. Your data is automatically transferred for analysis, so you can continue to sleep peacefully while Cyclotest does the hard work.

All Cyclotest products can be purchased on BuyCyclotest.com. 

Use this code to get £50 off your order. 

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Natural Birth Control Part II: Tracking Your Ovulation

Ovulation is more important then they made it out to be in health class 

Hold on to your seat, because you are about to learn some pretty important information. Information you might have missed in 7th grade health class.

Did you know that you can actually only become pregnant for about 7 days out of the month? Or that, to avoid pregnancy, you don't actually need contraception every time you have sex?

That might not be the message we are looking to get across to teenagers when safe sex is the gold standard, but the lack of in depth knowledge also means that, as grown women, we are also missing an essential understanding —therefore control — over our own bodies. 

How ovulation affects your need for birth control 

Ovulation is a way bigger deal than they made out in health class. You probably already know that once a month an egg is released into your fallopian tubes in a process called ovulation. If  the egg is not fertilized, it will be discharged from your body along after two weeks along with the uterine lining during your monthly period.

But ovulation is responsible for way more than simply causing your periods. It's a driving force behind your inner feminine balance. The delicate dance between the different hormones  produced before, during, and after ovulation indicate lot about your health —both physically and emotionally. This, by the way, is one of the main reasons turning off ovulation with chemical birth control is a bad idea.

But for now, let's delve into using the comprehensive understanding of ovulation to avoid pregnancy.

Ovulation is the releasing of a egg that could potentially be penetrated by sperm and create a pregnancy. There are only approximately 24 hours a month when an egg is viable. The egg drops down from the ovium into the fallopian tube and waits to be greeted by sperm. If it is not fertilized during those 24 hours, it bows out of the ring and is no longer fertilizable. The egg then sits in your uterus for about two more weeks before it is released during menstruation. 

Sperm, on the other hand, is a bit more patient than the egg. Sperm will wait around inside your uterus for up to 5 days. If at any point during those 5 days it notices a viable egg descending, it will jump at the chance to ask your egg to dance. If the sperm and the egg get along, they fuse into one and presto, you have a positive pregnancy test.

So what do you gain by understanding this biology? For starters, you now understand that instead of needing birth control for the entire month to prevent pregnancy, you really only need a barrier contraceptive (condoms, Caya or other chemical free options)  about a week out of the month: 24 hours + 5 days. This time frame is known as the fertility window.

It's simple. Identify that all important fertility window so you know when blocking sperm is actually important, and the rest of the month you can have sex without worry about pregnancy at all.

While the biology is simple, relying on an unequivocal knowledge of your fertility window for when you need birth control and when you don't is a huge responsibility. It takes hard work and dedication — although the fertility monitor Cyclotest makes the process drastically easier). But  if you choose, you can become an expert in your individual cycle and gain total control of your birth control.  

Accurately Identify The Fertility Window 

Natural Family Planning (NFP) or Fertility Awareness (FAM) are the two umbrella terms for systems used to accurately pinpoint your fertility window enabling you to avoid pregnancy without chemical birth control 

There are actually a number of methods, but the most reliable is the Sympto Thermal method. 

This method is used to track your bodily Symptoms of ovulation, and your body Temperature, which together show a conclusive indication of ovulation.  

Our bodies go through slight physical changes throughout the month due to our naturally fluctuating hormones before and after ovulation. Three of those changes are particularly easy to identify, and are therefore used most often to identify ovulation and the fertility window. 

1. Waking (basal) body temperature (BBT).

• If you take your temperature (under the tongue) every morning, you will see that your body temperature rises slightly but significantly after ovulation. 

2. Cervical Mucus consistency 

• You've probably realized that your cervical mucus, the wet discharge that you often find in your underpants, varies in abundance and consistency throughout the month. That is not a fluke. Cervical mucus is uniquely slippery and stretchy  (often compared to egg white) around the time of ovulation. 

3. The presence of the LH hormone

• LH hormone can be detected by urine test strips, similar to pregnancy tests. If you test your urine in the morning, a test stick showing positive LH presence indicates impending ovulation. 

The cornerstone  of using fertility tracking for birth control is making a graph of  your daily basal body temperature with the goal of  noticing the shift in temperature along with other ovulation symptoms. That recognizable shift tells you that ovulation has occurred.

Identify your fertility window and you'll know exactly when you can have unprotected sex
without worrying about a pregnancy... no hormones, no chemicals! 

And because you now know that ovulation has occurred — and this is what you've been waiting for — you know that the rest of the month you can have unprotected sex, without worrying about pregnancy.

No artificial hormones, no chemicals, no condom. Just the complete and total knowledge that it is impossible to get pregnant at that time of month. 

Natural Birth Control Part I: The Birth Control Options You've Never Heard Of — Diaphragms and Cervical Caps

Diaphragms! Cervical Caps! FemCap! Caya!

There is a whole language surrounding natural birth control options, but to most of us, it sounds like gibberish. Diaphragms? Cervical Caps? FemCap? Caya? Often we don't learn about these natural birth control options at the doctors office, so unfortunately, they remain shrouded in mystery.

These "Barrier Contraceptives" Enable Reliable Hormone Free Birth Control 

But at the same time, women are experiencing a shift. We still want effective birth control, yet we are trying to minimize the artificial hormones we are exposed to, eliminate unnecessary synthetic chemicals from our lives, and avoid health risks and side effects. 

What we need is a reliable natural birth control method, that is free of synthetic hormones and allows our bodies to function and fluctuate organically.

Ladies, it exists!

One of the main concepts behind natural birth control is instead of putting a foreign chemical into your body to stop ovulation or implantation, you can use something to literally block sperm from entering your cervix. 

Want natural birth control? Stop sperm from entering your uterus instead of using chemicals to turn off ovulation all together

Pregnancy can only occur if sperm enters the cervix, travels up to the uterus, and meets a fertile egg. Stopping the sperm's journey is really all that is needed to eliminate the risk of pregnancy at the root. Turning off ovulation with hormonal birth control, or implanting a foreign substance like a coil/IUD to stop implantation, are both drastic measures that we've come to accept as the only birth control options. But they are not! 

Barrier contraceptives are the majestic underworld of natural birth control. They create a barrier between sperm and the cervix, stoping the sperm from ever entering the uterus, and therefore eliminating the chance of pregnancy. So instead of playing all sorts of games with your natural hormones and internal functioning, you close the door. Problem solved!

Condoms are the most well known barrier contraceptive. After all, they block sperm from traveling. But while condoms are the safe sex kings, if you are in a long term relationship with no concern of STDS, condoms can become a drag, interrupting that sexy skin-on-skin sensation and pausing the flow of an intimate moment.

Enter Diaphragms (Caya diaphragm or traditional diaphragms) and cervical caps (FemCap).

These lesser known barrier contraceptives are inserted into the vaginal canal before the start of intimacy, and sit inside the vaginal canal to block sperm from traveling upwards. Six hours after intercourse, when sperm is no longer viable, you simply take the diaphragm or FemCap out, similar to removing a tampon.

Diaphragms

Diaphragms are the classic barrier contraceptive that was the go to birth control before hormonal birth control came of age. A circular silicone dome is held in place by the vaginal walls to block sperm from passing and traveling up towards the cervix and uterus.

Milex OmniFlex Diaphragm 

When used correctly along with a contraceptive gel, diaphragms are an outstanding 94% effective.

A downside to the traditional diaphragm is sizing. You must be fit by a trained health practitioner. And because the effectiveness goes way down if you are using the incorrect size diaphragm, you must regularly ensure that your diaphragm size has not changed.

Single Size Caya Diaphragm 

The new Caya diaphragm aims to eliminate much of the frustration around diaphragm sizing with it's single size design. Fitting is still necessary, but once you know you fall within the range of sizes that Caya works with, you can use it without fear of your size changing. Whichever diaphragm option you opt for, most women are thrilled with this natural, effective, and virtually side-effect free birth control.

FemCap Cervical Cap

FemCap Cervical Cap

FemCap was designed to improve on the diaphragm and open up the world of barrier contraception to more women who are searching for hormone-free birth control. It lightly suctions to the cervix — literally capping it and preventing sperm from entering.

FemCap is notably smaller and less intimidating than a diaphragm. In controlled studies, more women were able to correctly place a FemCap without prior instruction. It’s design features a dome that caps the cervix, a ring that can be easily gripped for removal, and a brim that holds contraceptive gel in place.There are only three sizes for easy access: one size if you’'ve never been pregnant, one if you were pregnant but did not deliver vaginally, and a third if you did have a vaginal delivery.

Don't forget, FemCap, Diaphragms, and Caya all need to be used along with a spermicide or the non-toxic spermicide alternative ContraGel.


PSSS— You don't need to use you're barrier contraceptive the whole month! Let Cyclotest myWay tell you exactly when you are ovulating, and then only use the barrier for the one week out of the month you are fertile!!