Blog - Be Fertility Aware

Zombies and Zoom

15/4/2020

Feeling prepared for the zombie apocalypse used to be one of the things I liked about the fertility awareness method of contraception (FAM).

And here we are – no zombies, but a pretty apocalyptic situation.

Not a great time for popping to the GP or pharmacy for pill supplies, or getting a contraceptive injection or implant.

So how is FAM holding up?

Do you need to bleed?

22/7/2019

Do you need periods, or are they “God’s design flaw” as a senior health professional said in a recent Guardian article?

It depends on what you mean by a period.

If you mean a pill withdrawal bleed, official FSRH guidance states there are "no health benefits."

How many red days can you expect?

19/7/2019

Thanks to the rise of contraception apps and ovulation tests, most folk now understand women have red (fertile) days and green (infertile) days.

This is very different from the old days when we were told we could get pregnant on any day of our cycle - which was pretty alarming if you took a chance and didn't get pregnant.

The downside is many folk expect to accurately pinpoint fertile days in advance, and only use

Does fertility awareness work as contraception? New stats

22/6/2019

The US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has changed the failure rate for fertility awareness as contraception. It used to be 24%, which meant it failed one in four women, and is now between 2% and 23%, depending on the method used.

This change means the CDC advice is now closer to that of the NHS website which says "If natural family planning (fertility awareness) instructions are carefully followed, this method can be up to 99% effective. This means that 1 out of 100 women using natural family planning correctly will get pregnant."

Of course this does not mean that fertility awareness suits everyone. Find out if it's right for you here.

More about the evidence:

How to avoid period pain, maybe

6/2/2019

If you don't want to take the pill, period pain can seem unavoidable - “a common and normal part of your menstrual cycle” as the NHS website says.

I used to think a few ibuprofen a month was better than a daily pill, or something lodged under my skin, or in my womb.

Period Repair Manual by Lara Briden (Book Review)

4/12/2018

True periods rather than the withdrawal bleeds you get on the pill can be a mixed blessing.

If all goes well, they can be reassuring. A great indicator of overall health and fertility, and a handy way to confirm that we’re not pregnant.

However some women do have problems with their periods and with their cycle in general.

Acne, breast pain, PCOS, painful periods, heavy periods, irregular bleeding, endometriosis, fibroids... It’s not exactly the stuff to fill
anyone with joy about their natural hormones. The pill is often

The Contraceptive Pill: How Safe Is It? BBC Horizon (Review)

26/11/2018

I was nervous about this programme. A doctor, on the BBC, talking about pill safety - it’s bound to dismiss women’s concerns, isn’t it?

So I was pleasantly surprised when there was no lecture telling all women they should

How much data do you really need?

1/11/2018

Using fertility awareness as contraception can seem like lots of work.

“Log, log, log!” says your app – so surely that’s what you have to do?

Record every single day of your period, every waking temperature, every scrap of fluid.

Wake up at the same time every single day.

Feeling judged for using fertility awareness as contraception?

19/9/2018

2 Comments

Using fertility awareness as contraception can mean you feel endlessly judged.

You might have noticed this in some of the recent press coverage of the contraception app Natural Cycles - which is based on elements of fertility awareness.

Apparently anyone who relies on Natural Cycles, or fertility awareness, is either

2 Comments

A better way to judge fertility awareness and the need for a better app (letter to BMJ Sexual and Reproductive Health)

28/8/2018

In their article about the Natural Cycles app, Hough et al quote a Cochrane Review that dismisses fertility awareness based contraception (natural family planning).

A Cochrane Review is an understandable choice but not an appropriate one. It would be more

Natalia's story

20/4/2018

Myself and my partner tried natural contraception with one of the high-street apps for nearly a year before we realised that following the app’s algorithm is something we can’t get used to and will never trust.

We wanted to understand the rhythm of female cycles, and support our intimate choices with proven studies and knowledge.

We had seen lots of doctors and nurses. It was off-putting how much rejection we faced. I asked

Does fertility awareness work as contraception?

4/4/2018

Fertility awareness has a terrible reputation. Never mind the Rhythm Method jokes - what about the statistics?

According to one very reputable source, the typical effectiveness rate for fertility awareness based contraception is only 76%.

That means it fails one in four women.

If we can fly robots to Mars...

9/3/2017

I loved the start of this film from the Victoria Derbyshire programme. At last, women with terrible experiences with hormonal contraception getting a hearing!

Of course it would be even better if women didn’t have a horrific time with side effects – or get “laughed out of the room” if they ask for help with the diaphragm – but at least they were being listened to.

When should you have sex if you want to get pregnant?

6/3/2017

If you want to get pregnant, the NICE Fertility guidance recommends vaginal sexual intercourse every two to three days.

You might think this is great news. At last – freedom from birth control! Woo Hoo!

Or you might not. Maybe your patience is limited, or you want to know how to improve your chances.

So you download an app. But which app should you use, how much data should you record, and how much can you trust them?

Does the pill cause depression?

28/10/2016

Did you hear about this study linking hormonal contraception to an increased risk of being diagnosed with depression?

Did you dismiss it? “Old news, we’ve known about that forever”, “It was an association, not a causal link. Nothing needs to change here.”

Or did you feel relieved, and maybe angry? At last some research to confirm what you or yours have been going through?

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