Mid-cycle bleeding that follows a pattern

[elettaria]

I've been charting for a year now, and noticed that my cycles form rather an odd pattern. I get lots of eggwhite, often all the way through my cycle, which I've been told here is normal with a copper IUD. I also get mid-cycle spotting (though today, CD15 which is far too early for a period, it was more like light bleeding - it it had occurred a

Comments

[elettaria]

Oops, sorry for not realising you already knew all about FAM. You know what it's like, we do sometimes get women who don't know much about it. I'm glad to see you're doing both and with a proper knowledge of FAM. Do keep us posted and let us know how the charts compare.

Do you mean the way temps remain relatively high during menstruation? I've a feeling they stay middling during menstruation, drop, and then the bit between that drop and the ovulatory rise is the inconstant bit. I've got a year's charts recorded, let's see what I have. Well, fewer once I filter out the three months on Cerazette and the first month after it, plus the month with the shoulder injury when my temps were crazy from lack of sleep and being drugged out of my mind on codeine. I'm counting three categories: temps from the start of menstruation that remain above the coverline, temps below the coverline including ovulation, temps between ovulation and the next period.

6-8-7
8-13-8
7-11-9
8-9-9
3-23-10
5-15-9

Doesn't seem like much of a pattern to me, though yay, increasing (if still short) luteal phase. (Of course, the herbs and nutritional supplements I'm on to regulate my cycle could be causing problems here.) This month is looking like it'll be three temps above the coverline at the start of the cycle (currently on CD15, will be ovulating in about five days if the spotting pattern is consistent).

I've only been charting a year, but I've noticed a clear pattern due to season as well. My coverlines were higher in the summer and have dropped lower again for the winter. I have no idea how common that is, or how difficult it would be for a computer to work with.

The thing about working out just how fertile you are prior to ovulation: yep, with you on that. I can't tolerate hormonal contraception, but I'm severely disabled and absolutely cannot risk pregnancy. I don't think FAM would be a good fit for me for contraception, partly because I don't want to have to abstain half the month (and with my irregular but shortish cycle and short luteal phase, it would be half the month if I was playing really safe) and partly because I don't trust my memory and so forth that far, I'd rather filter out user error, even though I do get pretty well-behaved charts. If for some dreadful reason I couldn't use an IUD, I'd consider this method if I were completely convinced of it, but it's an awful lot of money and it seems to have the same efficacy in perfect use as FAM anyway. As one of the research articles mentioned, FAM users are making more effort to begin with, and it said that they're probably more likely to be careful about abstaining than LC users as a result.

Acidity, good point. I bet it's perfectly possible, it's just the squeamishness factor. This sort of product is already moving away from women actually having to stick their fingers up themselves, as with traditional FAM. Mind you, menstrual cups are taking off pretty well, even if they've got a long way to go before becoming the norm. If it's anything like the urine sticks with Persona, you also have the hassle and cost of having to keep replacing those.

I'd still want to be able to see the chart, since right now I've only got their word for it that their ovulation detection is any better than FF's. I get a nice clear thermal shift on my chart, the only time it was difficult was in September with the shoulder injury as mentioned above, but judging from FF, many women don't get simple, easy-to-read thermal shifts, and it's evidently not that easy to work out the maths for those.

I've e-mailed LC to ask about this. Let's hope they reply. On thinking it over, I'm less worried about the way they're slagging off IUDs. It shouldn't be happening, but TCOYF does it too, and it's not really their responsibility to give correct information about other methods of contraception (though it's bloody shameful that they're giving out misinformation, and nasty misinformation too). I'm more worried by the errors about cervical fluid. They should *really* know how that side of things works.

[th3_unicorn]

I think they're playing being overly cautious with CM observation, just to underline the advantage of taking human interpretation out of the picture with LC. It is one of the most adressed issues I guess, I have myself asked them about how it compares with the sympto-thermal method, and the reps have explained to me that CM changes during the different stages of life, so that it can't quite be relied upon on a lifelong basis. Plus, it's true that charting can be a challenge, especially when you don't get a nice clear shift, and you have to be very lucky to get a non-ambiguous chart. It can be too risky for contraception purposes.

In the numbers you posted, I think you can quite see a pattern! I had always only thought of the phases in a graphic fashion, but with numbers it can get interesting! That was really clever, I think I'll keep track of that too in my charts!

[elettaria]

I'm not really keeping track of it, I just went back and counted the numbers above and below the red line. I don't have CF for backup because of the IUD (though by now it seems that spotting is functioning as eggwhite normally would, which helps a bit), but I have clear enough thermal shifts that I'm not too bothered about that, it's not as if I'm using this for contraception. Anyway, I'm interested to hear that you think there's a pattern, could you explain more? In particular, what do you make of that long cycle? I don't have paid membership of FAM so I can only show two charts at once, but if you want to look at any I'm happy to show you them, it can be any two.

Certainly user error is a point I'm worried about with FAM. There's still a lot of misinformation about (it's funny, IUDs and FAM seem to be the worst hit by myths, I wonder why?), and while I trust myself to read a book carefully and seek advice if necessary, I can't guarantee that all users will do that. Remember a while back when we got a woman who was basically determined not to make any effort, snarling at anyone who suggested that she read a book or go to a class, and resentful of the very idea? The more idiot-proof you make the method, the better, although that's moving away from the liberate-women-through-education model. Still, I'd prefer less education and a lower pregnancy rate, if push came to shove.

Assuming that there is indeed some sort of temp pattern pre-ovulation, I wonder how factors which can delay ovulation affect that?

[cheyinka]

Hopping in to suggest that the reason why IUDs and FAM have the most myths about them might be because anything that doesn't involve chemicals or devices can't possibly do anything for real, and since the Dalkon Shield was poorly designed and caused lots of problems, surely all IUDs must be equally dangerous, or at least equally suspect. Meanwhile, if a doctor prescribes them, pills, implants, and patches must be safe, since they come from a doctor!

:rolleyes: