Introductory Post
1) Are you new to FAM or an experienced FAM user?
I have been charting my cycles for 3+ years.
2) Why do you want to use FAM? Or, if you are experienced, why have you chosen FAM?
The charts are a good way to keep track of my overall health, to know what my body is doing, and I object to screwing with my hormones. They are screwed up enough already.
3) Are you using FAM to avoid pregnancy, to conceive a child, or for another reason?
For the last three years: to track my PCOS, which I am controlling (fairly successfully) with diet and lifestyle modifications. For the last month: to avoid pregnancy. We'd like to have kids, but charting tells me I have a really short luteal phase (6-9 days), which apparently makes me a very high risk for early miscarriage, so I want to get my health sorted out before we try. The prospect of repeated miscarriage sounds really unappealing, but everything I've read (and everything I've experienced at the hands of medical professionals) suggests no doctor will take me seriously about the problem until after I've miscarried, probably more than once. So it looks like another round of self-experimentation for me. Onward, ho!
4) What do you hope to gain from this community?
Intelligent, literate discussion of FAM, in plain English. I think I've come to the right place. When I originally learned the rules, it was for tracking purposes only, and I'm feeling insecure about using it to avoid pregnancy.
5) What do you hope to contribute to this community?
If my three years of charting and obsessive reading about PCOS and related issues can help anyone else, I am more than happy to share.
I have been charting my cycles for 3+ years.
2) Why do you want to use FAM? Or, if you are experienced, why have you chosen FAM?
The charts are a good way to keep track of my overall health, to know what my body is doing, and I object to screwing with my hormones. They are screwed up enough already.
3) Are you using FAM to avoid pregnancy, to conceive a child, or for another reason?
For the last three years: to track my PCOS, which I am controlling (fairly successfully) with diet and lifestyle modifications. For the last month: to avoid pregnancy. We'd like to have kids, but charting tells me I have a really short luteal phase (6-9 days), which apparently makes me a very high risk for early miscarriage, so I want to get my health sorted out before we try. The prospect of repeated miscarriage sounds really unappealing, but everything I've read (and everything I've experienced at the hands of medical professionals) suggests no doctor will take me seriously about the problem until after I've miscarried, probably more than once. So it looks like another round of self-experimentation for me. Onward, ho!
4) What do you hope to gain from this community?
Intelligent, literate discussion of FAM, in plain English. I think I've come to the right place. When I originally learned the rules, it was for tracking purposes only, and I'm feeling insecure about using it to avoid pregnancy.
5) What do you hope to contribute to this community?
If my three years of charting and obsessive reading about PCOS and related issues can help anyone else, I am more than happy to share.