Why using the Fertility Awareness Method with PCOS is a great idea
There are a lot of myths about the Fertility Awareness Method (FAM), including that you can’t use it if you have PCOS or irregular cycles. But you absolutely can use it and, I would argue, even should use it as an important tool to support understanding your body and healing of PCOS.
What is FAM?
FAM is a form of body literacy, or reading your body, to understand your hormones and menstrual cycles. This is done by daily observations of cervical mucus (a fluid produced by your cervix and an indicator of ovulation, fertility, and hormone levels) and temperature.
When you keep track of these things every day and interpret them on a menstrual cycle chart you can learn a lot about what is going on in your body. You can use this information to support understanding and healing of hormonal health issues (like PCOS), to help with pregnancy planning, or as an effective natural birth control method.
Birth Control Myths
One of the most common myths about FAM as birth control is that you need a regular cycle for it to work. This is absolutely not true. FAM is not the rhythm method.
It doesn’t matter how many days your cycle lasts for or how long it takes to ovulate. There are no predictions or guesswork involved. Instead, by making daily observations of your mucus and
temperature, you can determine what is happening today, every day, for your body. You then apply certain guidelines based on what you are observing and can determine each and every day if you are potentially fertile or not.
As a method of birth control, FAM can be over 99% effective when done correctly. That is as good as a hormonal birth control and without the side effects.
Getting to the Root of the Problem
Often people with PCOS are prescribed hormonal birth control to “regulate” their cycles. But hormonal birth control does not regulate your cycles. It works by suppressing your natural hormones and imposing a fake cycle.
While it can be helpful to alleviate some symptoms and give the illusion of a regular cycle, whatever underlying hormonal issue you are experiencing is still there, but masked. It’s like a band-aid solution but doesn’t get to the root of the problem or help improve your health in any way.
If you truly want to get to the root of the problem and improve your overall health, you need to allow your body to express its natural hormonal cycles, as irregular and frustrating as they may be. Then, when you take steps to improve your hormonal health, for example through changing what you eat, supplementation, or lifestyle choices, you can actually see the differences and improvements through observations of your menstrual cycle.
Keeping a menstrual cycle chart and making the observations of FAM can help with this. Because you are keeping track of external signs of your hormone balance (cervical mucus and temperature) every day, you can look to your menstrual cycle chart and see the improvements as they happen. You can also use these charts as a discussion point with health care providers.
And the good news is that if you are trying to get pregnant, or want to get pregnant one day in the future, you will be improving your fertility, your chances of conception, and you will know how to determine when you are ovulating.
What to Expect When Charting
If you are charting with PCOS there are certain signs you can expect to see because of the hormonal challenges you are dealing with. These might be:
Long cycles, irregular ovulation
Multiple patches of cervical mucus
Long phases of mucus for many days
Short luteal phase (the time between ovulation and your next period)
Getting Started
If you want to learn more a great place to start is with the book Taking Charge of Your Fertility by Toni Weschler. It is also highly recommended that you work with a trained Fertility Awareness Educator, since having PCOS can make understanding your cycles and FAM a bit more challenging.
If you are interested in my programs, you can find them online at Blue Poppy Health and the Association of Fertility Awareness Educators is a great place to start when looking for a secular teacher.
Most teachers are available online so location is not a challenge. There’s no better time than now to take charge of your hormones and your body and start taking steps towards a healthier you – and using the Fertility Awareness Method is a great tool and a skill for life that you will highly benefit from learning, regardless of where life might take you in the future.
Author Info
Allison Macbeth is a Fertility Awareness and Sexual Health Educator. She graduated from the Justisse College as a Holistic Reproductive Health Practitioner in 2015. Her main role is teaching people how to chart their menstrual cycles and what a healthy cycle looks like. Clients use this information for natural birth control, pregnancy planning, or to address hormonal health challenges such as PCOS.
This information is provided for educational purposes and should not be construed as medical advice. Please consult with your healthcare practitioners before undertaking any changes in your diet or adding supplements.