Natural Fertility Management and Education.

FOR WOMEN AND MEN

Trying to have a baby and it’s just not happening?
Are you looking for a non chemical way to prevent pregnancy?
Are you Breastfeeding and don’t want to take the pill to prevent another pregnancy?
Are you peri-menopausal and want to see if you’re still ovulating and when?

Natural Fertility Management (NFP) is a program that helps you to understand your cycles. Our practitioner is qualified in Natural Fertility Education and will help guide you to understanding your menstrual cycles and recognising when your fertile phase is occurring. This will provide you with an incredible amount of information and control when it comes to planning a baby and also preventing a pregnancy.

There are a number of methods of Natural Family Planning that is available to women. The main ones include:

Rhythm method – is based on the assumption that ovulation occurs 11-16 days before the onset of the next menstrual period. The calculations are based on a study of your own cycle length over 6-12 months taking into account the shortest and the longest cycles experienced. The success of this is at 99% IF cycles are regular, but with irregularity it can drop to 53%. The concern with this method alone is that cycles can be affected by many things such as emotional shock, travel, illness, after pregnancy, approaching menopause and the worst offender – STRESS. Once irregularity occurs, calculation of ovulation becomes unreliable¹.

Basal Body Temperature Method (BBT) – At the time of ovulation, there is a small but definite elevation in your body temperature which is caused by the increase in the hormone Progesterone. This needs to be taken using the same thermometer (either mercury or digital) at the same time each day before rising and after a minimum of 4 hours sleep. 99% effective when intercourse is restricted to the interval between ovulation and menstruation from the third day after the temperature rise¹.

The Sympto-Thermal Method – combines the use of Rhythm method, Basal Body Temperature and cervical mucus observations to evaluate fertility. This is the most common program that women are using and for most it can be effective in achieving what they wish at that time, however the main problems that arise in combining methods is that if different signals of ovulation are in disagreement, confusion, anxiety and abstinence tend to result and fertility control becomes much more complicated than it need be¹.

The Billings Method – where women are educated to recognise when they are fertile or infertile in their cycle by the characteristics of the mucus discharge which they can feel and see at the vaginal opening. This can be used in all phases of reproductive life – regular cycles, irregular cycles and bleeding, breast-feeding, approaching menopause and coming off the pill. The cervical mucus is the most reliable signal of fertility – it is fertility because without it, sperm will not be able to fertilise the egg¹.

The Billings Method is the method that I teach my clients. I have found that using the mucus assessment alone to be the most effective and least amount of hassel for today’s busy woman. It can be used very effectively for all kinds of situations and conditions such as:

Avoiding a pregnancy – by combining fertility awareness with the use of condoms or a diaphragm.
Planning a pregnancy – Reduces the time it takes to get pregnant by accurately identifying the Peak Day as well as identifying the fertile and non fertile phases of each cycle.
Subfertile conditions such as – Endometriosis; PCOS; Age; Stress etc
Coming off the Oral Contraceptive Pill – to assess if ovulation has commenced again.
Breastfeeding women who chose not to use the Pill.
Peri-Menopausal women – who would like to know if they are still ovulating and when.

FOR THE MEN:

In this day and age, male infertility affects 1:20 men. In most cases, there are no obvious signs of an infertility problem. Intercourse, erection and ejeculation will usually happen without any difficulty. Some of the known causes of male infertility include:

Sperm production problems - most common cause of male infertility. Low number of sperm are produced and/or what are produced do not work properly. About two thirds of infertile men have sperm production problems. Causes include - heat, infections, medicines/chemicals, radiation and unknown causes.
Blockage of Sperm transport - Second most common of infertility among men and affects 1:5 infertile men including men who have had a previous vasectomy and now want to have more children. Causes include - Infection, prostate complications, vasectomy.
Sperm antibodies - In some men, sperm antibodies are produced which reduce sperm movement and block egg binding which is needed for fertilization. This affects about 1:16 infertile men. Causes include - Injury/infection, vasectomy.
Sexual intercourse problems - erection or ejeculation problems can cause infertility problems but not a common problem. Causes include: retrograde/premature ejeculation, failure of ejeculation, infrequent intercourse, spinal injury, some medication.
Hormonal problems - disruption to hormonal production causing low testosterone resulting in low sperm counts. Causes include: Anabolic steroid abuse, Pituitary tumours, congenital lack of LH/FSH. (Andrology Australia)

SOME TIPS FOR THE BOYS

Suggestions that will help increase your sperm count and quality include the following:

Cut out Alcohol - why?

Alcohol can cause a decrease in sperm count and testosterone levels and contributes towards the production of abnormal sperm. Alcohol also inhibits Zinc absorption one of the more important minerals for male fertility. An occasional drink is generally considered safe, but studies show that daily consumption of wine, beer or spirits can be detrimental.

Drugs both Recreational and Medicinal

Recreational drugs should be avoided. These can affect the brain chemistry responsible for releasing reproductive hormones. it is also wise to check with your doctor about medicines as some of these can suppress sperm production and quality.

Smoking

We all know that smoking is not beneficial for us but from a fertility point of view, it decreases sperm count makes sperm more sluggish and increases the number of abnormal sperm.

Stress

Stress can cause a man's testosterone levels and sperm count to drop. Make sure you have some quiet time to yourself, exercise, try some yoga or meditation to give you a great release from stress.

Wear loose underwear (boxers) and stay out of hot tubs.

Tight fitting underwear will hold the testies closer to the body and can cause them to heat up to much which will affect the sperm and likewise with the hot tub, if its too hot, the sperm dont survive.

Eat well

The basic message is that you need to commit yourself to a few months of clean living and healthy eating which means plenty of fruit, vegetables, whole grains, low-fat dairy products, lean meats and watch your lifestyle habits. Who knows, you may actually feel really good and want to keep going. Supplementation is normally necessary for a short term period to ensure you have optimum levels of nutrients for good sperm production. Again, this is all covered indepth at your consultation.

What to expect in the consultation:

During your first consultation, we will get a complete medical history from you as well as looking at your diet and lifestyle. We will also do some basic education in relation to your anatomy and physiology which will help you to understand when it comes to charting what you are looking for and its importance. We will also go over the charts and what information I need to you complete at home.

Generally there is alot of information that is given and it’s not uncommon to feel a little overwhelmed when going for your first consultation with any new practitioner which is why we have put together a booklet for you to take home, it contains the same information we discuss in the consultation. So if you are worried you will not remember everything, its fine, you will have it all in writing for you to revise as you need. Also in the booklet are you charts which you can start using that day. It’s that simple.

Follow ups are very important as it allows us to revise what your cycle has done over the last month. It generally takes about 3 -4 months to start to establish a pattern of what is normal for your cycle.

If there are concerns around the menstrual cycle whether it be fertility concerns or other health complaints, it is here that I introduce the use of homeopathy. Once we have a clear picture of what is happening with the cycles, without any other influences, a remedy can be prescribed based on your individual symptom picture.

For fertility clients I commonly will use a group of remedies that have specific roles in treating the reproductive system and get it to improve its function.

REMEMBER, EVERY WOMAN IS DIFFERENT IN HER CYCLES SO WHAT MAY WORK FOR ONE WOMAN DOES NOT NECESSARILY WORK FOR ALL

Hence the importance for you to learn about YOUR cycles.

Located on the Northern Beaches Sydney at Frenchs Forest

Reference - Billings E, Westmore A. The billings method. Anne O’Donovan Publishing’s; Victoria, 2008.