Fertility Awareness - Benefits and Drawbacks

Benefits and Drawbacks

Fertility awareness has a number of unique characteristics:

• FA can be used to monitor reproductive health. Changes in the cycle can alert the user to emerging gynecological problems. FA can also be used to aid in diagnosing known gynecological problems such as infertility.
• FA is versatile: it may be used to avoid pregnancy or to aid in conception.
• Use of FA can give insight to the workings of women's bodies, and may allow women to take greater control of their own fertility.
• Some symptoms-based forms of fertility awareness require observation or touching of cervical mucus, an activity with which some women are not comfortable. Some practitioners prefer to use the term "cervical fluid" to refer to cervical mucus, in an attempt to make the subject more acceptable to these women.
• Some drugs, such as decongestants, can change cervical mucus. In women taking these drugs, the mucus sign may not accurately indicate fertility.
• Some symptoms-based methods require tracking of basal body temperatures. Because irregular sleep can interfere with the accuracy of basal body temperatures, shift workers and those with very young children, for example, might not be able to use those methods.
• FA requires action daily, detailed record keeping. Some may find the time and detail requirements too complicated.