Fertility Awareness Method
Posted by jennveg on Jul 07, 2010 · Member since Dec 2007 · 16 posts
Does anyone out there use the FAM as a natural form of birth control? Does it actually work at preventing pregnancy? I've read all the articles and am getting a book about it. My husband is very skeptical and i am looking to go off the b-control pill very soon and came across the FAM. Would like some feedback as to whether people actually use this method to prevent pregnancy.
yes people actually use it and it certainly does work if you are doing it correctly. i charted for a while but it was kind of annoying to me since i didn't have a set wake up schedule at the time and i had an iud, so i kinda gave up. i'd love to do it again and possibly get rid of the iud at some point.
I read a book about it a couple years ago, but I was still bcp. I got an iud last year, but since going off bcp, my periods have been less predictable so I have gotten the book from the library again and hope to start charting next month. I'm not so so worried about the preggers part b/c of the iud, but I just want to keep track of things, you know? Having an iud shouldn't affect the method, right Hesp? I don't remember if that's mentioned in the book.
no it doesn't affect anything at all.
eta: just re-read my first post and see how it sounds confusing, i was saying that BECAUSE i have an iud i wasn't too worried about it since i already had a form of bc.
I have used it for almost two years, and I had an IUD for only the first couple of months. I recommend 'Taking Charge of Your Fertility' by Toni Weschler, the 10th Anniversary Edition comes with software so you can track cycles with tons of options on the computer. I also downloaded a free app called 'Natural Family Planning' for my phone that sets off an alarm at 7:00 every morning and prompts me for my temp. Since my basal body thermometer retains the last reading, I just pop it in my mouth at 7:00 and doze off while it takes it's reading, then put it back on the headboard and go back to sleep. I enter it in my phone when I get up and put it in the computer later on.
Very effective if you follow the instructions carefully. Yes, it's more work, but it's worth it.
Thanks Hesp, just checking.
That's the same book I got from the library, krs.
Yeah I've been using the ovulation method for 6 years now, it hasn't failed me yet :)
I don't complicate things by taking my temperature or anything, my cycle is really normal so I know when I ovulate (due to the timing, discharge and usually a dull pain from one of my ovaries) and about a week before my period comes I start getting slight cramps. I count 21 days after my period starts and from that day until my next period is when I can't get pregnant. The rest of my cycle I abstain or my boyfriend pulls out.
It's probably not the safest method but it's free and I don't like messing with my hormones. Plus I could deal with getting pregnant if an accident happened, so maybe that's why I'm not overly concerned with its efficacy.
i've used fam for 3 years. no babies! i also dont take my temperature or chart anymore, so technically i don't use this method, but i started, charted for about 4 or 5 months, got realllly used to my cycle and i know whats happening when. i got really clued into my secondary signs. you'll have to use condoms for this method, but for me, its like a back up plan. its good to know when you are and are not fertile in case the condom breaks. if its during your unfertile time, no biggie, but if its during your fertile time, then you should get plan b. but in all three years, i havent had to use any sort of hormones.
I started using it when I went off the pill. I really like the idea of it, but my cycles are a little irregular so that makes it harder to use correctly. I was sick of hormones and I wasn't completely opposed to the idea of getting pregnant. Luckily. I got a little careless and had a weird cycle (stress can delay ovulation, my dog got really sick and my mom came to visit at the same time), so I thought I had ovulated already when I hadn't and I got pregnant. If you really don't want to get pregnant you have to be pretty strict...especially if you don't have super regular cycles.