Ovulation Kits for Birth Control

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-10-2003
Ovulation Kits for Birth Control
2
Wed, 08-18-2004 - 12:24am
Does anyone use the ovulation kits to PREVENT pregnancy? We used them to get pregnant 4 years ago and it worked perfectly. I was off the pill for 6 weeks and conceived after being on the pill for 12 years. Since I've had my child, I've done the shot, the pill again, then an IUD which I recently had removed. My body cannot deal with hormones since Emma Leigh was born. Very strange but true. I was on the pill for 12 years and had not ONE side effect. Since giving birth, all the methods I've tried have been horrible. THe hormones make me either crazy, fat or sick. My OB said that many women use the ovulation kits to know when NOT to have sex. Anybody doing this?


(sorry about posting in wrong folder, I hit the button below the topic postings thinking that was the one)

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-30-2003
Wed, 08-18-2004 - 12:33am
Ok, one more time...

Hi angel82573, welcome!

I would not attempt to use an ovulation predictor kit to avoid pregnancy! The reason is that as I understand the currently available kits they will not consistently warn of fertile conditions far enough in advance to avoid sperm coming in contact with fertile mucus. A kit might be an interesting cross check against charting your fertile signs if you are practicing the Fertility Awareness Method, but only as a verification of observable signs. A good book on the Fertility Awareness Method is Toni Weschler's Taking Charge of Your Fertility.

Good luck,

      Jill

    

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-21-2003
Wed, 08-18-2004 - 12:45pm
The Marquette Model uses the Clear Blue Easy Fertility Monitor *in conjunction with* the sympto-thermal method to determine fertile days. They recently did a study and found that the monitor slightly underpredicts fertile days and the sympto-thermal method slightly overpredicts fertile days. So obviously sympto-thermal should be your emphasis. But I think the monitor can be very useful in certain situations, like if you are absolutely paranoid that you aren't interpreting your charts correctly, or if you're like me and have no cm until ewcm. Here is a link to the study: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6T5P-4BD9X2V-6&_user=10&_handle=B-WA-A-A-WB-MsSAYWA-UUW-AUECVAZBYA-AUEWEEDAYA-CDCDVYEBV-WB-U&_fmt=full&_coverDate=01%2F31%2F2004&_rdoc=3&_orig=browse&_srch=%23toc%235008%232004%23999309998%23475822!&_cdi=5008&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=82bf8dc0057dfe752d4db3079e08da62