Fertility awareness methods (FAM) side effects

I had been on PoP contraceptive pill for nearly 10yrs, I have also tried CoC's and injection prior. I wanted to learn more about my body and be natural. This method takes a lot of research and understanding in order for it to work and be effective. I read books and watched YouTube videos to educate myself and joined FB/Reddit group. I use an app called read your body to input my temperature and other symptoms to track where I am in my cycle. It is all done manually by me and not relying on a system like natural cycles to do it for me as this is less reliable....Since stopping the pill my libido came back which is great and I feel emotions depending on where I am in my cycle. My Cycle regulated within 2 months after stopping the pill and for the past 3 years I have learned what is normal for me. My cycle is very text book 28 days long on the dot every month, I ovulate on day 15. This method works for me, I haven't gotten pregnant but on the days during my cycle I could get pregnant, we use condoms rather than abstaining. I would say it took me about 6 months to learn and feel confident in this approach.

I’ve been using NC since 2021, I use to love this app and tell everybody about it until I had sex on a green day and got pregnant. I used to think it would never happen to me as I’ll use the app right. Measured every day and was very religious with the app. However, I ovulated earlier and fell pregnant! The app only goes off previous ovulation compared to current meaning it doesn’t prevent pregnancy as yes you have red days but it’s just a prediction! For example green day on day 6 (had sex) and ovulated on day 10 (red days) and fell pregnant. Ovulated 5 days early! Sperm can live inside you for 5 days hence why I’m pregnant and will be getting an abortion.

I've had an entirely positive experience using Natural Cycles. While using the impant I was struggling with acne, mood swings, irregular periods. And since swapping to use Natural Cycles I've felt much better in myself, my periods are very regular, I feel I understand my body and cycle so much more, and my skin has cleared up. In 5 years of using it it's been 100% effective at preventing pregnancy, I'm very careful to measure consistently, and I use the Oura Ring to help get accurate readings. But this small effort seems like a small price to pay in exchange for getting rid of all the nasty side effects of my previous contraception

I started using Natural Cycles a few years back. I was never on any birth control as a teenager as my mum didn't want my young body being put on hormones. However, once I settled down with my current long-term partner, I wanted to have the peace of mind that I wasn't going to fall pregnant. The first few years of using Natural Cycles were great and empowering, understanding the changes in my body and knowing when I had ovulated was great. What I had failed to understand was it predicted with its algorithm your date of next month's ovulation based on your previous month. Well. I managed to fall pregnant not once, but twice in the space of 8 months. The first time around, I thought it was my fault and I had not taken my temps properly (even though I never had an issue in the past). I had a surgical abortion as I was 3 months pregnant before I actually found out. I was willing to try again and really get to grips with it even though the clinic was very strongly advising me to go on some form of HBC. In the past 6 months, my body has recovered from the abortion and got back into its usual swing of periods and I saw I was ovulating again. This time around I invested in an Oura ring to pair with my NC app to be certain of my temps being taken. All was well, I stuck to my green and red days religiously. I use the pull-out method on red days (if we do have sex). And I trust our pull-out method completely because we definitely know he does not ejaculate inside of me or we tend to stick to oral sex rather than penetrative. I noticed my temperatures lately had been higher than usual and my ovulation was confirmed a bit earlier than usual. I didn't think much of it as I had stuck to our red days and green days as shown. When I went on calendar view, I saw that my fertile window just gone was a lot shorter than 6 days and I had unprotected sex (on a green day) that was 2 days before I ovulated. I did a test and indeed am pregnant yet again. I contacted NC straight away and got them to go through my data, which they did and have taken full responsibility for the muck up with their algorithm. I advise you to check your fertile windows and note any other observations (cervical mucus), because the algorithm cannot be trusted. And from what I now know, ovulation may change throughout different cycles (stress, sleep etc). I will no longer be using them ever again which is sad as I did so enjoy using it.

Amazing

First few months lots of ‘red’ days (no unprotected sex days). Coming off the pill was a personal choice and brought back lots of issues i.e needing prescription pain medication. However, my sex drive and mental health have significantly improved and impacted on my relationship. I’ve used natural cycles for 2 years religiously and no problems or pregnancy.

I’ve been using the Natural Cycles app with the Oura Ring for about 6 months now, and it has been the best thing I’ve ever done! No side effects and I’ve never felt so informed about my body. I love that the app also informs my partner of when green/red days begin, so the contraceptive burden is on him too (in that he doesn’t have to ask me what type of day it is - we both know, which is nice). For peace of mind, I used the Oura ring for an initial period of three months to let the Natural Cycles app gather data on my basal temperature, whilst using condoms as a contraceptive. Then, when I felt confident that the app had a few months of data (and I was familiar with my own patterns/regular cycles), my partner and I reduced condom use to red days only. We have had zero pregnancy scares in 6 months, and using this as contraception has vastly improved our sex life. I’d honestly recommend it to anyone who is looking to escape hormonal contraceptives. The Oura Ring is expensive, but there’s no way I could remember to take my temperature every morning otherwise (and no way am I setting my alarm every morning… Sundays are for sleeping in!), so I’d recommend buying one if you do plan to use this as a long-term contraceptive and don’t want to be chained to the digital thermometer/same wake-up time every day.

I have used Natural Cycles for years now (alongside condoms when ovulating) and love using a non-hormonal method. I used to get side effects from the combined pill and mini pill so I have seen an improvement since coming off those. The data aspect of recording your temperature and seeing the patterns of my cycle is something I find really interesting. Plus the reminders of ovulation/upcoming period/breast checks are always helpful. I know myself and my body better since tracking my cycles.

The Natural Cycles algorithm does not work to accurately track ovulation and therefore prevent pregnancy. Evidence based FAM/symptothermal methods use a '2 check method' including temperature and cervical fluid patterns. Natural Cycles only tracks your body temperature. After using for a few months I noticed my safe/green days changed after the date. So I had (what I thought was) safe unprotected sex in the non-fertile window, but then by the end of that cycle those days had changed to red/not safe. Surprise surprise, I got pregnant and had to arrange a termination. Since stopping this I have started using fertility awareness methods successfully for 4+yrs. Natural Cycles is just too risky without a 2 check method, and basing it on an algorithm.

I loved using Natural Cycles as it let my body just be itself. It was very effective for four and a half years…until I unexpectedly got pregnant! I will fully admit though we would occasionally take risks on early red days, and we know where we went wrong the month I became pregnant (travelling with time and environment changes led to confusing temperature readings coupled with not using enough caution). The only downsides of NC for me were needing to be on a predictable routine for morning thermometer readings (may be challenging for those travelling a lot or on shift work) and we had to use condoms or abstain during ovulation - which is of course the peak time for when you want some action! Overall though I would recommend it and will probably resume using it once our sleep schedule normalises with our beloved new baby. Having been on the pill and using a copper iud for years, it’s just hard to beat having zero side effects and letting your body do its own thing.