Natural Cycles App and more regular periods

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 had been on the pill for 6 years, came off it due to all the side effects and started using Natural Cycles. I got pregnant a few months ago because we risked it on the first red day. That was our bad. I trusted the app still and continued using it because the freedom I had on it was amazing. I used the Aura ring, so it tracked my temperature through the night and I didn't need to use the thermometer in the morning. Last month however, my body decided to ovulate a whole week earlier than it ever has since using the app, so I am now pregnant again. We followed all the rules and I still got pregnant on a green day so I can't risk having any more terminations so I have stopped using it.