7 Underlying Issues FAM Can Show You About Your Body

art by @merakilabbe

One of my biggest passions is seeing women understand and feel in charge of their own bodies.  Yes doctors and medical providers can have a place in our care, but too many of us outsource all our power to them.  

There is so much we can learn about how to be the caretakers of our bodies and our cycles.  And one of my favorite ways to do this is to encourage women to begin tracking their menstrual cycles and charting their BBT.  I wrote another post detailing how to do this so I won’t dive into that here. 

I will share with you a few interesting things that practicing the fertility awareness method can show you about what is happening inside of your body.  From here you can choose how to respond to that information and get more clear on what you may need to talk to get tested for or speak to a care provider about.

• Potential Thyroid Disorders

This is a health problem that so many women suffer with and yet go undiagnosed.  If your BBT runs consistently low in both the follicular and luteal phases of your cycle you may have hypothyroidism.  This is because an underactive thyroid disrupts the healthy function of the metablism, which also happens to regulate body temperature.  

The opposite is also true, if your follicular and luteal temperatures are consistently high, it could indicate hyperthyroidism or an overactive thyroid.  Pay attention to your patterns and if you notice either of these happening month after month it may be time to get your thyroid checked!  Thyroid health plays a big part of fertility, energy levels, metabolism and body temperature so it’s worth getting diagnosed if there is a problem. 

• Inflammation

Another possible reason for consistently high temperatures is inflammation, which heats up the body.  This is no good for fertility, and overtime chronic inflammation can lead to heart disease and strokes. 

 Sometimes stress or drinking alcohol the night before can throw off a temperature here and there, but if you notice a pattern, it’s worth investigating.  Inflammation can be kept in check through grounding (getting your bare feet on the Earth), avoiding inflammatory foods by sticking to a more Mediterranean style diet, and taking herbs like turmeric or food supplements like collagen. 

• PCOS

This is such a common hormonal imbalance and can lead to all sorts of symptoms like ovarian cysts, excess androgens, hair growth in unwanted places, insulin resistance and weight gain.  It can also keep you from getting and staying pregnant. 

If you notice that you keep getting egg white cervical mucus or postive OPKs, and yet your temperature doesn’t rise it means your body is attempting to ovulate but it isn’t happening.  This could be due to cysts or excess testosterone interfering with the ovulation process. 

• Diminished Ovarian Reserve

 As you age, your eggs will start to diminish. That doesn’t mean you can’t pregnant, as you can improve egg quality with lifestyle choices, but it does mean you have less eggs to choose from.  

If you notice that you are ovulating consistently earlier than days 12-14, your egg reserve may be diminishing.  If you want to check into this you can ask your doctor to test your FSH and AMH, these levels together can give a good idea of your ovarian reserve. 

• The Best Time to Conceive (or NOT)

Looking at your chart I can usually narrow down exactly when you are ovulating.  You can too!  You usually ovulate on the day after cervical mucus is at its peak or the day before your temperature rises. Sometimes these things coincide perfectly and sometimes they don’t.  

 If you want to get pregnant, have sex as often as you’d like (usually the more the better!) in the few days leading up to ovulation when your cervical mucus is as it’s most watery and egg white consistency. 

 If you don’t want to get pregnant… avoid having sex or use a barrier method of protection on the six days leading up to ovulation and the day after ovulation. I’ve used this as my primary form of birth control for most of my adult life, and it worked!  Then once I wanted to get pregnant, it worked again. 

• Luteal Phase Defect

If your luteal phase is 12 days or less, you have spotting during this time or your temperatures remain fairly low, you may have a luteal phase defect.  This is just a not so nice phrase for having low progesterone.  You need progesterone to balance out estrogen, hold the endometrial lining in place, and help ease PMS by mellowing you out.  It is also necessary for getting and staying pregnant.

Progesterone levels can be improved by reducing stress, taking vitamin C, B6, and the herb vitex.  If these things don’t make a difference or you need a more instant fix (as in to maintain a pregnancy) your doctor or naturopath may recommend a bio-identical progesterone to help level it out.  

• Hidden Infections

If you consistently have brown spotting for several days before and several days after your period, there may be a hidden infection causing inflammation in your uterus. This is a hugely common and under-diagnosed issue and can lead to scarring of the uterus and fallopian tubes, pain, infertility, and recurrent miscarriages.

 There are many ways viruses or bacteria can get through the cervix and into the womb.  One way is sperm.  Yep you read that right! Sperm can carry viruses and bacteria up into the womb as they swim through, which is why you should always withdraw or use protection unless you’re trying to conceive.  Another way is through medical procedures like a catheter that introduces bacteria into the bladder, or other medical procedures like abortions, hysteroscopy, laproscopy, or even during birth. 

 Often once discovered they can be treated, but that requires very specific testing that isn’t very common place.  If this is something you are struggling with, please reach out and I can connect you with a specific clinic. 

Honestly, there is even more information that paying attention to these vital signs can show you, especially if you keep track of the color and consistency of your menstrual blood.  But I’ll leave that for another post.  I hope this has given you a deeper appreciation for your incredible body and the wealth of knowledge you can generate from paying closer attention to it.  Knowledge really is power, and you can harness that for yourself.  I think all women should monitor and track their cycles, if for no other reason than to notice right away if something is “off.”  

I love helping women begin this process buy teaching them all about how to use the fertility awareness method, to chart their BBT, and keep records of their menstrual cycles.  If you are looking for guidance on how to do this, please book a virutal session with me.