marriage and birth control

[Listener]

You cannot use the Pill (or other hormonal “contraception”) and practise NFP together. The fertility signs are simply not present. If there is a breakthrough ovulation, there is really no way to detect it (some women experience ovulation pain, but even this is generally not reliable).

I understand that there could be no NFP while the pill was preventing ovulation, since there would be no signs or temperature changes to chart. But if you had breakthrough ovulation, why wouldn’t you know it? I can’t imagine most women ovulating with no symptoms.

 

[underacloud]

I understand that there could be no NFP while the pill was preventing ovulation, since there would be no signs or temperature changes to chart. But if you had breakthrough ovulation, why wouldn’t you know it? I can’t imagine most women ovulating with no symptoms.

I’m certainly no expert…but…the temp shift is caused by the release of progesterone from the corpus luteum, which is the empty egg follicle once the egg is released. When on the Pill or other hormonal treatment, the synthetic hormones are present throughout the cycle so the temp shift is basically nullified.

I could be wrong of course, about this or other particular fertility signs, but in general it is considered impossible to practise NFP while on the Pill.

I don’t know about monitors though - whether they can detect a luteinising hormone surge still. I’m sure if this approach was possible we’d have heard about it?

 

[Allegra]

I understand that there could be no NFP while the pill was preventing ovulation, since there would be no signs or temperature changes to chart. But if you had breakthrough ovulation, why wouldn’t you know it? I can’t imagine most women ovulating with no symptoms.

I ovulated for 20 years with no symptoms before I learned NFP. Signs and temperature changes are the symptoms. Some women might occasionally have a little bit of spotting or feel a little soreness in their breasts, but that doesn’t happen every time and isn’t enough to definitively tell whether you’ve ovulated or not.