Infertility and Cycle Health
Difficulty conceiving is becoming more common.  Approximately 1 in 6 couples face difficulties.   Advice about timing intercourse to coincide with ovulation can make all the difference!  The Billings Ovulation Method® teaches couples to recognize the time of maximum fertility when conception is most likely to occur.   This simple information has helped many couples conceive naturally.
Sometimes reproductive problems hinder conception.  The Billings Ovulation Method® fertility chart can be used as a diagnostic tool to help identify and correct such problems, to restore and improve fertility.

Ovulatory dysfunction is the absence of ovulation or abnormal ovarian activity.   This is a major cause of infertility, repeat miscarriage, and the other troubling gynecological symptoms.  Women with reproductive abnormalities are often prescribed hormonal contraceptives as a way to regulate hormones and cycles. Hormonal contraceptives may alleviate some of the symptoms, but do not correct the underlying problem.   Dr. Mary Martin, M.D., F.A.C.O.G outlines the five most common underlying causes of an interference with healthful ovulation, so keep reading!
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Keeping a chart of your cycles and your cervical mucus patterns will help in the diagnosis of your condition and planning your treatment. And if you’re trying to conceive, your chart will help you work out which cycles might be fertile ones and which ones are not.  An Accredited Billings Ovulation Method® teacher will help you make sense of your chart and support you in seeking the appropriate medical assistance for restoring hormonal health and fertility.

Bleeding that’s Heavy, Painful, or Prolonged may indicate that Fibroids or polyps may be present.   Those may grow due to being hyper-estrogenic, which is the result of a continual disruption with the ovulation process.   Identifying and treating the underlying cause of the disturbance helps to restore normal ovulation, which improves cycles and bleeding.

Low progesterone is a symptom of a disturbance with follicular development.  By identifying and treating the root cause of the disturbance, natural progesterone levels can self correct. Supplemental progesterone can help manage symptoms, but does not correct the underlying disturbance which causes this in the first place.  The underlying hormonal imbalance can continue to inhibit optimal health, even when the symptoms of low progesterone are managed.   Once supplementation is discontinued, the symptoms may return if the underlying hormone imbalance still exists.

Endometriosis
This is a condition where the endometrium develops and grows outside the uterus. The fallopian tubes, ovaries, urinary organs or intestinal organs may be affected.  It may occur, due to being hyper-estrogenic over a prolonged period of time, because of an interference with healthful ovulation.

About 30 to 40 percent of women with the condition may experience infertility because of scarring in their reproductive organs. Symptoms vary, but may include irregular and heavy menstruation, pain during sex, and pelvic pain for a few days before and during menstruation. By being familiar with your normal patterns of cervical mucus you are likely to detect this problem at an early stage because the pattern may not develop normally.

Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) 
Adrenal and ovarian hormone abnormalities are the most frequent cause of ovarian dysfunction, and the most common example of this is Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome or PCOS.  This condition can present with a variety of symptoms in a variety of combinations!  PCOS is often connected to insulin resistance, which causes high insulin levels. Their ovaries and adrenal glands may also be producing too much testosterone. These hormonal imbalances mean that the follicle containing the developing ovum can’t mature properly. Often the ovum doesn’t get released from the ovary, so there is no ovulation. The struggling follicle keeps making more testosterone, and this interferes with the ovulatory process. It isn’t long before many of these tiny cysts cover the ovaries.

If you have PCOS, you may have had irregular cycles since you first began menstruating.  Other symptoms can include acne, hirsutism, and weight gain, but some women have none of these symptoms. When keeping your chart you may notice a continuous fertile type of mucus pattern, or days of sticky or slippery mucus forming no progressive pattern to a Peak of fertility.