Follow the menstrual cycle as a health sign

Bleeding, cramping, mood swing, interfere with daily activities are some facts about how women mostly remember the menstrual cycle. The pattern of the menstrual cycle will usually take a woman`s attention when she misses one. It is difficult for some women to track the events of a normal menstrual cycle. Some of them only think about the menstrual cycle, when they want to plan an event or their holidays. In 2015, the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists emphasized to use the menstrual cycle as a vital sign (reaffirmed 2017). There is growing evidence that every woman needs fundamental knowledge about the menstrual cycle. The menstrual cycle patterns and fertility signs are recently the focus of interest to shorten time-to-pregnancy, to determine the fertile phase of the menstrual cycle in the management of the subfertility, or to help in the identification and management of gynecologic problems.

Fertility Signs:

Every woman needs to know how to identify:

• The pattern of her menstrual cycle;
• Ovulation occurrence.

By charting the initiation, duration and amount of the bleeding, a woman will be able to tell whether her menstrual cycle follows a normal and regular pattern.

Menstrual cycles may occur regularly but not be considered fertile. Ovulation occurrence during a menstrual cycle determines the possibility of fertility. To be able to pinpoint the ovulation, a woman needs to distinguish between fertile and infertile phases of the menstrual cycle. The general knowledge about the ovulation encompasses the understanding of changes in:

• Cervical mucus;
• Cervical texture;
• Cervical location;
• Preovulatory opening of the endocervical canal;
• Basal Body Temperature.

To sum up:

A woman can use several methods to identify and interpret fertility signs or menstrual patterns such as the Billings Ovulation Method, Creighton Method, Preovulatory opening of the endocervical canal (pupil sign) and Basal Body Temperature (Coverline Method).

Smartphone-based approaches, home device technology for hormonal detection can be also used to follow events of the menstrual cycle.

Nava Rezaeinamini, BSc in Midwifery
Junior Researcher in Carinthia University of Applied Sciences

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