CONTRACEPTION, PLANNING A FAMILY AND INFERTILITY: THE MUCUS METHOD AND OVULATION PREDICTORS
As menstruation stops the vagina is usually ‘dry’ for some days. This is followed by a phase in which vaginal mucus is found to be thick, whitish or yellowish, opaque and sticky. Before ovulation the mucus becomes clear, slippery and watery, like the white of a raw egg and you have to stop having intercourse unless you want to conceive. In the next stage the mucus changes and becomes tacky and opaque and the feeling of vaginal wetness diminishes. The last day of the clear, watery, slippery mucus is peak mucus day and intercourse is not allowed until four days after that day. In practice this turns out not to be a safe guide if used alone so the method should be combined with the temperature method and intercourse resumed when three consecutive daily temperatures have been above the level of those on the previous six.
Ovulation predictors-This method is also known as ‘traffic light contraception,. Urine tests are available which detect the rise in luteinising hormone that immediately precedes ovulation and the colour changes either allow or bar intercourse. They are costly, and inefficient because sperms may still be surviving in the fallopian tubes from intercourse which occurred before the colour change suggested that sex was inadvisable.
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