This method will help you locate the premenstrual period after ovulation and before menstruation. It is pretty easy to recognise when you have already ovulated as your BBT (Basal body temperature) rises right after ovulation and stays up until a few days before your menstruation. If you are using natural contraception this is the safest part of your cycle once you know that ovulation has been and gone.

After ovulation, the reproductive hormone progesterone is produced, this causes the BBT to rise noticeably after ovulation. This is the clearest indicator that ovulation has passed.

This progesterone also causes an abrupt change in the mucus which occurs immediately after ovulation.

To track you BBT you need a BBT thermometer. this is different to a normal thermometer and its necessary to buy the right type. to purchase you can look online or at a pharmacy.

Tracking you BBT:

On waking after atleast 5 hours sleep you take your BBT. There are arguments that it is most efficient to take the temperature from the anus or vagina as it is more accurate than reading from the mouth. But many methods argue equally that it is just as efficient to take the reading from the mouth. Where ever you take the temperature from you need to do it in exactly the same place each time. i.e under the left side of the tongue, so don’t swap from left to right keep it in the same place. Also do this as soon as you wake, before moving around to much, before eating or drinking, before getting up and going to the toilet, even before talking. It is also best if you take it within the same 1-2  hours every day. Simply the more regular you are the more regular and reliable the reading is.

The Lady comp is a great device for this. It’s not cheap but it also acts as an alarm and wakes you up so you think about it straight away. It stores all the information for you and estimates your fertile and infertile periods. So you alleviate a lot of human error on the side of accurate note takings. How ever it doesn’t make a graph, so you miss seeing it on one sheet as it happens which can sometimes be easier for clarity. But you can send the device of and get the graphs sent back to you.

If using a normal thermometer, take the reading and write it on a graph each day. draw a line between the dots on the graph. You should get a curve that begins low at the early part of your cycle and rises right after your ovulation. Often it slightly drops again just before menstruation.

Over time trends in your cycle will begin to appear. By studying them you can know where you are in your cycle at each given moment, and how that affects you.

If you are using this for contraceptive more detail is needed in working out your fertile and non fertile windows. Do check out natural birth control methods online for more info.