Cervical mucus (CM) is the one fertility sign that everyone comes across at some point, only they have no idea what they see. When you go to the gynecologist in your fertile window s/he will say "You have a bit of a flow" and s/he will immediately prescribe anti-fungus medicine, not knowing (?) that it is absolutely normal. This is that sticky or creamy white discharge that you sometimes find in your panties and this is what sometimes creates slippery feeling when you wipe yourself after peeing. But what is this exactly?
The cervical mucus or cervical fluid is an alkaline substance containing electrolytes, glucose, amino acids, proteins, enzymes and 90-99% water. It is produced in the cervical crypts in the first half of the cycle due to the increasing level of estrogen. Thanks to gravity it travels from the cervix down through the vagina and can be observed at the vaginal opening. Being alkaline it changes the normally acidic environment of the vagina that would kill the sperms, it nourishes the sperms and creates a path for them to travel towards the uterus while filtering out the deformed ones and this is what can keep the sperms alive up to 5 days in the cervix while waiting for the egg to come.
The colour, consistency and amount of the mucus changes during the follicular phase, from yellowish rubbery or sticky through white creamy or milky to opaque stretchy and slippery (like raw eggwhite) and all these are natural and normal! As we are approaching ovulation the mucus becomes more and more stretchy and slippery, providing optimal environment for the sperms to live, feed and travel in. After ovulation due to the progesterone hormone it dries up or returns to the initial sticky or creamy state. It is important to know that prior to ovulation, for the reasons mentioned above, as soon as any type of mucus appears, we are considered fertile, this is the sign that tells us when our fertility begins in the cycle.
Felix Pouchet was the first to define the cervical fluid in 1847 and in 1954 Dr John Billings described it as the primary sign to indicate potential fertility. Billings, along with his colleagues categorized the different types of cervical mucus and their impact on fertility and developed the Billings Method that determines the fertile phase in the menstrual cycle.
Observing cervical fluid is pretty easy for western people: you have to wipe your vaginal opening with a piece of folded toilet paper before and after peeing and check if there is anything on the paper (pee gets absorbed, mucus stays on the surface). Whoever is not experienced in identifying the different version of mucus I encourage them to touch it and take it between the fingers, rub it to see if it is sticky or lotiony or slippery, try to pull it to see if it is stretchy. I know it sounds gross at first, but believe me it is not horrible at all once you get used to it and it provides you with a huge amount of information about your health and fertility. After a couple of weeks it becomes part of the routine of using the toilet and you won't even need to touch it any more because you will be able identify it and note it in the chart by just looking at it.
Another reason why it is important to observe and chart cervical fluid daily is that everyone has their own mucus pattern during the cycle. Once you get to know yours you can avoid the above mentioned misunderstandings and unnecessary treatments at the doc's but you will also know if something is wrong and should be checked. Natural cervical mucus is odorless, does not cause irritation or any other symptom, the colour can be pale yellowish, white, opaque, or pinkish (in case of spotting) and all this means is that you are fertile at the moment. But if you have dark yellow, brown or greenish, possibly lumpy discharge with a strong, unpleasant smell that often causes irritation at the vulva then it is probably caused by some vaginal infection and you must see your doctor and get it treated!
In the next post we will talk about the third fertility sign, the cervical position. I hope you found this article useful and I haven't put you off charting, trust me, it's really worth it! 😉
No comments:
Post a Comment