Have any of you used the rhythm method of birth control? If so, how successful was it?

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I am planning to go off the pill after my last one this month. My husband and I aren't quite ready for children yet, but I don't want to be on the pill due to health/hormone reasons. We'd be happy either way, baby or not, right now. I'm just curious how successful others have been. Thanks!
my mom tried that after her first baby....now there is 7 of us. Not a very good method if trying not to conceive, because sometimes you don't know when you're ovulating or you could ovulate twice in a month. There are other methods besides the pill that's more effective. There is the sponge, diaphragm, spermicide, condom...

Here's a list of birth control methods from the FDA.

http://www.fda.gov/Fdac/features/1997/babytabl.html

Hope this helps, Good Luck!  (+ info)

What are some good resources regarding the "Rhythm Method"?

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For my own reasons I am not interested in using hormonal birth control, nor condoms.

Can anybody give me any tips for using Natural Family Planning?
Does anybody have an personal experience with this method?
What are some online resources I can use?
Are there any good books I can buy to learn about it?
Well, you are really asking for resources regarding two different forms of NFP. The Rhythm Method is a method of the past, based not on science or the natural variations of a woman's cycle, but on generalities and using past history to guess the future. For women who are very regular, this method actually works pretty well, except when it doesn't. Stress, illness and travel are all factors that can cause variations in a woman's cycle. The Rhythm Method takes none of these factors into effect. Using Rhythm, for example, you may assume that every cycle ovulation takes on day 14 because it has been that way in the past, so you would abstain from days 8-18. However, if one cycle you ovulate on day 18, sex on day 19 could result in pregnancy. If you want to try this method, a modern day version of rhythm is the Cycle Beads method which is actually gaining in popularity. Google it and you will find more info.

By comparison, NFP is a modern, scientific method of family planning which accounts for a woman's cycle variations and is individualized every month based on her signs of fertility.

NFP is using a woman's natural signs of fertility to determine if she is in a fertile or infertile part of her cycle. A woman's fertile window is 5-6 days long. This is because sperm, under good circumstances, can live for up to 5 days. A woman's egg can only survive for about 12-24 hours. And once she has ovulated, she will not ovulate again in a cycle (with the rare exception of double ovulation - like for fraternal twins - and ovulation always takes place within 24 hours; all NFP rules take this into consideration).

So, how does a woman know if she is fertile? The menstrual cycle is dominated by 2 hormones: estrogen and progesterone. Before ovulation, when estrogen starts to kick in, the body starts to produce a special kind of cervical mucus that sort of resembles egg-whites. It is clear, stretchy, and slippery. Her cervix also changes in its position, openness, and firmness. After ovulation, the body triggers a production of progesterone. This hormone makes the cervical mucus dry up, causes the cervix to lower and close, and causes a woman's temperature to rise.

A woman using NFP watches the changes in her mucus, cervix and temperature and from that knowledge knows which part of the cycle she is in. If she is fertile (close to ovulation) and doesn't want to get pregnant, then she will refrain from having sex. If it is before ovulation she can use special rules to know which days are safe for sex. After ovulation there is no chance of another ovulation so she can have sex at any time.

Learning NFP can be confusing at first, but it gets easier after the first 2-3 months. Once you learn the rules, it actually doesn't require much thought at all! A minute a day to record your information and then you're done. After I learned the method well, I didn't chart after I confirmed ovulation either, so I really only charted the first half of my cycle and then took the second half off every month.

My husband & I have used NFP for 10 years now. We initially learned the Billings Method but because I had irregular cycles, it was difficult, so we switched to the sympto-thermal method as taught by the Couple to Couple league. It was such a big influence in our life & marriage that we went on to become NFP teachers. I love being able to talk to others about NFP. It is such a misunderstood form of family planning. It is more effective than any barrier methods and is about equal to the pill - WHEN USED CORRECTLY. That "when used correctly" part is what can give NFP a bad name. But it's true for any kind of family planning. If you don't take your pill every day or use a condom every time, then you reduce effectiveness. Well, if you have sex when you know you can be fertile, you don't make your use of NFP very effective.

Most people who have unexpected pregnancies while using NFP get pregnant because they have sex too late in the early part of their cycle.

The most effective way to use NFP is after taking a class. If you don't know of any classes in your area, go to www.omsoul.com and go to their teacher-finder section. Some organizations also do home study (Couple to Couple League) or online classes - (Northwest Family Services).

Our own personal experience is that we used NFP to postpone for the first 2 years of our marriage, though some very challenging situations. We then used NFP to help diagnose a medical disorder that would go on to give me infertility issues. Thanks to NFP I was able to conceive twice during cycles where, if I hadn't been using NFP, I never would have known to keep trying because I ovulated so late in my cycle.

If it makes you feel any better, one of the first couples we ever taught used NFP successfully for over 5 years before they decided to be open to pregnancy so it can be very effective, even in the long term. Good luck, I hope this helped.  (+ info)

Why is after some activity the heart beat is accelerated?

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This is the same after drinking some coffee! Can somone explain me what happens, whhy is that?
at time of surpries the heart beat is accelereted. when u seen ur best friend what happen that time  (+ info)

what does it mean when i feel my heart beat break rhythm .. and attempts to have two hard pumps?

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it is at times when i am really just relaxing and i feel my heart breaks rhythm.. i can feel it all of a sudden try really really hard.. like it shifts to over drive and attempts two really hard pumps.. i can feel the motion of my sucking up whatever it can as if it is really trying .. what is that?
You could have a problem with a heart murmur (an example only) or a problem with the mitral valve (another example only but this is a problem pretty common in women).

The only way to find out for sure what's going on is to see your doctor for further evaluation of the situation to see what they say.  (+ info)

How can I correct my circadian rhythm?

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I go to bed at 5 in the morning and sleep until the early afternoon hours. What can I do so that I might start going to bed at midnight and getting up at 9?

Please do not suggest light therapy or medication. I do not have the funds or means to use these methods.

Links would be great if you can provide them.
if you have time to do it go to bed a little earlyer each day and with each paseing day you should wake up earlyer and within a week or 2 you might be aboul to get your body clock ajusted. my body clock agusts easy so its not hard for me i go to bed think about what time i should wake up and presto i wake up at that time handy for me  (+ info)

Is this what you thought the rhythm method was?

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I heard of the rhythm method when I was a kid. Nobody explained what it was though...I thought it meant you had to have sex with a certain rhythm! Thought it meant you had to do it with music playing!
Ha! Cute. No, I grew up Catholic so I knew what it was.  (+ info)

How do you get back into the exercise rhythm that you had going?

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Ok so I was actually doing it I was exercising every other day running 1 mile to even 3 miles per day...I started slacking off and now I find it so hard to get back what do I do? How do I encourage my self to keep going? Help!?
Nike knows best ...just do it  (+ info)

Does anyone use Brahmi Amla hair oil for accelerated hair growth? did it work for you?

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Hi all,
Well I've been looking into hair oils for helping my hair grow longer a tad faster. I just wanted to hear which brand/where u got it from of this Indian Oil mixture and whether it worked for you and what hair growth results did you see?
None can match Segals Solutions formulations - the most formidable products, professional ingredients, natural, scientifically proven, effective and safe. I see that as the only brand so completely dedicated to good hair. Incredible !  (+ info)

How do you make or where to get the rhythm nation outfit?

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I would like to be Janet for halloween and I have been searching the net and found nothing...I am a kid at 13 years of age and I'm short so please help me find a small size. Thanks so much! =)
I assume you mean the black army type outfit she is wearing on the cover. I couldn't find a "Janet Jackson" costume but you can buy girls army costumes cheap on eBay that look similar at
http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?icep_ff3=9&pub=5574634183&toolid=10001&campid=5335994191&customid=&icep_uq=army+costume&icep_sellerId=&icep_ex_kw=&icep_sortBy=12&icep_catId=&icep_minPrice=&icep_maxPrice=&ipn=psmain&icep_vectorid=229466&kwid=902099&mtid=824&kw=lg  (+ info)

What is the name of the disease(s) that causes very accelerated growth?

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It's hard to search for a specific disease if you don't know what it's called, so I was wondering if anyone knew anything about it?
it's called having too much human growth hormone (HGH). Theres is also another one, males being born with an extra 'y' chromosome (XYY) and females with tri - somy 'x' (XXX). THere is no name for this, sorry.   (+ info)

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