HAPPILY HORMONAL | hormone balance for moms, PMS, painful periods, natural birth control, low energy, pro-metabolic

E61: Cycle Tracking Q&A - Cervical Mucus, Best Apps, Tracking with PCOS, Breastfeeding & Troubleshooting Temps

• Leisha Drews, RN, FDN-P, holistic hormone coach, period expert

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Have you ever felt like tracking your cycle was too hard or too confusing? Today I'm answering your questions on troubleshooting ALL things cycle tracking!

I'm answering questions on cervical mucus, how to track if yours doesn't seem "normal", how to track when you're breastfeeding and don't have your cycle back yet, what apps & devices I like best, and anything else you wanted to know!


Resources

- You can purchase the Tempdrop armband here

- Nourish Your Hormones Course: use the code HHPODCAST for $50 OFF Nourish Your Hormones!

- Hormone Secrets FREE workshop


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Instagram: @leishadrews

Website: www.leishadrews.com

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Disclaimer: Nothing in this podcast is to be taken as medical advice, please take informed accountability and speak to your provider before making changes to your health routine.

This podcast is for women and moms to learn how to balance hormones naturally in motherhood, to have pain-free periods, increased fertility, to decrease PMS mood swings, and to increase energy without restrictive diet plans. You'll learn how to balance blood sugar, increase progesterone naturally, understand the root cause of estrogen dominance, irregular periods, PCOS, insulin resistance, hormonal acne, post birth-control syndrome, and conceive naturally. We use a pro-metabolic, whole food, root cause approach to functional women's health and focus on truly holistic health and mind-body connection.

If you listen to any of the following shows, we're sure you'll like ours too!
Pursuit of Wellness with Mari Llewellyn, Culture Apothecary with Alex Clark, Found My Fitness with Rhonda Patrick, Just Ingredients Podcast, Wellness Mama, The Dr Josh Axe Show, Are You Menstrual Podcast, The Model Health Show, Grounded Wellness By Primally Pure, Be Well By Kelly Leveque, The Freely Rooted Podcast with Kori Meloy, Simple Farmhouse Life with Lisa Bass

Speaker 1:

Hello. So one of the things that I get the most questions about and that I think is so incredibly important to understand as women is being able to track your cycle, and so last week I did an episode episode 59 with some really basic starting places of how to track your cycle, and I say that, but actually there's a lot there. So if you are thinking about trying to have use natural birth control, if you feel like you might be tracking your cycle wrong, if you're not really sure what you're doing, go back and listen to that. It's going to give you a really good groundwork. And then today I'm answering questions based on that episode and just based on some other questions that I got from Instagram around tracking cervical fluid, bbts and everything that can be related to cycle tracking. So I'm excited for this and I can't wait to dive in. I will give you a little warning while this is still a clean episode, I am talking a lot about fertility, cervical fluid, things like that. So if you don't want to have those conversations with your kids right this minute, then maybe pop in some headphones or listen when they're not around.

Speaker 1:

Welcome to the Happily Hormonal Podcast. Now, if you're a little iffy on whether or not the word hormonal is a good one. You're in the right place. My name is Leisha Drews, registered nurse and functional diagnostic nutrition practitioner, turned holistic hormone coach, and, after going through my own hormone journey and having my three babies, I actually believe that our hormones are one of the greatest gifts that we've been given as women and that, no matter what you've been told, it's possible for you to have thriving energy, good periods and the stable mood all month long, and I am here to show you the way. I think it's time to change the narrative around words like hormones and hormonal and start to reclaim the power that we truly have as women, which is a power to change not only our own health, but the health of all of our family for generations to come. Hormone balance doesn't have to feel hard. It can actually feel simple and fun when we do it in a way that aligns with how our bodies were made. If you're ready to start trusting your body again and feeling really good in that beautiful body that you've been given, then grab yourself a yummy drink and maybe a snack and let's do this. Okay, so let's dive in.

Speaker 1:

I have quite a few questions that I'm going to answer today. So I'm going to kind of do like rapid fire and just go through each of the questions and answer them as in depth as I can and I just want to remind you if you have not listened to episode 59, you need to go back and listen to that before you listen to this episode, because a lot of what I'm talking about may not make sense if you don't have those baselines, unless you've already been tracking and you are kind of familiar with a fertility awareness method and you have a pretty good awareness of what cervical fluid is and those type of things. So first question that I got was what app to use for tracking. This is something that I talked about in episode 59 a little more in depth, but I do like the Kendara app most. That's my favorite one for just tracking with an oral thermometer and putting it in manually. You can track your cervical fluid in there. You can track a lot of good things in there, so I like that one best. That is what I use with my clients and my students and when my students are going through their BBT charts they can submit those to me every month within the Nourish Hormones Collective and I love being able to see them in Kendara. So if you're wanting to work with me in the future, go ahead and start tracking in Kendara now and I can look back at all your cycles and we can see all the fun things related to your BBT charts. I also will. I also do like using the temp drop the temp drop skin thermometer and I use that app too if I'm using a temp drop.

Speaker 1:

The next question that I got is how to know if you're ovulating, if you are breastfeeding and you haven't gotten your cervical fluid back, or you haven't gotten your cycle back when you are still nursing, and this is a great question. So this does require you tracking your temperatures and it does require you tracking your cervical fluid, which are both things that I taught you to do last week in episode 59. But what you're essentially looking for is you're starting to look for cervical fluid to come back. When you see cervical fluid starting to come back, then you will know that you are getting close to ovulation. That's the best ovulation sign that I can tell you. I highly recommend the book Taking Charge of your Fertility. If you haven't read that, and just have it on your shelf, it's one of my favorites, but that will also teach you how to track your cervical position. So if you're like really wanting to be sure if you're getting close to ovulation, you can track your cervical fluid in your cervical position and when you start to see more cervical fluid, you will know that you are getting close to ovulation.

Speaker 1:

You may have several patches of cervical fluid before you actually ovulate or you may just have a few days of cervical fluid, ovulate and then get your period two weeks later. That's what happened to me in my last two pregnancies. I was able to know really clearly. I had no cervical mucus for months and months and then I had it for four or five days. I knew I ovulated, I confirmed it with tracking temperatures and then I got my period a couple weeks later. So I was able to prevent pregnancy even without birth control. And I also will tell you I was extra careful because when I if there was any time that I wasn't sure, because I didn't want to have a baby, another baby right away. So you will have to kind of like, use your judgment on that, but I didn't honestly have to be extra careful because I did truly know when I ovulated, based on my cervical fluid. So that's what you're looking for. You're looking for cervical fluid to return and then you want to confirm that with your basal body temperatures. You want to confirm that you have a temp rise and that you've ovulated, and then you will be clear that ovulation has occurred and you know when your period will come back and then, hopefully, your cycle returns pretty regularly.

Speaker 1:

Another question is how do I know when I'm ovulating if I don't have much cervical fluid? So this I'm gonna have several in a row about cervical fluid. You can be on either side of this. You can have low cervical fluid or a lot of cervical fluid. And when I'm talking about cervical fluid, this is what you're looking for to confirm ovulation or not to confirm. But to be looking for ovulation and cervical fluid is incredibly important if you are trying to get pregnant, because sperm can survive in fertile quality cervical fluid for up to five days in your body, which gives you a lot longer window of being able to get pregnant. So that's incredible.

Speaker 1:

And if you do not have much cervical fluid, that can be a sign that your body doesn't have what it needs and isn't producing estrogen quite as well as it could be, or that there's an imbalance there. So if you don't have a lot of cervical fluid, that is something that makes it a little bit harder to track, but that's why we track multiple things. So that's why we track cervical fluid and we track basal body temperatures, and then you, additionally, can track cervical position as well. And so a couple of things that I would say for this question is if you don't have much cervical fluid, a few things that can affect that medication-wise are antihistamines, sleep aids, antidepressants, birth controls can definitely affect this, and then even the fertility drug, clomid, can sometimes affect your cervical mucus. So if you're taking antihistamines or something like that and you realize that, well, that could definitely be affecting your cervical mucus and maybe that's something you can look into a little bit more of a natural option.

Speaker 1:

But if you're not taking any medications and your cervical mucus is low, then likely there is a need for some support with your nourishment. Eating a really nutrient-dense diet, lots of antioxidants, lots of good quality animal products all of those things are going to help support cervical mucus. Making sure that you are hydrated, limiting caffeine those things are all going to help increase that cervical fluid. So ideally you would be able to increase that and be able to track a little more, just a little bit more helpfully with cervical mucus. But I would say, if you're not having a lot, track what you are having and understand what your pattern is. So if you have a day or two and it's not super egg white quality, that can just be your pattern, that you're in right now and you still know. This is right before ovulation for me, and you can also track your temperatures and confirm ovulation after.

Speaker 1:

On the other side of this, I got a question about basically having cervical fluid every day, and this question was essentially like I don't actually track my cervical fluid, but I think that I have it every day because I need to wear a panty liner, and this is something that I hear too. This isn't totally uncommon and in my experience this is likely from high estrogen and or PCOS can be a factor here, and so if you have patches of cervical fluid that are coming and going and irregular cycles, that often is because your body is spiking estrogen and trying and trying and trying to ovulate before it ovulates. Maybe you're not even ovulating in your cycle and so you have these patches of cervical fluid. This is something that is addressed in taking charge of your fertility too. That is an excellent book. Literally every woman should read it, so I highly recommend that.

Speaker 1:

But the patches of cervical fluid or having it more often throughout the month, it can be because of attempted ovulation, it can be because of estrogen dominance as well, and also the other thing that we don't think about is that sexual arousal also produces it's not the same cervical fluid, it is like sexual lubricant, but that is something that you need to kind of take into consideration too that sexual arousal or even semen from sex the night before, those things can appear to be cervical fluid, and so you need to be kind of like thinking through the situation from the day before or from where you are right now and realize that those things can essentially pose a cervical fluid. And so, just keeping that in mind, it is something that you can figure out a little bit more with cervical fluid. But if you're having cervical fluid, if you truly are having it every day, make sure you track and see if you're really having it every day. If you are, it may be time to get some support on balancing your estrogen and progesterone. Come join us to nourish your hormones so that we can get things balanced and we can track that with you so that you're really clear on what's actually happening in your body.

Speaker 1:

The other question I have on cervical fluid is just what happens when or how do we track when? Cervical mucus consistency is hard to figure out. So I'll go through really quickly this is in the last episode too. But what cervical fluid you should be essentially expecting or looking for, I would consider pretty normal. Again, there's always a range of this, but I would expect to see a day or two, about a week, maybe, like day 10, I'm gonna say it could be a little earlier, little later, depending on your ovulation but I would expect to see a couple days of kind of like a dry, sticky cervical fluid. And this is something that you can. You can look up in the Kendara app. They have a knowledge base that'll help you understand this a little better.

Speaker 1:

But the dryer sticky, it's almost kind of like a almost like a dried glue kind of consistency, or you'll just be kind of like a dry line in your underwear. That's the dryer sticky. Then you get into more creamy, which I would consider to be more of like a lotion, like texture. You may not have a ton of it, but if you do notice cervical mucus, it's kind of this lotiony texture. It can be a little sticky still. That's just as it changes, and then you would have more of a wet or an egg white. So either it looks like just like a wet spot in your underwear that's more like round and has more fluid in it, or you could actually notice that if you you touch the cervical fluid and stretch it between your fingers, that is actually stretchy like an egg white consistency. That's what I would expect to see.

Speaker 1:

If you're having trouble figuring out what your consistency is, it is really helpful to figure out. I do think the Kendara app has some really good resources for that. Taking charge of your fertility is really great for figuring that out on your own. And the other thing that I just want to mention is knowing what the consistency is isn't totally vital unless you're actively trying to get pregnant and you feel like you don't have enough cervical mucus and you think that could be part of a problem. It absolutely can. So if you're listening to this and on a fertility journey, you don't have a lot of cervical fluid, that's definitely something you want to reach out and get some help with. Anyway, but when you're tracking your cervical mucus, it doesn't have to really just knowing when it's there is going to be really helpful, even if you don't quite understand what the consistency is. So pay attention to when it's there, pay attention to what kind you think it is and then pay attention to your temperature so that you can continue to track ovulation that way.

Speaker 1:

Okay, a question that I have around temperatures is that someone was saying what does it mean when they have a temperature that rises after ovulation and then drops again, and this can mean several things. This is something that I again I love to look at these charts with my students in nourish your hormones. So please, if you are tracking and you need support, come join us there. It's so fun to be able to look at this and we can learn so much about your cycle without even doing Dutch testing, without even you know going to those like fancy measures. You can track at home and we can. I can help you learn to really understand what those patterns mean in your body. So without looking at your chart really clearly and seeing what days this is happening and what your temperatures were before and what your temperatures were after, I can give you a more general answer. But what it generally means is that if you have BBTs that go down and kind of like spike down and then spike back up after ovulation, oftentimes that's your body having trouble clearing estrogen. And if you have temperatures that kind of like drop down toward the end of your cycle, that often means that your progesterone is essentially running out prior to your period. And if it's happening quickly, if it's happening in less than you know 12 to 14 days, then I would consider that more of a low progesterone picture. But if you have these dips and ester in basal body temperatures generally, when basal body temperatures dip, it's because there is a spike in estrogen that's pushing those temperatures back down. So I would see this as probably like an estrogen dominance detox issue picture, and this would be something that it would really be good to get some support on so that we can get that balance out, because usually when I see those temperature changes, it is accompanied with symptoms in that cycle.

Speaker 1:

Okay, I also got a question about tracking temps with different devices, specifically the Ava bracelet. I got a couple questions about the Ava bracelet and do the temperatures look different? And, yes, they absolutely do. So the Ava bracelet is one that tracks a skin temperature and so you're going to be quite a bit lower. I'm not going to give you a certain number, but you're going to be quite a bit lower on an Ava bracelet than you are even with a temp drop, because temp drop is up in your armpit essentially and so it's a little bit more of a core temperature. I've found in my experience that the temp drop is pretty close to an oral temperature, but the Ava bracelet is like almost a couple degrees lower. I feel like I've seen 95 and 96s with the Ava bracelet and that doesn't necessarily mean your metabolism is shot, but I would definitely confirm some oral temperatures to make sure that your metabolism is not shot and that you don't have oral temperatures in the 96s. But yes, you're going to see lower temperatures with an Ava bracelet, that's okay. You're still just looking for the same patterns of a pattern of lower temperatures followed by a pattern of higher temperatures. But you will see higher temperatures if you're taking it with an oral thermometer or even with a temp drop.

Speaker 1:

Okay, another question on timing with taking your temperatures. Someone asked me if they wake up at five and they always take their temperature at five, but they're getting up to go to the bathroom or to feed their baby, maybe between 12 and four every single night. Is that going to affect their temperatures? And yes, it really is. You can still do your best with that, but ideally you're not getting up moving, waking up doing anything within three hours before taking that temperature to get an actual basal body temperature. That is really accurate. So if you're having trouble with that, I would recommend getting a temp drop. That is my favorite way to be more accurate with tracking temperatures when you have a baby or when you're getting up and down at night and you're able to just kind of like get that constant skin temperature throughout the night. So you're gonna get a more accurate result there if you are getting up at that time. The other thing is if you're getting up in it I know you said it's between 12 and four, but if it's like always at three or something like that you could take your temperature then You're going to have a lower temperature when it's earlier in the morning because your body is not spiking that cortisol and getting ready to get up. But the closest you can do to something that's three hours of sleep in a row is going to be probably the most accurate and maybe you're getting pretty accurate temperatures and you're seeing patterns with your attempts and it's fine for you, or maybe they're all over the place and that's probably the reason. If so.

Speaker 1:

Inconsistent wake up time is another question that I got. This kind of goes along with what I was just saying Try to be as consistent as possible, try to find a time that is consistent, but if you're within an hour, hour and a half again, just note, if you wake up at six, your temperature is probably going to be a tiny bit lower than if you wake up at 7.30. If it's six some days and 9.30 some days, you're going to have some pretty big changes in temperature. What I would say is try to be as consistent as possible and also just make a note of what time you took your temperature so that you know. If it looks like you had a spike but then it went back down the next day because you woke up at six again, then you're just going to have to know that there's some fluctuation based on your wake up time. That may not actually be hormone related. Okay, and it looks like I actually missed a cervical fluid question, so I'm going to go back to this really quick.

Speaker 1:

But someone asked me about the colors of cervical mucus and what that means for egg quality, fertility, things like that. Essentially, what you're looking for and what you're hoping for is kind of like a creamy, white, creamy color cervical fluid. If you see anything that's outside of that, like if you're seeing blood-tinted cervical fluid like around ovulation, to me that's a little bit of a sign of inflammation, probably some estrogen dominance, some issues with ovulation maybe not issues necessarily that are going to cause a problem getting pregnant or a problem with egg quality but there's just probably a little bit of extra inflammation going on there. If you see cervical fluid, cervical fluid is not going to be green or brown or stinky or cottage cheesy or any of the things that I know are terribly gross to talk about. We're going to talk about it. That is more of a sign of a vaginal infection. If you have more of like the greenish color or even sometimes brown if it's anything stinky, if you have like a yeasty or kind of like a clumpy type of cervical fluid that is not actually cervical fluid, that would be discharged from a yeast infection. So those kind of things are really important to know that what you're really looking for with cervical fluid. It's not going to be smelly, it's not going to be a weird color, it's going to be pretty creamy. So if you're noticing other things, that's where you probably would want to do something to check out if you have a vaginal infection or a yeast infection or something like that. But as far as color, generally it should be kind of that creamy color and we're really just looking at the consistency for fertility awareness and understanding kind of your ability to get pregnant based on that cervical fluid.

Speaker 1:

Okay, and then the last question that I had is when is the best time to complete an ovulation strip? If you're doing ovulation strips to track ovulation, I will tell you these are not my favorite. Sometimes I use them with my clients when we're doing a Dutch test and they don't really know how to track their cycle yet. They can be a little bit helpful. But there are essentially false positives, especially in PCOS. You can have extra times in the month where you have LH present and it can be a little bit inaccurate.

Speaker 1:

But just to answer this question, like in a normal cycle I would start testing my ovulation around day probably 10, honestly, I probably test like days 10 through 17 if I was like really wanting a big window and making sure that I would catch it. That's when I would test ovulation strips and generally, when you see that LH rise which gives you a positive ovulation strip, you will ovulate within the next 12 to 24 hours. Okay, that's all the questions that I have. This has been fun and I am excited to hear your feedback. If you have other questions, let me know and I will do another Q&A episode in the future.