Women Often Miss Easy Way To Increase Chances Of Getting Pregnant

By: By Lauren Cahoon Roberts, Contributing writer

Published: 07/26/2013 09:04 AM EDT on LiveScience

There's a simple, free step women can take to help them get pregnant, yet few women know about it, a new study shows.

Women who use the technique, known as cervical mucus monitoring, were more than twice as likely to conceive than women who did not track their cervical mucus.

"This technique can be used to help people get pregnant faster ^[1] ," said Dr. Anne Steiner, an ob-gyn at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and senior author of the paper. "It's exciting to potentially say this is a real way to help people; it's so cheap and easy."

Cervical mucus changes in viscosity throughout a woman's cycle. When an egg develops in the ovary ^[2] , estrogen is released, making the mucus thinner and slippery. This enables sperm to swim to the egg more easily. After the egg is released, a spike in progesterone causes mucus to thicken and act as a barrier to other sperm. Thus, tracking the state of this cervical mucus gives insight into a woman's fertility.

The study followed 331 women ages 30 to 45 with no known fertility problems ^[3] who had been trying to conceive for three months or less. Women were asked to categorize their cervical discharge as one of four types: type 1, dry or nonexistent; type 2, damp; type 3, thick and white or yellowish; and type 4, transparent and slippery.

Previous studies had found that women having intercourse on days when they had type 4 mucus were at least two to three times more likely to get pregnant than if they had intercourse on days when they had type 1 or type 2 mucus.

In the new study, the women who checked their cervical mucus consistently were 2.3 times more likely to get pregnant over a six-month period. [5 Myths About Fertility Treatments ^[4] ]

However, the researchers also found that very few women were actually diligent about monitoring it daily — only 6 percent did it consistently, whereas 54 percent of the women didn't bother to check their cervical mucus at all.

These women might be cheating themselves out of an effective and simple method of tracking their fertility, the researchers said. For example, simply counting the days between menses on the calendar can prove inexact, even for women with very regular cycles, and ovulation predictor ^[5] kits, which track urinary levels of luteinizing hormone, can be expensive, costing between $20 and $40 per month.

Tracking body temperature to indicate ovulation also has limited usefulness because the signature temperature spike occurs after a woman has ovulated, giving retrospective information that only comes in handy for the next cycle, the researchers said.

Dr. Wendy Vitek, an ob-gyn at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York, agreed that wider use of cervical mucus monitoring holds promise as a way to increase the odds of pregnancy.

"It makes intuitive sense that the women monitoring their cervical mucus more frequently had a better sense of when they're ovulating...You do need to make involved observations to know when you're at peak fertility," said Vitek, who was not involved in the study.

However, the technique may not be right for everyone.

"A lot of women may not see their cervical mucus externally," said Dr. Elizabeth Ginsburg, an ob-gyn at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.

"My concern is, you tell a patient to look for this type of discharge, and [if] she doesn't see it, she may worry that she has fertility problems, when she's probably ovulating just fine," Ginsburg said.

The researchers suggest that women who are trying to conceive and who are able to observe their cervical mucus easily keep a daily record of the vaginal discharge, noting which category it falls into (1 through 4). On the days when they note type 4 discharge, it's probably the best time for women to try to conceive.^[6]

The study was published online July 12 in the journal Fertility and Sterility.

Follow LiveScience @livescience ^[7] , Facebook ^[8] & Google+^[9] . Original article on LiveScience.com ^[10] .

5 Myths About Fertility Treatments ^[11]

9 Uncommon Conditions That Pregnancy May Bring ^[12]

Blossoming Body: 8 Odd Changes That Happen During Pregnancy ^[13]

Also on HuffPost:

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1. Your fertility is mostly determined by genetics, which influences how many eggs you are born with. Doctors believe that the number of eggs you have at birth determines the length of time you will remain fertile. At birth, women have about two million eggs in their ovaries. For every egg ovulated during your reproductive life, about 1,000 eggs undergo programmed cell death. Other things, such as smoking cigarettes and certain types of chemotherapy, can accelerate egg cell death and promote an earlier menopause.

2. Regular menstrual cycles are a sign of regular ovulation. Most women have regular cycles lasting between 24 and 35 days. This is usually a sign of regular, predictable ovulation. Women who do not ovulate regularly have irregular menstrual cycles. Those who do not ovulate at all may have a genetic condition called polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS).

3. Basal temperature charting does not predict ovulation. An older method of tracking ovulation involves taking your oral body temperature each morning before getting out of bed. This is called basal body temperature. This method is used to spot a rise in basal temperature, which is a sign that progesterone is being produced. The main problem with using this method is that your temperature rises after ovulation has already occurred. This makes it more difficult to time intercourse at an optimal time for conception. A better method is to use over-the-counter urine ovulation predictor test kits such as Clearblue Easy. These kits test for the hormone that prompts ovulation, which is called luteinizing hormone (LH).

4. Most women with blocked fallopian tubes are completely unaware they may have had a prior pelvic infection. About 10 percent of infertility cases are due to tubal disease, either complete blockage or pelvic scarring causing tubal malfunction. One major cause of tubal disease is a prior pelvic infection from a sexually transmitted disease such as chlamydia. These infections can cause so few symptoms that you may be completely unaware your tubes are affected. This is why fertility physicians will order a dye test of the tubes, called a hysterosalpingogram (HSG), if you have been trying and failing to conceive for 6 months or longer.

5. In most cases, stress does not cause infertility. Except in rare cases of extreme physical or emotional distress, women will keep ovulating regularly. Conceiving while on vacation is likely less about relaxation than about coincidence and good timing of sex.

6. By age 44, most women are infertile, even if they are still ovulating regularly. Even with significant fertility treatment, rates of conception are very low after age 43. Most women who conceive in their mid-40's with fertility treatment are using donated eggs from younger women.

7. Having fathered a pregnancy in the past does not guarantee fertility. Sperm counts can change quite a bit with time, so never assume that a prior pregnancy guarantees fertile sperm. Obtaining a semen analysis is the only way to be sure the sperm are still healthy!

8. For the most part, diet has little or nothing to do with fertility. Despite popular press, there is little scientific data showing that a particular diet or food promotes fertility. One limited study did suggest a Mediterranean diet with olive oil, fish and legumes may help promote fertility.

9. Vitamin D may improve results of fertility treatments. A recent study from the University of Southern California suggested that women who were undergoing fertility treatments, but had low vitamin D levels, might have lower rates of conception. This vitamin is also essential during pregnancy. At Pacific Fertility Center, we recommend our patients take 2,000-4,000 IU per day.

10. Being either underweight or overweight is clearly linked with lowered levels of fertility. The evidence in recent years is that obesity is clearly linked with a longer time to conception. Having a body mass index less than 18 or over 32 is associated with problems ovulating and conceiving, as well as problems during pregnancy.