Fertile cervical mucus is a clue that ovulation is coming. To get pregnant, timing intercourse before ovulation is important. If you can detect when your cervical mucus is most fertile, you can predict ovulation and time sex for pregnancy.While ovulation can be tracked by taking your basal body temperature (BBT) each morning, a BBT chart will only confirm ovulation after it occurs. (BBT charting involves taking your temperature at the same time every morning, before you get up, and marking this baseline temperature on a chart or graph. When the temperature rises at least 0.4 F, and remains raised, this indicates ovulation.) After ovulation happens, it's too late for baby-making sex.
However, if you learn to track your cervical mucus, you may be able to predict ovulation before it happens, and time sex accordingly.
Some women may feel squeamish about checking their own cervical mucus, but it's really an empowering way to monitor your body's changes and help you get pregnant.
Sperm meets egg and baby is produced. Getting pregnant should be as easy as that. But it isn’t. The average ejaculation contains 200 million sperm, but within several hours, those vast numbers have dwindled to just 1/10th of that amount.
So, what reduces those numbers so drastically?
There are a lot of things within the woman’s body that may be unfriendly to male sperm including cervical mucus. While cervical mucus is intended by nature to work as a guide, helping push sperm along through the vagina and into the cervix and beyond, as well as offer important nutrients to give the sperm the energy it needs for the long journey ahead, in some cases it can actually work against the sperm it is intended to help.
In some cases, a woman’s cervical mucus can actually go on the attack, killing sperm before it ever has a chance to make it to the awaiting egg. This is called Cervical Hostility.
When this problem arises, a man’s sperm is unable to penetrate the cervix and therefore a pregnancy becomes impossible. So, what causes the female body to become so hostile to the one thing she needs to fulfill her dream of motherhood?
Here are a few common things that may induce cervical hostility:
An infection in the lower reproductive tract. This can cause the vaginal fluids to become tainted, killing or otherwise damaging sperm as they enter the vagina
Too many anti-sperm antibodies in the cervical mucus. When activated, these antibodies actually work to immobilize sperm, preventing any from entering the cervix.
A poor, acidic diet. Healthy cervical mucous is alkaline in nature. To have a more alkaline cervical mucous eat a diet high in vegetables and stay away from processed foods, soda, meat, dairy and sugar.
Cervical mucous that is too thick or scanty. If the cervical mucous is too thick it will be hard for the sperm to travel. If the cervical mucous is scanty or not present it will also be impossible for the sperm to make its way to the egg.
Test for cervical mucous hostility.
If you suspect cervical mucus hostility as a cause for your infertility, there are some ways to test for it. You can have your doctor remove a sample of cervical mucus 8-12 hours after intercourse for closer examination. This will help show the physicians the degree of penetration of the sperm.If more than 20 actively moving sperm are found per field, cervical hostility is not a concern. If there is less, than further testing is needed to determine if the woman’s body is indeed attacking her partner’s sperm. If so, there are several options available:
-An herbal blend such as Women’s Best Friend may help to clear up any lingering infections.
-FertileCM may be used to help thin the cervical mucus and make it more manageable and friendly as well as promote the production of cervical mucous if it is scanty.
-Systemic enzymes have been used successfully in cases where there is an immunological attack on the sperm.
-If your cervical mucous is thin or scant you can also use a sperm friendly lubricant such as Pre-Seed which has been specially and scientifically designed to mimic the cervical mucous while not harming sperm.
- Diet and proper supplementation can also make a difference. Cervical mucous should be more alkaline, so eating a diet high in fruits and vegetables helps to keep the body healthy and more alkaline. Foods such as meats, processed foods, dairy and sodas cause the body to become more acidic. In addition keeping hydrated and drinking 8 glasses of water a day will help to provide the body with enough water to produce cervical mucous in addition to its other millions of processes it uses water for every day.
-IUI and IVF: Intrauterine insemination and IVF can be used if the cervical hostility can not be sufficiently treated. The procedures allow pregnancy to occurs by bypassing the vagina but are very expensive with a low success rate (15-30%) and require a lot of hormone medications.
-Steroid treatments may help stop antisperm antibodies from developing in the first place. One warning here though: they can cause serious side effects in some women.
Cervical mucus hostility is often one of the last things tested for in infertile women, yet it can be quite common among infertile couples. Be sure to check for this common affliction if your doctor has been unable to find another cause for your inability to get pregnant.
Treament
There are a couple of ways that people have dealt with hostile cervical mucus. One is through the use of the cough medicine Robitussion. The active ingredient in the cough medicine is a chemical known as guaifenesin. Guaifenesin is believed to help with the production of egg white cervical mucus, which is the type of cervical mucus that helps you get pregnant. If you take Robitussin to help your cervical mucus, however, make sure to get the kind that only contains guaifenesin. There are many OTC products that contain only guaifenesin. Mucinex is a brand name of this ingredient but most drug stores also have private label versions of it.
The other way to combat hostile cervical mucus is with Evening Primrose Oil. This herb, used in a dosage between 1500 and 3000 milligrams a day, may also be able to help produce egg white cervical mucus. Herbalists recommend taking evening primrose oil from the time your period ends right up until after you try to conceive if you want to help increase the chances that you’ll get pregnant.
However, if you learn to track your cervical mucus, you may be able to predict ovulation before it happens, and time sex accordingly.
Some women may feel squeamish about checking their own cervical mucus, but it's really an empowering way to monitor your body's changes and help you get pregnant.
Sperm meets egg and baby is produced. Getting pregnant should be as easy as that. But it isn’t. The average ejaculation contains 200 million sperm, but within several hours, those vast numbers have dwindled to just 1/10th of that amount.
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| normal cervical mucos |
There are a lot of things within the woman’s body that may be unfriendly to male sperm including cervical mucus. While cervical mucus is intended by nature to work as a guide, helping push sperm along through the vagina and into the cervix and beyond, as well as offer important nutrients to give the sperm the energy it needs for the long journey ahead, in some cases it can actually work against the sperm it is intended to help.
In some cases, a woman’s cervical mucus can actually go on the attack, killing sperm before it ever has a chance to make it to the awaiting egg. This is called Cervical Hostility.
When this problem arises, a man’s sperm is unable to penetrate the cervix and therefore a pregnancy becomes impossible. So, what causes the female body to become so hostile to the one thing she needs to fulfill her dream of motherhood?
Here are a few common things that may induce cervical hostility:
An infection in the lower reproductive tract. This can cause the vaginal fluids to become tainted, killing or otherwise damaging sperm as they enter the vagina
Too many anti-sperm antibodies in the cervical mucus. When activated, these antibodies actually work to immobilize sperm, preventing any from entering the cervix.
A poor, acidic diet. Healthy cervical mucous is alkaline in nature. To have a more alkaline cervical mucous eat a diet high in vegetables and stay away from processed foods, soda, meat, dairy and sugar.
Cervical mucous that is too thick or scanty. If the cervical mucous is too thick it will be hard for the sperm to travel. If the cervical mucous is scanty or not present it will also be impossible for the sperm to make its way to the egg.
Test for cervical mucous hostility.
If you suspect cervical mucus hostility as a cause for your infertility, there are some ways to test for it. You can have your doctor remove a sample of cervical mucus 8-12 hours after intercourse for closer examination. This will help show the physicians the degree of penetration of the sperm.If more than 20 actively moving sperm are found per field, cervical hostility is not a concern. If there is less, than further testing is needed to determine if the woman’s body is indeed attacking her partner’s sperm. If so, there are several options available:
-An herbal blend such as Women’s Best Friend may help to clear up any lingering infections.
-FertileCM may be used to help thin the cervical mucus and make it more manageable and friendly as well as promote the production of cervical mucous if it is scanty.
-Systemic enzymes have been used successfully in cases where there is an immunological attack on the sperm.
-If your cervical mucous is thin or scant you can also use a sperm friendly lubricant such as Pre-Seed which has been specially and scientifically designed to mimic the cervical mucous while not harming sperm.
- Diet and proper supplementation can also make a difference. Cervical mucous should be more alkaline, so eating a diet high in fruits and vegetables helps to keep the body healthy and more alkaline. Foods such as meats, processed foods, dairy and sodas cause the body to become more acidic. In addition keeping hydrated and drinking 8 glasses of water a day will help to provide the body with enough water to produce cervical mucous in addition to its other millions of processes it uses water for every day.
-IUI and IVF: Intrauterine insemination and IVF can be used if the cervical hostility can not be sufficiently treated. The procedures allow pregnancy to occurs by bypassing the vagina but are very expensive with a low success rate (15-30%) and require a lot of hormone medications.
-Steroid treatments may help stop antisperm antibodies from developing in the first place. One warning here though: they can cause serious side effects in some women.
Cervical mucus hostility is often one of the last things tested for in infertile women, yet it can be quite common among infertile couples. Be sure to check for this common affliction if your doctor has been unable to find another cause for your inability to get pregnant.
Treament
There are a couple of ways that people have dealt with hostile cervical mucus. One is through the use of the cough medicine Robitussion. The active ingredient in the cough medicine is a chemical known as guaifenesin. Guaifenesin is believed to help with the production of egg white cervical mucus, which is the type of cervical mucus that helps you get pregnant. If you take Robitussin to help your cervical mucus, however, make sure to get the kind that only contains guaifenesin. There are many OTC products that contain only guaifenesin. Mucinex is a brand name of this ingredient but most drug stores also have private label versions of it.
The other way to combat hostile cervical mucus is with Evening Primrose Oil. This herb, used in a dosage between 1500 and 3000 milligrams a day, may also be able to help produce egg white cervical mucus. Herbalists recommend taking evening primrose oil from the time your period ends right up until after you try to conceive if you want to help increase the chances that you’ll get pregnant.
