If you can talk about this, you can talk about most anything!

Cervical mucus. It might a little uncomfortable for people to talk about or think about but as we like to say: if you can discuss cervical mucus, you can discuss anything. So consider this your opportunity!

Cervical mucus is a very important symptom that you can easily learn to observe and be aware of and in doing so get lots of valuable information about your health.

The more in tune you are with your body and it's normal functions, and the deviations thereof, the more you can learn about your health and how to care for your one precious body. Oftentimes, women will think of cervical mucus only within the context of achieving pregnancy. After all, besides the sperm and egg it is an essential ingredient for pregnancy. However, whether or not you're hoping for a baby, cervical mucus is a very important biomarker that can give you information about what's going on inside your body.

The first step to learning about your cervical mucus biomarker is to start charting. After a few cycles of charting, you, your FertilityCare Practitioner and/or your doctor will have a lot of valuable information.

In the normal course of a cycle (approximately 28 days from the start of one menses to the start of the next), you'll have a "mucus cycle". This is the time of mucus discharge observed by a woman in the vulvar area that indicates a rise in estrogen. It generally occurs mid-cycle, is a reliable indicator of health fertility and (with the assistance of your practitioner) can be objectively qualified and quantified.

Too much

Some women have an overabundance of cervical mucus. They may observe a mucus discharge on most or even all days of their cycle. From a charting standpoint, your practitioner can still assist you in discerning your fertility amidst all of the mucus discharge. We also have a vitamin protocol that can potentially decrease the amount of mucus you're seeing and assist with your charting. However, we always want to empower women to get to the root cause of issues so that their bodies can fully function the way they were designed.

This overabundance can be an indicator of hormone imbalance. One example of this would be an estrogen dominance (not enough progesterone) in the second half of your cycle (luteal phase defect). Another potential cause for this over abundance of cervical mucus could be cervical inflammation. The cervix could be inflamed for a variety of reasons including an infectious process (think STI/STD) or a physical issue (eversion) following childbirth. Your Napro doctor can assist you in diagnosis and treatment if this is an issue for you.

Not enough

How would you know if you weren't producing enough cervical mucus? You might intuitively notice that you have little to no mucus discharge throughout the course of your cycle. But like I mentioned earlier, your practitioner can assist you in this. We actually have a formula that we can use to objectively calculate the amount and quality of cervical mucus that you observe each cycle. This is one thing that makes Creighton Model unique and so diagnostically helpful.

One important and easy thing you can do to potentially increase your cervical mucus discharge is check your water intake. Are you drinking enough? Adequate hydration is essential for all of your bodily functions but if you're not consistently staying hydrated, your body will find ways to cut corners. This can impact the quality and quantity of cervical mucus you observe.

We also have a vitamin protocol for helping to increase cervical mucus discharge. Your practitioner can help you decide if this is something that would be helpful in your situation.

Like I mentioned earlier, however, getting to the root cause is really important. Hormone levels play a huge role in cervical mucus production. Estrogen is the hormone that tells the cervix when and what type of cervical mucus to produce. So inadequate cervical mucus production could mean that your hormone levels are not adequate to support health ovulation.

If you need help in evaluating the health of your cycles, we are here to help. Healthy cycles are an essential part of health and vitality for women in their reproductive years. Regardless of what your family planning or fertility goals are, every single woman deserves to experience a regular, healthy and balanced cycle.