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Why Creighton over other natural methods? In Part I, I discussed the extensive training a Creighton practitioner has to go through in order to teach Creighton. Today, I want to focus on two words: Cervical Mucus. “Hold up, Jenny,” you may be thinking, “other methods track cervical mucus too.” You would be correct in this. Other methods do track cervical mucus; however, other methods do not standardize their classification of cervical mucus. You may again be questioning me and state, “Well my method standardizes it. It’s called ‘wet’, ‘egg-white’, etc...” While these terms can be helpful in knowing what to call cervical mucus for other methods, they are not standardizing the terminology in the scientific manner in which Creighton does.
When Creighton refers to standardizing mucus classifications, it means that mucus observations are assigned an alpha-numeric code that corresponds with a very specific color, viscosity, sensational feeling and stretch that permits the user to quantify and qualify what they are seeing. This, in turn, gives the user (and their doctor) a great deal of information that can be used in family planning, diagnostic procedures and medical treatments. “That’s great, Jen, but what does it mean?” you may ask. This can be challenging to explain so I’ll use an example. A woman who notices that she has “egg white” mucus in one method would be able to quantify that “egg white” into a standardized terminology in Creighton. For our hypothetical woman, let’s pretend that the “egg white” she saw on this day stretched 3 inches, was crystal clear in color and was very lubricative. In Creighton, this woman would translate this to the alpha-numeric code of 10KL. This, in and of itself isn’t that important, but when you apply this code over the course of the 5 days leading up to her Peak day, you can actually quantify her mucus in order to do some pretty amazing stuff. Let’s further pretend for our hypothetical woman that she’s trying to get pregnant. This “10KL” observation is the only day she had mucus and the 5 days leading up to it were dry. That 6-day timeframe can be quantified into a Mucus Cycle Score (MCS) of 2.7. Because of the research done for Creighton and NaPRO, we know that this woman has a very low MCS which directly correlates to an increased risk of miscarriage or ectopic pregnancy. These are scientifically quantifiable measures that no other method has or can use. It’s exclusive to Creighton. It’s easy to see where a couple who is desiring to get pregnant can chart using Creighton for a few cycles before trying to conceive to assess if they are at risk for miscarriage or ectopic pregnancy and then receive treatment for it if they are.
This standardization also has benefits in that it allows a woman with continuous mucus to apply objective and subjective criteria to her observations to determine when she is actually fertile. For couples who show “continuous fertility” (more on that another day) in other methods, this continuous mucus can be classified as fertile or infertile in Creighton.
In addition to standardizing Cervical Mucus, Creighton also standardizes menstrual flow, spotting and other discharges that can give a Creighton Practioner clues as to underlying medical conditions that may be present. These conditions include, but are not limited to, PCOS, endometriosis, low progesterone, miscarriage risk, infertility, thyroid dysfunction and certain types of cancer. A woman charting with Creighton is practicing true Fertility Care. She isn’t just planning a family size, she’s proactively taking care of her health.
While other methods may insist that they can help with this too, the reality is that when there are charting abnormalities in other methods, it only shows that something is wrong. There may be some clues as to what those things are (i.e. no LH surge could indicate no ovulation – but not always), but they can’t actually assist in predicting the underlying disease. Creighton, on the other hand, can utilize the standardized observations which are strongly suggestive of certain pathologies to employ diagnostic testing for confirmation.
“But I have no medical conditions so this doesn’t apply to me,” you may say. Well, that may be true now, but many women find that as they age, their cycle changes. And so does their health. One of the greatest benefits I see is that Creighton can be used as one tool to catch uterine (endometrial) cancer early. There are also studies currently underway using Creighton to detect breast and ovarian cancer early – and these look very promising.
And if all of that isn’t enough to convince you, women who chart their mucus observations throughout pregnancy are able to track observations that are associated with conditions that can lead to preterm birth and birth complications and then have those conditions treated. There is no other method that even attempts to assess complications in pregnancy let alone do it successfully.
Creighton goes beyond just family planning. There is no other method that is as comprehensive when it comes to women’s health. It is for this reason (and others) that you should choose Creighton over other natural methods.