CONTRACEPTIVE METHODS: MUCUS METHOD AND PHYSICAL OBSTRUCTION OF THE UNION OF SPERM AND EGG
Posted: May 14th, 2011 | Author: admin | Filed under: Women's Health | Comments OffMucus MethodA woman who uses the mucus method examines her cervical mucus throughout her menstrual cycle and records changes in it. Before and after ovulation, cervical mucus is viscous and yellow. Because of a drop in saline content and a rise in estrogen during ovulation, however, the cervical mucus becomes thinner, clearer, and more elastic with a consistency similar to that of an egg white. By charting the changes in her cervical mucus over several months, the woman will be able to estimate her time of ovulation. She and her partner should avoid sexual intercourse during and around this unsafe period.Even when a couple practices one or more of these fertility-awareness methods conscientiously, the rhythm method remains relatively unreliable since the precise time of ovulation is often very difficult to pinpoint. A couple may think that they have entered the safe, postovulatory period when they have not; and even if the partners have correctly identified the time of ovulation and avoid sexual intercourse during it, a woman may still become pregnant if one of her eggs joins with a sperm that has survived in her reproductive tract from a prior act of sexual intercourse. A failure rate of approximately 20 percent confirms just how difficult it is not only to predict ovulation accurately but also to control human sexual desire.Physical Obstruction of the Union of Sperm and EggMore reliable than coitus interruptus and the rhythm method are contraceptive methods such as the condom, the diaphragm, the cervical cap, and the sponge, which provide physical or chemical barriers to prevent the sperm from reaching the egg. In general, these methods work well with virtually no dangerous side effects, but they are not very convenient.*44\205\8*
