[jillylicious]

Hi ladies! I have hunted high & low for an answer and thought maybe someone here would know.

I have a copper IUD. I am fine with it for now but I am planning to chart for about 3 months near the end of this year/early 2010 to get myself all set to TTC #2.

My DH and I were talking about charting and BC and I said that I had a hormone-free form of BC with the copper IUD. My cycles are pretty regular, I might vary by a day or two but for the most part they're right (more so than they ever were with BCPs, that is.)

Would it stand to reason that I could "pretend chart" with the IUD in now to get a feel for the whole charting program? The removal of the IUD shouldn't cause a huge change hormone-wise, right? Since my body is already running on its own hormones without the addition of any more?

Just wondering! Thanks for any help or suggestions you have!

[ShawnaCAN]

Hormonally, the IUD isn't doing anything to alter your cycles - so you could chart your basal temperatures no problem. It *can* affect your cervical mucus though, so tracking that might be a little more confusing while it's still in. During the infertile parts of your cycle, there is a plug of mucus in the cervix. This is part of the immune system, it seals off the uterus to prevent infection. With the IUD, the strings hang through the cervix and disrupt the formation of the plug, causing constant discharge from pieces of the plug becoming dislodged. The IUD also works by irritating the lining the uterus to prevent implantation and this inflammation can extend to the cervix as well. Both of those things contribute to constant mucus/discharge from the cervix that may not really be related to fertility. If such discharge is present, sometimes this can mask the fertile mucus so it's hard to tell what's what. The only way of finding out just how much the IUD might be affecting your CM is to track and see if the patterns of fertility are recognizable or not.

Hope that answers your question!

[LJD3Tdance]

Good to know Shawna, I couldn't have answered this one at all!