Your cervical mucus is very important to your fertility.
But sometimes you don't know how to figure it out.
When is it fertile or when is it infertile? Hopefully these tips on how to figure out your cervical mucus can help.
What is the cervical mucus and why is it important? The cervical mucus is an essential part of the reproductive process.
We know that sperm travels from the man's penis into the woman's vagina to meet the egg from the woman's ovaries.
What you may not know is that sperm can't survive in the vagina.
In order for the sperm to reach the uterus, where the egg is waiting for them, they need a survivable fluid they can swim through.
This is where the mucus comes in.
The penis deposits the sperm in the cervical mucus where they can survive long enough to swim through the cervix into the uterus.
The mucus is also responsible for protecting your uterus.
It has anti bacterial properties that prevents infection and filters out unhealthy sperm that may sometimes cause infections.
So how do you know if your mucus is fertile? Normally your mucus will go through regular periods of infertility.
It regularly transforms its properties from a moister and more fertile state to a thicker and infertile state.
Under normal circumstances, the mucus will cycle from these states predictably in a month.
The cycles are different for everyone but here are some general rules that may help you.
In a 30 day month, let's say the first day is the day your menstrual bleeding starts.
After about 5 days, this bleeding will usually stop.
During this time, the mucus will be infertile and you may feel some dryness.
This doesn't mean that there is no mucus; it just transformed itself to a thicker form.
After another 5 days, you will begin to feel some wetness.
This is the mucus transforming itself again, this time to a more fertile form.
It will continue transforming until about a week, where it will hit its peak of wetness.
If you can get a sample of the mucus during this time, it should appear clear and almost watery.
This is the most fertile state of the mucus and ovulation will occur 2 days before or after the peak.
Another 2 or 3 days after the peak, the mucus will start becoming infertile again for the rest of the month until the cycle repeats.
What are the problems that you can encounter? Sometimes women have an inability to produce the mucus.
This may be due to problems with hormones or the glands that produce the mucus due to injury or damage.
Other times, the mucus does not transform into a fertile state.
It remains too thick and the sperm can't get through to the uterus.
In some cases, the mucus becomes hostile to the sperm and starts to treat sperm as bacteria and destroys it on contact.
Any of these problems can lead to infertility in women.
What are the possible treatments for cervical mucus problems? For women who have a shortage of mucus, drugs can be used to stimulate the body to start producing more.
If the glands are damaged then surgery may be performed.
Sometimes, the body just needs the damaged gland to be removed and it will replace it.
If the mucus is too thick, medications that will loosen the mucus will be given.
Cough medicine can actually be used as the chemical that loosens phlegm also works on cervical mucus.
If the mucus produces anti-sperm anti bodies, a doctor may suggest that a couple stop intercourse for a while.
This prevents the mucus from coming into contact with the sperm and may stop producing the anti bodies.
However, if the problems persist, an intrauterine insemination may be needed.
This procedure uses a catheter, a tube like device, to transport the sperm directly to the uterus, bypassing the mucus.
If you're mucus starts presenting any problems, contact your gynecologist or reproductive specialist.
Regular checkups are important to check the quality of your mucus to ensure that you are in a healthy state for reproduction.
The earlier you pick up any problems, the better.