BBT Charting
Basal Body Temperature (BBT) charting can be used as a way of tracking your cycle. In Chinese medicine in tracks the ebb and flow of qi & blood and yin & yang and biomedically your fluctuating hormones.
It is a useful tool natural fertility health professionals use in clinic for menstruating women are trying to conceive and/ are suffering from hormonal or gynaecological problems. A chart can help us identify issues with thyroid and adrenal function. As well as potential issues such as endometriosis, irregular ovulation and hormonal imbalances. A chart can help us to identify where in the cycle things might be out of balance and need more support, lifestyle factors that might be influencing your cycle, where your most fertile window is and to pinpoint the day of ovulation.
An ideal chart will have lower temperatures during the first half of the cycle from the onset of the period to ovulation (follicular phase) and higher temperatures in second half of the cycle (luteal phase). Ideally there would be a quick rise in temperature which correlates with ovulation. Ovulation occurs before we see the temperature rise the next day. So we can only confirm ovulation in hindsight. For women timing intercourse for conception, it is best to start trying a few days before the anticipated window of ovulation so as not to miss it. The ideal temperature range is between 36.1-37 oC.
Common things we see in clinic is not enough differentiation between the first half and second half of the cycle which can make it hard to pinpoint ovulation, delayed ovulation, early ovulation, slow to rise in temperature ovulation, a shortened luteal phase and a see saw jagged pattern to the chart. The variations are not limited to those examples, so you can see there is a lot we can interpret from a BBT chart.
When the BBT is difficult to interpret, it’s best to consult with a natural fertility specialist who can help guide you through a treatment plan to restore hormonal balance and optimal reproductive health. It is also important that you are taking your BBT correctly and consistently so as not to get false information.
Your BBT is done by simply taking your body temperature under the tongue (same side each time) first thing, while still in bed, before you get up in the morning (before you pee, drink any water etc) and mark it on a BBT chart or in an app. I suggest using a digital thermometer that goes to 2 decimal places for more accuracy.
You need to take your temperature at roughly the same time every day (within a couple of hrs) and after at least 3 hours of sleep. If you wake early and plan to snooze for a while take your temperature and record it before you go back to sleep. Taking your temperature after lying in bed for a while or after getting up will usually give an inaccurate reading. You can start at any time in the cycle, just record which day of the cycle you are starting on. Day 1 is the first day of bleeding (not spotting).
It’s best to get a full cycle of tracking done before an expert can interpret it accurately for you. If your cycles are really irregular often several months of tracking are required to interpret the pattern of imbalance. However this can be done during the course of your treatment.
