Sorry to take so long to update again. As it turns out, my new job is very demanding and very time-consuming, and I haven't had a chance to blog in over a month. From this point on, my updates will probably be fewer and further between, but I hope to keep posting about how Lunaception is changing my cycles.
RECAP -
Lunaception is the theory that light (and the absence of light) affects the menstrual cycle by altering the chemical melatonin -- too much of which has been shown to delay or prevent ovulation.
In order to "use" Lunaception, I've bought an eye mask which I use in my infertile phases both before and after ovulation, as well as a night light which I start using as soon as I want to try to trigger ovulation. So for the first two and a half or three weeks of my cycle, I sleep with my eye mask on to block out all light. Then for 3-5 days I sleep with the eye mask off and the night light on to try to decrease my melatonin levels and trigger ovulation. I've also found that getting enough sunlight, water, and calories during this time is important. Then, after ovulation has occurred, I wear my eye mask again in order to encourage a long, healthy luteal phase. About two weeks after ovulation, my period arrives and we begin again.
I have been using Lunaception for one luteal phase, three full cycles, and another half of a cycle, since May 8, 2008 (five months now). Here are a few things that I have noticed throughout these cycles:
- Early on, I noticed very vivid dreams, which have tapered off over time.
- I have been able to sleep very well with my eye mask on and feel more rested when I wake up.
- My basal body temperatures are much more consistent, with more definite temperature shifts at ovulation (less step or fall-back rises).
- My basal body temperatures were also much lower, with a pre-Lunaception average coverline of 97.7 degrees F lowered to a Lunaception average coverline of 97.3 degrees F.
- I have had a longer luteal phase with the two cycles which I was consistent with blocking out all light after ovulation. My pre-Lunaception average was 12.2 days; my Lunaception luteal phases were 14, 12, and 15 days.
- During my first full cycle of Lunaception, ovulation was delayed until CD32 (compared with an average pre-Lunaception ovulation day of CD21.4), when it was finally triggered after my second night of night lighting.
- During my second full cycle, ovulation was triggered on CD20, after three days of night lighting.
- During my third full cycle, ovulation was NOT triggered on the first try with no eye mask but no night lighting, but WAS triggered later on with night lighting on CD27, after the second night of night lighting.
