Basal Body Temperature And Fertility

When women come in looking for fertility or menstrual cycle help, we often have them chart their Basal Body Temperature (BBT). The information we can gather from your BBT is SO valuable and can help us:
- Identify potential issues in your cycle and figure out exactly what needs some fine-tuning
- Identify improvements between cycles, helping us both know that we are on the right track
- Help us guide you when to ask your doctor for further testing

While checking labs on certain days of your cycle can provide helpful snapshots, the BBT chart can show overall hormonal patterns that can be combined with your Chinese medicine patterns to come up with effective treatment plans, include Chinese herbal formulas designed to support different phases of the cycle.

And in case you’re thinking “but tracking my cycle seems stressful!” We would argue that it’s the analyzing the cycle that is stressful, so leave that part to us! All you need to do is take your temp at roughly the same time every morning before you get out of bed, pop it into your app, turn off any cycle notifications, and let us do the rest.

What’s a BBT?

Your Basal Body Temperature is your resting temperature, taken just after waking and before any physical activity, and it can provide a lot of information about what is happening in your menstrual cycle. We love to see our patient's BBT charts as it can provide a lot of information about your Chinese Medicine diagnosis and can help us see improvements over time.

What we look for:

• Your chart should have 2 distinct phases: Lower temperatures in the follicular phase (before ovulation) and higher temps in the luteal phase, after ovulatio.n

• Temperatures should remain relatively stable in both phases, and ideally near 97.20 in the first half and 98.20 in the second half, with ovulation occurring on or close to day 14.

Common Patterns:

Saw tooth temperatures often indicate Qi stagnation.

High temperatures in the fist half often indicate yin or blood deficiency (and often correllate with high FSH).

Low temperatures in the second half often indicate yang or qi deficiency (and often correlate with low progesterone and threatened miscarriage).

How to chart your BBT

You'll need a special BBT thermometer that has a second decimal point, so make sure to look for a basal body thermometer, not a regular one. We sell them in our shop.

Use an app like Fertility Friend to add your data in every day.

Take your temperature as soon as you wake up, before getting out of bed. If you wake an hour early to pee, take it then!

Don't stress about analyzing your temperatures, instead work with a fertility acupuncturist to understand your cycle.

The Indigo Fertility Method

We're excited to start working with a new line of herbal tinctures designed to target specific phases of the menstrual cycle to help you regulate hormonal issues and/or achieve your fertility goals. Reach out to learn more!