Day 31 (CD 79)

So the full moon came and went and I am still waiting for ovulation. I was really keeping my fingers crossed that I'd ovulate this full moon. It would have given me a bit more hope and lifted my spirits...but no...didn't happen. Maybe the next full moon?

Also on Saturday (CD 77) my spotting actually turned into a light period, so now I'm having more like anovulatory bleeding. Here's a "which came first, the chicken or the egg?" kind of question for you...Which comes first, your period or ovulation?......
You actually first ovulate and then get your period. You get your period because you ovulate, not the other way around. Thus if you start bleeding, but you didn't ovulate that cycle, it's called anovulatory bleeding and ovulation can still happen anytime. Technically, even though you may have a period like flow, it's still part of the same cycle. On my chart however, you may notice that I only put spotting down. That's because if I put that it's any heavier, the software starts a new cycle for me...which I don't want.

I hope this flow stops sometime soon!!! It seems like it's been forever. Thank God for the divacup though! It does make life soooo much better. (I'm definitely going to have to write a post singing my praises on the divacup! But for now, check out this great article on the divacup: http://blog.earthlingshandbook.org)

Another observation: My temps seem to be leveling out again. For a while my chart looked like a roller coaster ride, and that's why I was actually anticipating anovulatory bleeding...which I was right about. Now it seems like it's getting back to normal. Maybe I'll ovulate sometime in the near future. At this point I don't care as much if it happens on the full moon. I just want this cycle to be over!

Today also makes 1 full month that I've been sleeping in total darkness. 2 more months to go!

As a side note, I posted some resources to the right like helpful books and links Lunaception. I'll post more when I can and as I find them.

Where I am now

To give you some background on my cycles, here is how many days my last 10 cycles lasted, counting day 1 as the first day of my period:

46
34
36
47
75
34
52
30
60
50

So in the last 1 1/2 yrs, I've only had 10 cycles. This also means that my pre-lunaception average cycle lasts 46.4 days. Remember, I'm trying to move this average to 29 days, the same length as the moon's cycle.

As you can see by the chart, today isn't my first day of doing Lunaception. I've summarized where I am in my journey below....

• Started Lunaception: Cycle Day 28 (9/4) Sleeping in total Darkness

• Turned on the night Light: CD 46,47,48 (9/22-24)

• CD 49 (9/25) Back to sleeping in total darkness. I also decided to sleep 3 months straight, beginning now, in total darkness before turning on the light again.

• So, my first day to turn on the light again is 12/20/10, the day right before the full moon.

*Louis Lacey states that your cycles should align naturally to the moon, but if you want to speed up that cycle, turn on the lights only during the full moon, which is what I was doing.

**Like I said before, Joy deFelice states to sleep in darkness for 3 months solid before turning on the lights. In an email that another person sent to Louis Lacey, Lacey also said for her to sleep in total darkness for 3 months before using the lights. So I decided to do the same and began my 3 month count the day after I last used a night-light. That's why I'm only on Day 27.

My Expectations upon starting lunaception:

• Have regular 29 day cycles
• Ovulate with the full moon and get my period with the new moon
• Sleep better
• More stable temps
• More egg-white cervical fluid
• A shorter period
• More defined temp spike after ovulation
  

I think these are reasonable expectations because Louise Lacey claims that all these things can happen...except maybe for the stable temps. But I saw a lot of people claim that lunaception did that to them.

My setup:

• To block all light from coming into the window, I've been using cut cardboard. I made it just a tiny bit bigger than the inside of the window so that way it could stay up all by itself. I put up the cardboard at night and take it down in the morning. You can get them for free at furniture stores and chain stores like walmart.
• I tried to find a light bulb that has super white light like the moon does. But finding one that was only 15 watts definitely took me a while. And the lampshade that I have requires a lamp with the smaller base. I found the perfect one with a light just like the moon's --a little expensive--but remember it'll last forever!-- at http://www.greenelectricalsupply.com
  If you decide to buy one, make sure the base of the bulb is appropriate for your lampshade. They have both sizes on the website.
• On the days that I'm supposed to sleep with the light on, I put the lampshade as far away from me as possible...which in a small room isn't all that far. The lampshade ends up being about 3 feet away from the foot of my bed on the floor.

My observations thus far:
I must say....I've been very discouraged with Lunaception. Maybe my body is still adjusting, and in all fairness, Lacey states that it can take 3-4 months for you to really see a difference, but a lot of people report some change within the first days or first month of doing the method. I however, am of the lucky few who hasn't noticed any change! This first cycle of mine using lunaception has actually been my longest cycle in over a year!! Even after I first used the light I still didn't ovulate. I feel like sleeping in darkness has actually served to delay my ovulation.

As you can see from my chart, my temps aren't any more stable. I also don't feel like I've been getting a more restful sleep sleeping in the darkness. I do know however that sleeping with the lights on is HORRIBLE and I didn't sleep well the nights that I used the light. On one night my husband actually slept on the couch because he couldn't take it anymore lol. Next time I turn my lampshade on, I'm going to put something over it to make the light dimmer. I don't think it needs to be as bright as it was. I also haven't seen a change in my CF pattern. *Sigh*

I started spotting a week ago. A week before that I thought I was going to have breakthrough bleeding because my temperature was fluctuating so much, but what I got instead apparently was spotting. Hopefully it won't last much longer.

Ovulation still doesn't seem to be very near. I've been checking my cervix and it still feels low and firm. When will this cycle end?!?!

The introduction

After many years of irregular cycles lasting anywhere from 1 month to 4, I started looking up natural ways to regulate my cycle. When clicking on one hyperlink led to the next, and the next to the next, I stumbled upon Lunaception and decided that I had to give it a try.

What is Lunaception you may ask? Well it's the belief that women used to menstruate with the new moon and ovulate with the full moon. But then enter the light bulb, and our cycle became unsynchronized with all the use of artificial lighting. Often times, even when we turn out our lights for bed, we still have light pollution from alarm clocks, cable boxes, cell phones, street lights, and many other places that affect the amount of light in our rooms. The problem with this is that melatonin production is affected by even the smallest amount of light and our body picks up light even through our closed eyelids and skin. This imbalance affects our menstrual cycles. Lunaception is therefore the practice of getting our cycle back to the way nature intended it: in tune with the moon. This is done by manipulating our sleeping environment with a variation of complete darkness on most nights, and a soft white light on a few nights.

Although there were some resources and how-to's on the internet, I decided that I wanted to learn the method from the source; Louis Lacey's Lunaception - A Feminine Oddyssey into Fertility and Contraception. The book had long been out of print, but the author was offering photocopies of her book for $11 (now available as an e-book on her site), including postage. So I quickly ordered one up for me. Although the book was long, the method can really be summed up into just a couple of steps. Basically, here they are:

LUNACEPTION HOW-TO'S

1. Sleep in total, pitch black darkness Days 1-13 of your cycle. Day one is the first day of your period. By pitch black I mean 15 min. after turning out the lights you can't see your hand in front of your face, let alone the furniture in your room. Just an eye-mask might not do it because studies have shown the our bodies respond to light "unseen".

2. Days 14, 15, and 16 - Put a small white nightlight, 15 to 25 watts, on the other side of the room and sleep with it on. Try to get the whitest light you can find to mimic moon light. Lampshades work fine too.

3. The rest of your cycle, go back to sleeping in pitch black darkness. If you still haven't ovulated in 2 weeks, you can try the lights again. Caution: Using the lights in less than 2 week intervals might actually delay ovulation.

*Louis Lacey states that your cycles should naturally align to that of the moon's. However, if you want to speed up that process, sleep in darkness until your cycle matches that of the moon's. It'll align much more quickly. Then use the night light as above. So basically, wait until the full moon to turn on the light...although I imagine you should wait at least a couple of days after your period begins.

**Another person named Joy deFelice also studied the effects of light on our cycles. Although I haven't read her booklet, which is available for only $5. She says much of the same things except that the first 3 months solid you should sleep in total darkness.

After almost 2 years I decided to get serious about lunaception and judge for myself once and for all if it worked or not.

So why the blog?

When I first began doing lunaception I researched and researched to find people's stories and experiences but found very few complete pictures. I did find a few random testimonials, but they were short and felt like there wasn't really anything that was documented. A lot of people also either began lunaception and soon after stopped or got pregnant shortly after (congrats!) or did the method but weren't strict about sleeping in total darkness and turning on the light. Others introduced a lot of different vitamins and supplements into their cycle so you weren't really sure which one worked. Also, many had fairly regular cycles to begin with.With all that, I feel like I wasn't able to really evaluate if Lunaception works or not. I'm determined however to follow lunaception to the T, without introducing anything new into my very irregular and long cycle. And I don't plan on getting pregnant so you'll be able to see over a greater span of time what lunaception did for me, and will possibly do for you.

In another blog I'll update where I currently am right now with lunception and how I feel things have changed. I'll also put up some super useful links to the right for anyone who wants to pursue lunaception.