Doctor's Advice: Finding the right rhythm

Q. Doc, I have heard that there is some kind of rhythm method of avoiding pregnancies. My boyfriend and I would like to use this.

But how does it work? Do you have to make sure you do not have sex on certain days of the month?

A. Yes, that is right. The idea of the rhythm method is that you avoid sex during the few days immediately before and after your ovulation day. The difficulty is to decide the exact ovulation day. Generally, in a young woman with regular menses, the ovulation day will be around day 14 of her cycle. Very importantly, you must appreciate that day one means the first day of the period. Many couples go badly wrong through counting from the end of the period, instead of from the start.

In a case such as I have described, where the girl is having regular 28-day cycles and is probably ovulating about day 14, her most fertile time would be from day eight to day 17. To have sex between those two dates would be unwise since there would be a high chance of pregnancy occurring.

On the other hand, having sex before the eighth day of the cycle, or after the 17th, would carry a decidedly lower risk of pregnancy.

Big problem

But a big problem is the fact that many young women do not ovulate on day 14. If you happen to ovulate on day 18, then obviously, avoiding sex from the eighth to the 17th day is not going to be of any use to you!

It is possible to pinpoint your ovulation day by using special techniques. These include:

Taking your temperature every day and plotting the results on a graph;

Making a chart of the changes in your vaginal secretions;

Testing your urine regularly with an ovulation kit.

But all this is pretty complicated, and my experience has been that most young couples get it wrong - and wind up conceiving a baby. However, I have known of instances where well-motivated couples manage the process quite well after being taught very carefully by a health professional who specialises in the rhythm method. Often, these teachers have been Catholic counsellors, since, of course, the Roman Catholic Church still believes that only rhythm and other natural methods of contraception are acceptable.

Summing up, I would say to you that I do not advise the rhythm method unless you can find a dedicated counsellor to teach it to you. However, it is undeniable that you can reduce the chances of pregnancy if you totally avoid having sex during the time which is roughly half-way between your menses.

Nevertheless, I feel you would be better off using condoms!

Oral sex and pregnancy

Q. Doc, I am going to get married to a beautiful girl later this year. But because of her moral convictions, she is not willing to give me full sex until we are married. Fortunately, she is happy to give me oral sex, so I am not too frustrated.

However, she is fretting about one thing. Somewhere she has read that it is possible for a girl to get pregnant through oral sex. Is this really so?

A. In the written history of medicine, there has only been one single case of a woman becoming pregnant as a result of giving a man oral sex. The circumstances were truly bizarre, involving a deep knife wound to the belly, which allowed sperm to get from her stomach to her ovaries.

So I think you can see that there is really no chance that your fiancée could possibly become pregnant through giving you oral love play.

Who is the child's father?

Q Doctor, I am a 22-year-old guy from Falmouth, and I was told that my girlfriend in Montego Bay was pregnant for me. She had the baby last week. But when I turned up at the hospital with a bunch of flowers, I found another guy sitting by the bed, saying that he was the father. This is very confusing. Could we ask the hospital to do a blood test to find out who really fathered this child?

A Your story is rather reminiscent of one that happened at the Victoria Jubilee Hospital recently when three men - all claiming to be the baby's father - arrived at a new mother's bedside.

In such cases, the only sure way to determine the true father is to do DNA tests on everybody concerned, including the baby. But alas! The tests are pretty expensive! You cannot expect the Cornwall Regional Hospital to carry them out for you. But if you ask them, they can tell you how to get the testing done.

The only other faint hope is this. The hospital can tell the mother the approximate date on which she conceived, which was probably around two weeks after the start of her last menses. If the young lady has a diary, or something similar, she may possibly be able to work out which of you she was seeing at that time.

Should I cough after sex?

Q. I am a girl of 16, and I have met an older guy who says he loves me and claims that I will not get pregnant if I cough just after he discharges inside me.

Is this true, Doc?

A . No, it is just foolishness. I urge you not to give in to this man.

Is she cheating?

Q. Hi, Doc. I just want to know if this is a myth or truth. I had sex with my girlfriend and then her period was four days late. Does that mean that she has been having sex with another person?

A. No, that is just a myth. So pay it no mind.

Email questions to Doc at saturdaylife@gleanerjm.com and read more in the Outlook Magazine tomorrow.