Show HN: Birth Control As A Service • Hacker News Board

Re: Show HN: Birth Control As A Service

#71

Post by ChuckMcM » Tue, Mar 18, 2014, 11:08 PM UTC

ntaso wrote: post #68

ChuckMcM wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed on the title, there is an old joke, "Question: What do you call people who are using the rhythm method for birth control? Answer: Parents." As a fertility timer to help people maximize their chance of conception though I think it is probably a useful tool.

Scroll all the way down in the comments here, that joke has been told before and downvoted for its unrelatedness. This app is based on the symptothermal method, not the rhythm method.

Fair enough. Various folks seem to put it slightly above the rhythm method in practice [an example [1]] and pretty much less effective than any mechanical system [2]. The original joke was a statement on the variability of trying to gauge the internal state of the system versus mechanically disarming the system. And in that analysis it still holds.

Nothing is quite so impresses as a natural system that has evolved through selective pressure to be effective in so many adverse situations.

[1] http://www.fertility.com.au/Docs/Contraception/Contraception...

[2] http://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/UnintendedPregnancy/PD...

Re: Show HN: Birth Control As A Service

#72

Post by Kluny » Wed, Mar 19, 2014, 1:08 AM UTC

herbig wrote: post #5

tvirelli wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah! Would be great if it synced so that I could get a "Go" or "No Go" signal!

Go or no go where? Am I missing something?

He's talking about sex!

Re: Show HN: Birth Control As A Service

#73

Post by ntaso » Wed, Mar 19, 2014, 8:48 AM UTC

ChuckMcM wrote: post #71

ntaso wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Scroll all the way down in the comments here, that joke has been told before and downvoted for its unrelatedness. This app is based on the symptothermal method, not the rhythm method.

Fair enough. Various folks seem to put it slightly above the rhythm method in practice [an example [1]] and pretty much less effective than any mechanical system [2]. The original joke was a statement on the variability of trying to gauge the internal state of the system versus mechanically disarming the system. And in that analysis it still holds. Nothing is quite so impresses as a natural system that has evolved th…

Please check this long-term study: http://humrep.oxfordjournals.org/content/22/5/1310.short

It's as effective as the pill. But you're right that it doesn't provide birth control during the fertile days.

It depends on how you define birth control. Is it something that enables you to have sex during fertile days or is it something that enables you to know more about your fertility?

So, seen in the first way, the sympto-thermal method is just a method for observing natural processes. Nothing that prevents pregnancy during the fertile window.

If you want mechanical birth control, there are really only three reversible options: condoms, IUD, diaphragm. Everything else that's reliable is based on hormones. In that light, I think it's a good idea to use the sympto-thermal method to be at least 50% less dependant on other mechanical tools.