Customer Reviews

Lady-Comp Fertility Monitor - Fahrenheit

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have used Lady Comp for about five years now and love it. It is, in my opinion, better than any other form of birth control because you are not adding anything unnatural to your body and you are not trying to trick your body into not getting pregnant. I love this product and highly recommend it. So get over the sticker-shock of the $500 and do your body the favor of a natural birth-control method that won't alter your body's natural rhythms.

In addition, it travels well and has a battery pack for that purpose. I usually put it in my carry-on and have only been asked about it by TSA once. I travel quite a bit and it has not been a problem.

LadyComp has enhanced my life, rather than controlled it like other forms of birth control. It is so easy and safe!

I have had my Lady Comp since 1998 and I love it. It's easy to use and it is reliable. I have had more than a few short-term and long-term relationships between then and now, and it has gotten me through all of them with flying colors. I even continue to use it when I know I am in no way going to be sexually active because I really like knowing where I am in my cycle. It helps me predict food cravings, mood swings, and when to buy my "girlie" products.

Different pills made me crazy (literally) so I finally stopped using hormonal birth control a long time ago. This left me with the dilemma of relying on barrier methods (and thus, relying on a partner to properly use said method) for the rest of my life. I started researching alternative methods of birth control and read about the "French" method (aka "rhythm" method). However, I found that having to take my temperature and charting my cycles on a piece of paper seemed too risky. Digital thermometers weren't available when people started documenting the rhythm method, so almost every book about it stressed that the temperature had to be taken vaginally, not orally (bleh!). Additionally, it is recommended to take a basal reading as close to waking up as possible, so I found charting while barely conscious (since I am NOT a morning person) difficult. I really had (have) no interest in getting pregnant, and I wanted something relatively fool proof.

In 1998, the interwebs started becoming more useful for end users like me, and I was able to find a product called the Lady Comp on a web site called birthcontrol.com (the domain name seems to have since been sold and is now being used by a Canadian drug store-type company). I liked that the manufacturer had real research to support their claims, and I liked that this device had close to the same Pearl index (effectiveness rate) as any hormonally-based pill -- with the same caveat as a daily pill that the method is only as effective as the person using it is consistent doing so. I also LOVED that all you have to do is take your temperature (orally!) at the same time every morning. That is it! No pee-ing on anything like you do for the devices that are marketed for fertility planning. It was pricey (over $500 plus customs charges) and it had to be shipped from Germany (same company as the one here on Amazon) via a Canadian distributor since no one in the U.S. was distributing them back then. I had just started making more than poverty level for the first time in my life, so the price was daunting. But the price seemed worth it to effectively prevent pregnancy while still being able to enjoy "spontaneous" sex with a partner. And considering I've now had mine for 12 years, it has come out to about $45 a year (not including additional cost of condoms). So, ultimately, it's quite economical. There is also the additional bonus of always knowing when you need to buy or carry pads/tampons.

To be clear, the "spontaneity" still has to be planned. If you decide to go bare-back on days that are not "green", you run the risk of getting pregnant. So, unlike the pill, you still either have to abstain from vaginal intercourse or use barrier methods on "red" days. And, of course, using a method like this doesn't protect you from any STDs (which seems like it should be a giant "ah duh" but I never cease to be surprised by the lack of general knowledge of sex education), so you may not want to rely solely on this kind of method if you are worried about those kinds of issues.

And, even being a non-morning person, I find myself usually waking up on the first beep. The alarm is gentle and in 12 years of daily use I have rarely slept through it without some other mitigating circumstance present (i.e., drinking and/or going to sleep two hours before the alarm is supposed to go off). When I have had a partner, they have claimed to not have noticed the alarm at all, so, unless your partner is a really light sleeper, it's not intrusive. The alarm beeps; I roll over, take my temperature, confirm/deny if I'm currently menstruating (only needed when prompted), and then roll right back over to sleep until my "real" alarm clock goes off an hour later. Easy as pie.

I recommend this product unwaveringly. In fact, the only reason I found out Amazon was selling them is because I was looking to buy one for a very dear friend as a wedding present. I wish I could afford to buy one for every ovulating BFF I have.

My husband and I have used this for four months now and have not gotten pregnant- and we are right at child-bearing age. It really does work and it's so nice not to have to use hormonal methods. I feel much healthier this way. You can buy it new for $500. I bought mine refurbished for $400. But it lasts I think for ten years. So it's really like paying a little more than $3 a month over that ten years. And it's so easy to use. Just set the alarm, take your temperature when the alarm goes off, and it tells you whether it is a red day or green day. You have about nine days each month of red days where you must use a barrier method because you are possibly ovulating.

Effectiveness: I've been using Lady Comp since September of 2009, and I'm very pleased that I made the leap from birth control pills to this device. It's amazing how much you learn about your body when you combine this machine with fertility education!

Pros: Body is returning to "normal" after hormone imbalance, I am much more aware of what's going on with my cycle (and discovered an imbalance in progesterone because of it), no more stressing if I miss a pill (as the LC keeps me aware of my fertility at all times), long-term savings over the pill if the unit lasts for more than 18 months, relatively easy to assimilate into my lifestyle.

Cons: Have to use condoms during the fertile days (7 for me), and having alcohol or lack of sleep affect the temps. It's also a bit of a leap of faith to trust something so important to a machine, so I would highly suggest utilizing the Companion Info below.

Design Flaw: My first thermometer (measurement needle with cord) started to short out and I got crazy readings during Month 4 of use. I wasn't sure if this was my cycle acting up, so I called Rax Medical for help. They said there is a slight design flaw with the cord and that if the cord gets stretched out too much or too far that it will short. I ordered a new one ($40-something), and everything returned back to normal with readings. They have very helpful customer service. My suggestion for a more convenient unit without this design flaw would be to have the thermometer be a plug-in - similar to a memory stick - that you can unplug to take measurements and then plug back into the device to upload the info. This would be really convenient because if the plug-in thermometer had its own memory, you could unplug it and throw it in your purse for a long weekend or vacation and then come home and plug it back into the unit to upload your temps and process the info. Of course, this would really only be convenient for those whose cycles were stable and predictable, but it would take care of the cord problem and make it easier for travel.

Companion info: The guide that comes with the Lady Comp is helpful for the machine, but you really, really need to get the book Taking Charge of Your Fertility by Toni Weschler as a companion to using this device. I'm not trying to get pregnant, and this book has soooo much information about cycles and the two other methods in addition to temperature (cervical position and fluid) to watch for when using a natural birth control method. I've consulted the book so many times when I had a question about an odd temperature or the reason my patterns in temps were changing. I also decided to "chart" my temperatures using an Excel spreadsheet so that I could monitor any changes or patterns, and that's how I discovered that I have a short luteal phase (and wouldn't have known it was short except for the book). I thought I was pretty learned about the human body, but it was an eye-opener to leaf through this book. I don't think I'd feel as comfortable using the Lady Comp without it. I would also highly suggest doing the charting as the book describes it. I don't check cervical position, but I do monitor fluid as I find it comforting to have a "back-up method" just in case. This is especially helpful if you can't take your temp one day because of a celebration the previous night or because you got up several times the night before (as this would create a higher than normal reading). You may also want to buy a $10-20 basal thermometer to use as a backup just in case something happens to your Lady Comp. That way you can continue charting and monitoring your fertility just in case. Although, the $10-20 thermometers are not as accurate with readings, they can still help you determine when your in the luteal phase and safe to enjoy a green day.

In conclusion, buy the book, get the Lady Comp, and take the leap into a hormone free life!

UPDATE 1/30/11: Still working out great, but I forgot to mention in my first review about how drinking can affect your temperatures and "mislead" the system. The manual that comes with the book is a bit misleading in that it says that it takes abnormal temperatures into consideration when you have a fever or drink in excess, etc.; however, later in the manual is says not to measure your temp if you know you have a fever or drank the night before. My advice: don't measure that day if you haven't ovulated yet. (It's less important during the luteal phase since your temps are higher anyway). If you aren't sure if your temp is going to be too high, use your backup basal thermometer ($10) to see where your temperature falls. My rule of thumb for temp changes due to drinking (they don't define what "drinking in excess" means in the manual) is that if you can feel the next morning that you drank the night before, your temperature is going to be affected. Two drinks probably won't affect it, but waking up with a slight headache, stomachache, etc. is the sign that your basal temperature is probably going to be higher than normal. I would especially avoid measuring (or drinking for that matter) if you are within 4-5 days of ovulation (estimated or known). I say this because I imbibed in my first month of LadyComp use right around the 12th day, and the system automatically assumed that I ovulated on day 13 because of this. Since then, it's taken about a year for the system to slowly adjust and realize that I actually ovulate on day 17. (Luckily the book was helpful in enlightening me, or I would have been confused by the LadyComp readouts.) This isn't a big deal, but it meant more red days for me in the beginning and necessitated the charting.

I am a guy, and I have been researching natural contraceptive methods for a while now, and was highly disapointed with what I found, until I found out about the lady comp.

The lady comp is 99.3% effective, that's about as good as any birth control. I have heard people say, "My parents used the temp. method and had 4 kids."

Let me tell you folks, this is not the temp. method your parents used, this is the natural temp. contraceptive of the 21st century that has gone through, EXTENSIVE testing.

I have been using this with my gf for about 2 years, and we have not had one pregnancy scare.

The only thing is that you have to use protection during the yellow and red days, or refrain from intercourse, but other than that, the green lights are all good.

On her green days, I don't use condoms, and she has not gotten pregnant, so I have put it to the test.

I do admit, that the up front 500 price tag is a bit steep, but you make payments on it. I know people who spend 500 on their i-phone, something that will be obsolete in a year. This is a lifetime purchase, AND you don't have to worry about your women increasing the risks of cysts and ovarian cancer, there are enough women with cancer out there already. If you don't have much money, get the pearly instead, it's about 200 dollars cheaper, and performs the same function. Also, if and when you decide to have a baby, you can use the device to know when your girl is ovulating and have sex then to increase chances of impregnation.

It's not nice to trick mother nature, and that's what birth control does. It's better to work with the natural cycles of your womans body with out putting her health at risk.

I love my lady comp!! I have had it for over 2 months now! Please dont think its just a "fertility moniter" as stated in the add. Lady comp is actually one of the best kept secrets out there for Natural Birth COntrol!!! It is proven 99.3% effective against pregnancy in clinical studies. Pass on the Word...More women need to know especially in the United States...so they can get off of that horrible hormonal birth control! I personally think it(the hormonal birth control) can cause cancer and lots of other health problems..!

I have a difficult time using hormonal birth control products so after trying other methods, I purchased my Lady Comp in August of 2001, even before they were available in the U.S. I have had to replace the thermometer once, but other than that, it's worked perfectly the entire time. It's always nice to know when we don't have to use the barrier method on "green days." We don't risk it on yellow days. I have found it to be 100% accurate, asking me if I've started my period yet even when I think it's asking too early. Sure enough, it starts that day. I trust the product 100% - I've had 9 years of using it with no problem and no "accidents."

You simply take your temperature at the same time every morning before you get out of bed. That can be hard if you have to use the bathroom first thing! It takes a little getting used to it, but once you get the hang of it, it becomes like second nature. When you first get the lady comp, you can go back through the dates and tell it your last few periods so it can start calculating, but it takes a couple cycles to be 100% accurate/trustworthy as it gets to know your temperature cycle. It has an alarm feature that ramps up. One beep. Then a few seconds later two beeps, etc.. I like the ramp-up feature because after awhile you will wake up on the first beep automatically, thus not waking your sleeping partner. You don't have to use the alarm, either, you can just use your own alarm clock if that's what you prefer.

I like that it gives you a little blinking M to ask you if you've started your period - For me, 99% of the time it predicts it right before it arrives, so no more being caught off guard without feminine supplies on hand.

My partner also likes knowing he can look and see where I am in my cycle too. Win-Win.

I just ordered a lady comp after quite a few emails discussing the different options with the RaX Medical customer service people. They have FANTASTIC customer service. They respond to emails almost immediately with excellent information. If the price here is too high for you i suggest buying directly from Rax- they also offer refurbished units if they are in stock for about half the price of a new one.

advantages of lady comp over the pearly: it has a 10 year battery instead of a 2-3 year (very helpful if you plan to use it for birth control like i do for at least 15+ years), it has an alarm with a lighted control panel to help you take your temperature at the same time each day (although about a 3 hour window is fine), and it provides a forecast of your fertility for about 5 days ahead (just a prediction but it becomes more accurate the longer you use it). from what i have read, you really need 3 months of readings to rely solely on the lady comp esp. if you are coming off the pill. it takes a while for your cycles to reset to normal. i suggest charting for a few months just to get an idea of what the lady comp is doing for you. i would also read toni weschler's "taking charge of your fertility"

My wife used the LadyComp to avoid pregnancy for three years. When we decided to have a baby, she conceived on the first "try".

Because she knew so accurately when her ovulation would occur, she was able to pick the sex of the child as well! (You don't need the BabyComp to pick the sex of your child, but if that's important to you, go with the BabyComp.)

No toxic birth control pills. No ongoing expenses. I highly recommend this device for any couples considering natural ways of avoiding pregnancy.

I use the babycomp version my sister in law gave to me. I never come on website like this and use reviews but I just to because I love this product so much. The babycomp is the same as this, but has added features to assist in conception. I used mine while nursing and it correctly predicted when my period was coming back before I even knew it by my temperature. I don't even set my alarm since I have a 9 month old and she wakes me up sometimes. You can take your temp when you wake up within a few hours of your alarm time. I would highly recommend this product. I am Catholic and am against birth control for myself. I tried the other charting methods but this just seems so much easier to me and it works great!