I received an amazing email from one of my readers in the UK recently that reminded me yet again about the extraordinary benefits of charting menstrual cycles. Several years ago, she had had a couple of miscarriages, with the last one ending in a dilation and curettage (D&C), a procedure in which the woman’s cervix is dilated to allow an instrument called a curette to remove the uterine tissue (called the endometrium).

She immediately started charting again after the D&C. With each of the following two cycles, she experienced completely normal pre and post- ovulatory temperature patterns with a typical cervical fluid build-up to ovulation. However, when her temperature dropped at the end of each luteal phase following the release of her egg, she had typical menstrual cramps — but no period! Needless to say, it was very perplexing.

In situations such as hers, doctors will often encourage their patients to just be patient, stating that sometimes it takes months for cycles to resume following a miscarriage or D&C. But since most women aren’t educated about the benefits of charting their cycles, they wouldn’t have known that their cycles had indeed resumed, as did my attentive UK reader.

It was at this point in 2018 that she contacted me to inquire about what may be occurring. I urged her to be tested for a condition called Asherman’s Syndrome, in which scar tissue or adhesions form within the uterus or cervix following procedures such as a D&C. Such scaring can cause the uterine walls or cervix to stick together. Of course, if this were to happen, it could prevent the endometrium from forming properly, or obstruct the path for blood to be released during a period. Either way, as you can imagine, it can be devastating for women trying to conceive.

In her case, she was indeed diagnosed with the condition, so her surgeon immediately removed dense adhesions from her cervix and uterus which had been caused by the D&C following her second miscarriage. Afterward, he inserted a balloon stent which released estrogen in the uterus to allow her uterine lining to regenerate, and two months later she got the good news that her endometrium had developed a new thick lining. She was therefore given the all-clear to try to conceive again.

And conceive she did the following cycle! Nine months later, little Elliot was born. The value of charting can’t be overstated.