How to Use Your Valley Electronics Lady-Comp® Correctly

Using your Lady-Comp® properly is essential in order to achieve accurate fertility results. For your convenience, we’ve explained some of the more confusing aspects of using Lady-Comp® that our customers often ask us about.

Recording menstruation

Lady-Comp® will ask you automatically for 'M' data, two days before it anticipates the start of your period. If you don't have your period yet, simply push the minus button when you see the 'M' flashing. Push the plus button if you do.

When you activate the 'M' on the first day of your menstruation, the Lady-Comp® will automatically request 'M' information for the following two days. Most people spot or bleed after that point, however the length of menstruation does not affect the calculations of your fertility, by the Lady-Comp®. You can simply enter 'M' data for the days in which you have significant bleeding, for most women a minimum of three days.

You can continue to activate 'M' if your period is longer than three days, it won't really assist the monitor with its calculations, since the duration of bleeding isnt relative to the date of ovulation, but it will give you a documented history, if you want to look back and see how long your period lasted over the past months.

Colds, Fevers and Alcohol

Many first-time Lady-Comp® users worry that they will get inaccurate readings if they are sick or suffering from a hangover when they take their temperature. Fortunately, false readings are not possible due to temperature fluctuations.

Lady-Comp® calculates the future course of the cycle (and the corresponding fertility level) from the temperature readings that have already been entered. These calculations are made for each individual woman and comprise the typical highs and lows of the temperature curve before and after ovulation, as well as the typical normal fluctuations in body temperature.

"Abnormal fluctuations" in body temperature, such as those caused by sickness, alcohol consumption, or lack of sleep, are different from "normal fluctuations". Lady-Comp® examines every temperature reading, checking to see if it is accurate or if, for example, one of the above mentioned influences has affected the reading. Upon evaluation, this temperature reading will either be taken into account for future evaluations or ignored.

A display "F" on the screen visually indicates a high temperature from fever or a faulty sensor.

Correct Thermometer Use

The thermometer should be placed underneath the tongue. The temperature on the screen will fluctuate as subtle changes of temperature are detected according to movement and flow of saliva. After 20-30 seconds, an average temperature will be calculated and recorded.

Alarm and Naturally Waking Up

Some women prefer to wake up naturally at different times throughout the week instead of using the Lady-Comp®’s alarm clock. Waking up using the alarm is only compulsory on the first day of using Lady-Comp®, but you are not required to use it afterwards.

Lady-Comp® will anticipate a temperature reading 3 hours before or 3 hours after the time (albeit 24 hours later) the last reading was taken. This way no more that 27 hours and no less than 21 hours can pass between readings. If it wasn’t programmed this way, you could end up with 330 days worth of data a year or even 390 days worth. The graph below shows how the time can move forwards and backwards:

Temperature Reading Times with LadyComp

If you wake up and the thermometer icon is lit, the Lady-Comp® is expecting a reading so the only thing you have to do is to push the big button and the measuring process will start.

Accurate BBT Reading

The key to the Lady-Comp®'s accuracy is the fact that the alarm, the LED display and the thermometer (accurate to 100th of a degree). These three features combined allow you to get an accurate Basal Body Temperature (BBT) from the moment you wake-up without getting out of bed or turning on the lights.

The most efficient way to get an accurate BBT ready is actually while sleeping after having been asleep for 6 hours. Unfortunately isn’t very practical. The moment you wake-up, your BBT can be measured accurately but each passing moment and every movement you make increases your body temperature, so it’s best to measure your temperature as soon as possible.

Taking Your Temperature

Lady-Comp® is equipped with a sensor that was specifically designed in order to detect your temperature in a fast and exact way. The measurement lasts 30 seconds. An acoustic indicates that your measurement is over.

Red Lights

In a typical 28 day cycle, a woman can expect to receive between 8-10 red light days per cycle and the remainder will be green. Most of the red lights will occur in the days leading up to ovulation and for 48-72 hours after it has been confirmed.

An increase in red lights happens when ovulation is not detected in the cycle. Three factors can contribute to this:

1. Lady-Comp® missed temperature readings. If you miss a daily reading, especially near ovulation time, Lady-Comp® cannot confirm the timing of fertile days in the cycle. You may not be aware that you missed the readings. To confirm that a temperature has been measured each day, proceed as follows:

From the current time display:

Press the round button once. Today's temperature will flash alternately in the display with the current day of the cycle.
Press the minus button once.
Yesterday's date will display with the day's temperature reading.
Continue to press the minus button repeatedly, confirming that you see a temperature reading value for each day of history.

2. Anovulatory Cycles. It is common for women to experience an occasional cycle where no ovulation occurs. When this happens, Lady-Comp® cannot isolate the fertile days of the cycle and will issue red and yellow lights as a precaution.

3. Ovulation was not detected through typical temperature patterns. Some women do not experience a dramatic shift in the basal body temperature readings during ovulation. If this is the case, most women can still use Lady-Comp® effectively because it measures BBT very accurately to the 100th degree. In order to detect ovulation, it is recommended to measure to BBT at the same time each day and to avoid missing any daily readings.

Irregular Sleep

The essential rule for using Lady-Comp® as a natural family planning aide is that a woman should have had at least five continuous hours of sleep before taking her basal temperature. However, this rule applies to the total sum of hours slept. For example, if a woman had only four hours of sleep because she didn't go to bed until 2 a.m. and had to get up at 6 a.m., she should not take her temperature on that day. Missed temperature readings will not affect the accuracy of your device because Lady-Comp® was designed to make up for omitted readings automatically, as long as you use it correctly and numerous subsequent readings are not missed.

For example, if a woman has had five hours of sleep, but they were not consecutive because she had to feed her baby in the middle of the night, she could still take her temperature the next morning. Many Lady-Comp® users are new mothers and are able to use Lady-Comp® effectively, but in can differ from case to case.

Here are a few BBT temperature reading scenarios to consider:

If you had to get up before your normal waking time, but within the measuring period (i.e. up to 3 hours before your waking time which is indicated by the thermometer symbol). In that case, simply take your temperature immediately.
If you have slept for a few hours and your baby wakes up BEFORE the measuring period, there should be enough time left to go back to sleep after taking care of the baby. In that case you should sleep for at least another hour before taking your temperature. It might be a good idea to organize things so you don't have to get up at all (e.g. have your baby sleep in your bedroom and keep all necessary items at hand).
If you stay up all night, you can omit one reading without concern. There is no reason to be afraid of a reduced level of safety. A high number of reading errors will simply result in a slightly reduced green-light phase, which will gradually return to normal later. Typically, users quickly develop their own sense of when measuring is necessary and when it can be omitted.

Night Time Breathing

Some women have questioned whether breathing by mouth or keeping their mouth open during the night could influence their temperature reading in the morning.

This isn't necessarily anything that should effect your temperature results because any BBT reading should always be taken the same way all the way through the cycle. Even if you sleep in a way that may result in a slightly altered BBT when measured orally, it would probably be okay because the Lady-Comp is looking for a relative increase. The same would be true if BBT were taken anally - it may be one-tenth of a degree higher but it would consistently be one-tenth of a degree higher for that cycle so the relative change would be identifiable.

Erratic Readings

Some women experience erratic temperature readings even though they take their temperature at the same time each day. They often worry that these erratic readings are not normal. Since all women are different, it is impossible to deem what is normal from one women to the next.

For advise regarding what is deemed as "normal " when it comes to basal body temperature readings, you would have to consult your GP. Lady-Comp and all other similar devices require a BBT reading.

The actual way that the programme calculates and models the ovulation cycle is unknown to us, we do know however it's not done in a haphazard way and would follow all of the usual rules which dictate how the human body works and how it's corresponding BBT reacts to the menstrual cycle.

New Mothers

Women who want to start using Lady-Comp® after giving birth should delete their old data and reset their device (see Start-Up Tips section for resetting directions).

You can begin using Lady-Comp® immediately after child birth to begin recording data although an increased number of "red light days" or orange light "learning days" may be observed until your body stabilises. Until one complete cycle has passed, we advise the use of a barrier method of contraception or abstinence.

For a comparison of Contraceptive Monitors, visit the Ethical Family Planning website.

RDO Medical, the operator of this website has chosen to no longer be an official distributor of the Valley Electronics range of devices. However we will support our faithful customers who have bought these quality devices from us over the years in any way we can but service issues will not be handled by us. Please do contact us as there are many things that we can resolve quite quickly however physically servicing the devices will ultimatley be the responsibility of the manufacturer.