Attention Fertility Awareness Method (FAM) users!!!- Advice needed on regaining cycle regularity.?

Hi!
This question is open to women who use FAM or are versed in its principles. I don't mean to be discriminatory, but you may not be of much help if you are unfamiliar w/ the method or don't know much about female fertility.
Anyway, I'm on my first cycle using FAM since discontinuing my use of the patch. Background info:
I have been charting regularly
Temps are irregular (no clear pattern or shift)
I'm not pregnant (positive on that)
Been under stress w/ school
I know it takes awhile for the body to get back to normal after going off bc.
These could be reasons why I am "late", but I have scoured my copy of Tony's book and the website and I can't seem to find a good bit of info as to why I am either late (31 days), won't be getting my period, etc as explained by Tony.
Anyone who has had experience with this and FAM or knows who I can contact to figure out about my delayed period, please help.
Again, this is open to those with FAM experience or an excellent knowledge of the ?'s subject

FAM isn't going to be able to tell you what the problem is this early on in use, granted the method is reliable enough to determine problems as and when they occur because it has only been a month and because of coming off hormonal birth control it makes it more difficult to see the problem and it does also mean a possibly long wait to see what your hormonal cycles are like.

You may want to try checking out some other links, alternatively if you get yourself a Livejournal [ http://www.livejournal.com ] there are FAM and NFP communities there that may be able to help you, as well as other communities on menstrual and reproductive health 鈥?I would say this falls into the category of menstrual health, but of course as long as you have problems coming off hormonal birth control it is going to be an issue to take into consideration when using FAM.

Have you gone about trying to help your cycles regulate so far?
Things such as using black cohosh or evening primrose in capsule form daily to help bring hormonal balance back, because trust me you will need all the help you can get as hormonal birth control can really mess your body up for a long time, and this can make FAM difficult to use 鈥?I will say though, one more score for FAM is that it is a lot easier to use FAM or NFP after coming off hormonal birth control than it is to use other tracking methods such as Billings or Persona.

Have you considered inducing your period?
Granted this is not going to do anything for your use of FAM, however at this stage and with FAM's methods it is not going to cause many problems for you, it will simply mean you can rest a little easier as to what is going on. Simple methods such as fresh parsley tea a few times a day until menstruation occurs may be an idea.

Have you gotten yourself a trainer?
In my opinion I would say they are very important if coming off hormonal birth control, not to undermine your ability or patronise but FAM can be hard to pick up at first and it really does not help matters when you have hormonal disruptions on top of that as well. If not for long-term help then perhaps you would be able to get in touch with a local trainer to address this issue specifically, run a search or contact FertilityUK - http://www.fertilityuk.org

If there's no noticeable temperature shift, you may be experiencing an anovulatory cycle, which wouldn't be all that unusual in your first cycle off birth control. If that's the case, you will have a period-like bleed eventually when the uterine lining can no longer support itself.* Even though it's not a real period if there was no ovulation, start a new chart as though it was. With any luck, you'll be regular after that. If the anovulatory cycles become a pattern, then it's time to see a doc.

The other thing you mentioned is stress. This could be delaying your ovulation, which will in turn delay your period.

*When I first went off the Pill it took 58 days to get my period. I wasn't charting, but I believe if I had been there would have been no temperature shift. It was likely an anovulatory cycle. My periods were regular at 29 days after that and I assume those were normal, ovulatory cycles.