Hormone health issues are some of the most common of problems which drive patients into my office. This can be thyroid problems, adrenal exhaustion, low libido, and challenges of growth. By far, the greatest involves regulation of the female hormonal cycle. The number of women who deal with monthly complaints from too much bleeding to missed cycles is ever on the increase.
When we consider the foundation of all hormones, cholesterol is the common bond. Every hormone created in our bodies have this one molecule in common. The more we try to limit cholesterol, or how our bodies use it, the more our hormone regulation is upset.
The shift from natural fats to engineered fats has brought with it a major disruption in our population. Are you fed up with all the Viagra or Cialis commercials yet? Think those would be needed if we hadn’t trashed our hormone regulation?
Now to throw a bigger monkey wrench in the works, add the use of birth control. Some work fairly well without major side effects, and some are total nightmares.
One of the greatest tragedies of hormone alteration for birth control involves use of the Depo-provera shot. During my 32 years here in practice, I’ve not had a single patient come through my door praising this form of birth control. On the contrary, I’ve seen many for which we had to work hard to regain healthy function of the female cycle, as well as some of the horrible emotional issues that attended this drug.
The side effects of Depo-provera are far too life altering. Let me share the story of one woman, which reads like a nightmare;
"Ten years ago I had the 'depo' shot and instantly began experiencing massive bleeds like excessively severe periods. My Dr said you just have heavy periods lets keep up with these shots! One day I woke up with a swollen stomach and started to pass out. When I made it to the hospital I’d already lost over half my blood volume. I was operated on immediately. They told me the depo thinned the lining of my uterus to the point of having just open veins... so the lining would clot with all the blood, then forced it up through my tubes and into my abdominal cavity (retrograde menstruation). Then it caused a massive tumor on my liver that I can't have surgery on."
This is a very sad story. The cost of either having a pregnancy or avoiding one has to be weighed by each person. The risk in this case far outweighed the gain. When I got married, I wanted to preserve my wife’s health, and was more than willing to accept my part of protecting her while also understanding my involvement in avoiding any unwanted pregnancy. While in school for all those years and my wife working to keep food on the table, we knew we weren’t ready to begin our family. I knew that spontaneity could lead to something we weren’t ready for. We found ways to know when she was fertile and to avoid those times.
There’s no natural alternative to birth control which doesn’t carry some kind of drawback short of abstinence. Understanding the female cycle and working with it instead of against it is a healthy way to go. There’s information available through Couple to Couple League that can help understand how to prevent pregnancy.
In my profession I’m all about preparing both the husband and wife physically to be in the best possible health to have a problem free, healthy child. We provide nutrition which should be included to insure healthy hormonal balance along with all the vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and co-factors responsible creating beautiful children. Creating a healthy normal cycle can give some comfort in being able to determine if a woman is in a fertile time or not.
Correcting damage caused by Depo or some other hormone altering chemical can be challenging, but we work on that too. Restoring healthy hormones can make all the difference in the world when they’re messed up.
When we consider the foundation of all hormones, cholesterol is the common bond. Every hormone created in our bodies have this one molecule in common. The more we try to limit cholesterol, or how our bodies use it, the more our hormone regulation is upset.
The shift from natural fats to engineered fats has brought with it a major disruption in our population. Are you fed up with all the Viagra or Cialis commercials yet? Think those would be needed if we hadn’t trashed our hormone regulation?
Now to throw a bigger monkey wrench in the works, add the use of birth control. Some work fairly well without major side effects, and some are total nightmares.
One of the greatest tragedies of hormone alteration for birth control involves use of the Depo-provera shot. During my 32 years here in practice, I’ve not had a single patient come through my door praising this form of birth control. On the contrary, I’ve seen many for which we had to work hard to regain healthy function of the female cycle, as well as some of the horrible emotional issues that attended this drug.
The side effects of Depo-provera are far too life altering. Let me share the story of one woman, which reads like a nightmare;
"Ten years ago I had the 'depo' shot and instantly began experiencing massive bleeds like excessively severe periods. My Dr said you just have heavy periods lets keep up with these shots! One day I woke up with a swollen stomach and started to pass out. When I made it to the hospital I’d already lost over half my blood volume. I was operated on immediately. They told me the depo thinned the lining of my uterus to the point of having just open veins... so the lining would clot with all the blood, then forced it up through my tubes and into my abdominal cavity (retrograde menstruation). Then it caused a massive tumor on my liver that I can't have surgery on."
This is a very sad story. The cost of either having a pregnancy or avoiding one has to be weighed by each person. The risk in this case far outweighed the gain. When I got married, I wanted to preserve my wife’s health, and was more than willing to accept my part of protecting her while also understanding my involvement in avoiding any unwanted pregnancy. While in school for all those years and my wife working to keep food on the table, we knew we weren’t ready to begin our family. I knew that spontaneity could lead to something we weren’t ready for. We found ways to know when she was fertile and to avoid those times.
There’s no natural alternative to birth control which doesn’t carry some kind of drawback short of abstinence. Understanding the female cycle and working with it instead of against it is a healthy way to go. There’s information available through Couple to Couple League that can help understand how to prevent pregnancy.
In my profession I’m all about preparing both the husband and wife physically to be in the best possible health to have a problem free, healthy child. We provide nutrition which should be included to insure healthy hormonal balance along with all the vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and co-factors responsible creating beautiful children. Creating a healthy normal cycle can give some comfort in being able to determine if a woman is in a fertile time or not.
Correcting damage caused by Depo or some other hormone altering chemical can be challenging, but we work on that too. Restoring healthy hormones can make all the difference in the world when they’re messed up.
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