63. Your Cycle, Your Self: Period Empowerment, Fertility Awareness, & the Risks of Hormonal Birth Control - Dr. Elizabeth Wade

Modern medicine now recognizes the menstrual cycle as the fifth vital sign. By simply paying attention to what our periods are telling us, we greatly increase our body literacy and quickly regain the deep self knowledge that is our birthright. Whether you want to avoid pregnancy, optimize your chances for conception, or gain insight into the state of your health, cycle charting and fertility awareness is a safe, effective, and empowering choice.

IN THE INTRO:

Why rest is vital for bleeding bodies

IN THE INTERVIEW:

How Naturopathic medicine synchronistically found Dr. Elizabeth
How getting pregnant despite being on hormonal contraceptives (HC) brought fertility awareness (FA) into her life
Root cause healing v masking symptoms
The deceptive history of the pill (it’s not your period, it’s a “withdrawal bleed” calculated for a specific psychological purpose)
What HC actually does in the body is completely shut down communication between the ovaries and the brain, which has many consequences
Millions of women have been told that the pill tricks the body into thinking you’re pregnant, but women’s bodies aren’t that dumb
IUDs and inflammation
There isn’t one hormone in the body that HC doesn’t effect; it creates full body dysregulation
Common side effects of HC- including changing your physical anatomy down there (!)
The adverse effects build the longer you’re on HC
Dr. Elizabeth blows my mind and connects a lot of dots for me by explaining what happened to me when I got the depo provera shot at age 17
The menstrual cycle is now recognized by modern medicine as the fifth vital sign, and FA gives crucial insight into our overall health
FA is *not* the rhythm method, and is 99.4% effective when used correctly
A deep dive into what happens in the body each month during the menstrual cycle
How FA both frees and empowers female bodied folk
When our periods are used against us
Tuning into and honoring our natural cycles of creativity and rest
Breaking down the two key tracking methods of FA: cervical mucus and basal body temperature
How long to chart before you rely solely on FA for birth control
We aren’t raised to trust ourselves
How charting your cycle and fertility signs can alert you to health problems that might otherwise go unnoticed, shine light on whether infertility is caused by lack of conception or by recurrent miscarriage, and help you know right away if you’ve gotten pregnant