I Didn’t Take My Doctor’s Advice… And Got Healthier.
By: Adele Woods
Tags: Hormones, Womens Health, Natural Medicine, Medical, Nutrition

Hear me out before you assume I must think doctors shouldn’t be trusted. I do trust doctors. They take the Hippocratic Oath which holds them to practice non-maleficence (“do no harm”). Doctors make treatment suggestions based on their clinical judgment. And they surely know a hell of a lot more about the human body than you or I do!

But let me tell you about a time that I am SO GLAD I didn’t take the doctor’s orders. After all, no human is error-free, including our doctors.

About 10–15 million women in the U.S. are taking oral contraceptives.[1] At 22 years old I stopped taking oral contraceptives AKA “the pill”. Like many women, the aversive hormonal side effects made my mental state an emotional roller coaster that no amount of downward dogs or “oms” was going to slow down. Not to mention, I developed a cocktail of physical issues from the hormonal imbalance: acne, brain fog, worse menstrual cycles… Does this sound familiar to you?

Enough. This is no way to live, I thought.

I went to my university’s wellness center to chat with the doctor about my experience. She was eager to suggest yet another birth control pill with a different brand name. One that would also stop my monthly period since they are “such a nuisance”.

The appeal of no longer having a monthly bleed is tempting. But at that moment with my doctor, my occasionally skeptical brain responded, “You know, I just don’t think these methods have existed long enough to know the long-term health effects of no longer having a period.”… My doctor looked at me like I had just landed from a spaceship from Mars. Our appointment came to an end shortly after.

To me, stopping my monthly period seems like tacking on another health problem rather than a solution. And I wanted a solution that supports optimal health. But I literally just went to a doctor… And left empty-handed with my hormonal hideousness in full bloom.

So I began to research. I couldn’t be the only person in the world who thought about hormonal health the way I do… I found hundreds of anecdotal stories from women suffering from similar symptoms, switching from pill to pill, to IUDs, and back to a pill… Reading these, I shook my head in sympathy. Our menstrual cycle shouldn’t be a vicious cycle! *waves fist angrily in the air. And perhaps the most frustrating part: any birth control method we choose subjects us to unpleasant side effects. Unless you’re lucky, and in that case, you’re really lucky….

It doesn’t have to be this way, for those of us that suffer from birth control side effects. And I will give you TWO amazing resources that I collected in my journey to hormonal balance. One I will share in this post and the other in a new post. I want as many women as possible who are suffering from hormonal imbalance to have this. Keep reading…

On a study break, scrolling through Instagram (Thanks, Instagram’s creepy algorithm!) I found my first answer. After trying to navigate an ocean of pharmaceutical advertisements, it was like spotting a lush tropical island. There was no going back to the pill for me…

There was an ad for Natural Cycles [2], the first & only FDA-approved birth control app. No more synthetic hormones or implants. This app was developed to track your natural and unique monthly cycle and give you data on when you are most fertile. It can be used either to prevent or plan a pregnancy. When used perfectly, it’s 98% effective in preventing pregnancy. That’s basically equal to the rate of effectiveness for the pill without the side effects…

How to Use

It’s incredibly simple… Instead of taking a pill every day, with the Natural Cycles app you take your temperature every day. Yes, every day for accurate data. Everything is a tradeoff. Your subscription includes a thermometer that reads your basal body temperature (BBT). This reading picks up minor variance in body temperature in a 24-hour cycle. During ovulation, our body temperature rises ever so slightly [3].

Take your temperature first thing in the morning before you get out of bed. This will give the most accurate reading.

Enter the temperature into the Natural Cycles app.

Read the fertility status.

Depending on where you are in your cycle you’ll either get a green day (not fertile) or a red day (fertile). The app will also give you helpful reminders like PMS alerts and when to carry out a breast exam, so you can learn more about your body along the way.

I hesitate to say this, but it is okay if you skip some days. Just bear in mind, Natural Cycle’s algorithm will pick up on your unique cycle faster if you enter your temperature data every day. This increases its accuracy and effectiveness. I personally like the peace of mind knowing I’m using the app as it’s intended.

If you hate what hormonal birth control does to your body then it’s time to throw those pills in the trash. Science is teaming up with our biological cycles and giving us the autonomy over our own bodies we deserve. And thousands of women globally have switched to Natural Cycles. I highly recommend checking out their testimonials and clicking through the website for more information.

There you have it. I have found my perfect birth control product by using Natural Cycles. I have used the app for 3 years now and love the feeling of being in tune with my body and worry-free.

Sad to say, my hormonal journey doesn’t end by switching to a non-hormonal method of birth control. Nope. I still had a hormonal imbalance, vitamin deficiency, and gut problems. Yes, read that again: vitamin deficiency and gut problems exacerbated by the use of oral contraceptives. Though further research is still needed “oral contraceptive agents alter the metabolism of some nutrients, which could affect nutritional requirements” [4]. I was overwhelmed by the amount of “fixing” I felt I needed to do to get my body humming and feeling my best.

But I did not give up on my journey towards health. And neither should you. The answers are out there.

Look for Part 2 of my story: Getting in the Flow

[1] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/503375/

[2] https://www.naturalcycles.com/

[3]https://www.babycenter.com/getting-pregnant/ovulation/chart-basal-body-temperature-and-cervical-mucus_3195

[4] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7400487/