Unpopular Opinion : Birth control has been a detriment to the advancement of women’s health.
I suffered from extremely heavy and painful periods for over 20 years. I asked a few different primary care doctors for help, but they told me my only option was to go on birth control. One doctor asked me if I had ever tried ibuprofen or a heating pad. At that point, I was no longer able to take ibuprofen because I had overdosed on it for so many years that it stopped working altogether. I was worried about kidney damage from extended NSAID use. I felt doomed to suffer for 20 more years until finally maybe menopause would bring me some relief. I seriously considered birth control many times over the years, especially when I was in too much pain to sleep at night, or when I was standing in front of a classroom full of children, barely able to focus enough to teach them. But every time I considered birth control, I also had to consider the risks involved, and I always decided that the hell I was living in was better than the potential for even worse symptoms on the pill, or the chance of complications from an IUD.
Since the onset of my periods in 8th grade, they were heavy and painful. Did you know a normal period is 5-80 ml of blood? I was losing 120 ml or more. I couldn’t go more than an hour or two without a visit to the bathroom or I would have a mess to deal with. I was nauseous in the mornings. I could barely pay attention in class because I was in too much pain to focus, but no one ever told me that staying home from school was an option. I was offered ibuprofen, but it did very little to help the pain. I was told that heavy, painful, periods were normal, and that it was just something I would have to “deal” with. I was told that having children might make them better. (Please, don’t have a child just to attempt to make your periods better.)
There was one time I was in so much pain, I ended up vomiting. I frequently had trouble eating, sleeping, or exercising. Exercise can help the pain, but the pain was so exhausting I often couldn’t find the energy to exercise. Or, I would exercise and feel better for a little bit, only to have the pain return even stronger once I stopped.
And then one day I saw an Instagram post about restorative reproductive medicine. I started seeing posts saying that heavy painful periods were NOT normal, and that there was actually help for them. I learned that there were doctors out there who actually worked to diagnose and TREAT menstrual issues, instead of just trying to hide them with a birth control bandaid. I began digging, and learned that my best hope of help was from a NAPRO trained doctor. And the closest one to me was 2.5 hours away.
I did more research, and learned that in order to get an appointment with a NAPRO (Natural Procreative) doctor I would first have to hire an instructor and learn the Creighton model of cycle charting, as it was this information that the doctor would use to help me. More research.
I discovered that there was an instructor about 45 minutes away, so I contacted her. She wasn’t accepting new clients. There were many instructors available online, but how to choose one? I finally settled on one, and applied to become a client. The first step was to attend a free introductory session. That session covered mostly information I had already learned in my own research, but I did understand how important it would be for someone who hadn’t already done the research that I had. At the end of the intro session, we were offered a discount on the one on one instructor meetings for a year, so I went ahead and signed up. I was determined to get help, whatever the cost.
I learned to chart my cycle using the Creighton model. It involves tracking cervical mucus all day, every day, in a very specific way. After only one month of charting, I was able to get a referral to the NAPRO doctor, by my instructor. My chart was wonky, and that combined with my extreme pain and heavy periods were grounds for a quick referral. Since the doctor was so far away, I had to wait 3 months to get an appointment. (Mainly because I could only schedule an appointment for a day the doctor wasn’t on call, so that I wouldn’t end up driving 2.5 hours only to get the appointment canceled if she got called in.) I had already waited over 20 years for help, what was a few more months?
Both the nurse and the doctor were very friendly and kind, and took the time to listen to everything I had to say. I felt seen, and heard, and like they genuinely cared and wanted to help me. The doctor prescribed a drug that she said might help make my periods lighter. She said there were no serious side effects, just the possibility of blood clots if I was sedentary, such as on a long flight. She said that it may or may not work, but that I would know immediately. I wouldn’t have to take it for months in order to determine whether or not it was working.
The drug was called Lysteda. I was to take it only during my period, and while I was prescribed a hefty dose, 3 times a day, the doctor said I could take less if it was effective.
From the first day I took those gigantic pills, I felt relief. Any pain I had was minimal, just mild discomfort. I no longer suffered gastrointestinal distress throughout my period from the pain. I was bleeding HALF as much as I used to. I was able to go about my normal daily life as if nothing was happening. It was amazing. The second month, I tried a lower dose. It worked just as well as the heavier dose.
Lysteda works by helping your blood to clot. I thought it must have been developed for something else, and some NAPRO doctor thought to try it for periods and it turned out to work. But I was curious, so I did some googling. And learned that Lysteda was created specifically for heavy periods, and was FDA approved in 2009. Imagine how I felt when I learned that I could have had relief 13 years earlier! I understand that not every doctor can know about every drug available. But surely if they have a patient asking for help with a specific issue, there must be some kind of database they can use to see possible treatment options.
Now, I am obviously not a medical professional. I can’t diagnose or treat your issues, and just because Lysteda worked for me, doesn’t mean it will work for you if you happen to have the same symptoms as me. But I am writing this post to assure you that help does exist out there.
If you are suffering from menstrual/hormonal issues and your doctor is telling you that birth control is the only option, they are wrong. And it may not be their fault, I hear medical schools don’t actually teach doctors to treat women with anything other than birth control. I hope it’s not true…but my experience, and the experiences of many of my acquaintances, says it is. There are people out there trying to change this narrative, but it’s going to take a whole lot of women standing up and demanding better care, before it becomes mainstream, affordable, and easy to get help. NAPRO doctors are trained to diagnose and treat women’s issues, but they are few and far between. I consider myself lucky that I “only” had to drive 2.5 hours away to see one.
It is abhorrent to me that many doctors think birth control is the only solution for women’s issues, and that if a woman chooses not to use birth control, she is offered no other help. Birth control does not actually fix any women’s issues. It may work as symptom management for a time, but symptoms will come back, often with a vengeance, when birth control is stopped. Women who want to have children may lose their chance if they have an issue that goes undiagnosed for too long. Healthcare is supposed to be about diagnosing and treating health issues, not just about covering them up.
Are you suffering from a women’s health issue and looking for answers other than birth control? The first steps are committing to advocating for yourself, and doing your own research to learn what your options are. I highly recommend checking out the Fertility Friday Podcast to learn about everything from the way the pill works, to the way the menstrual cycle works, to the many different issues women can have and some possible treatments for them. Another fabulous resource is the Fertility Awareness Database, where you can find information about the different fertility awareness methods (methods of tracking your unique cycle), and a database of instructors to help you learn. Some of the methods are paired with medical management, and some are not, but any method will give you information about your particular cycle and all instructors are trained to know when to recommend that you seek medical care. Personally, I worked with an instructor at Ashwood Fertility Care and cannot recommend them highly enough.
