There can be numerous reasons as to why a couple struggle to conceive of course but one I have seen and still see time and time again is anovulation (a lack of ovulation) and other cycle irregularities caused by hormonal imbalances.
Interestingly throughout my time in practice I have observed a high percentage of these women with hormonal imbalances happen to also have a history of prolonged use of Oral Contraceptive Pill, IUD’S (Intrauterine devices), the implant or intramuscular injection. All of these methods of contraception come with side-effects and have a ‘suppressive’ action on the female hormones.
After working with all these women to get their hormones back in balance and increase their fertility I started to think about how wonderful it would be if women didn’t have to introduce chemicals and synthetic hormones in to their bodies in order to avoid pregnancy.
Whilst at a fertility seminar a few years back I listened to a talk from a speaker who had her audience captivated by her message – that there IS another way to avoid pregnancy with no drugs, no painful procedures, no chemicals, no gismos and gadgets inserted in to every nook and, yes, cranny, and most importantly NO SIDE EFFECTS! Hurrah!
Cue my passion for Fertility Awareness and brining
Natural Family Planning to Norwich. What I learnt in that one seminar had me totally hooked. I left that day totally blown away with how amazing the female body is, how clever our whole reproductive system is, and in awe of all the incredible little things that conspire to help us either achieve or avoid pregnancy and generally keep us healthy. It just takes tapping into those secrets to be able to control whether or not conception takes place. It’s that simple. And not only is it simple, it is HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL. The success rate is up to 98.2% effective when used properly, which is higher than condoms! The Pill is 95-99% effective which means that in some cases sound knowledge of how your body works is more reliable than the most popular form of contraceptive!
The high success rate comes from the fact that the Natural Family Planning method is evidence based and the result of years and years of scientific research to refine certain techniques into the effective method of birth control that it is today.
I decided to sign up to become a natural family planning teacher immediately! Travelling back to Norwich from London after each training session, I would call up and jabber excitedly to any one that would listen about the amazing things I had just learnt. EVERY woman should know this information. Not just to plan pregnancy or avoid, but just to have the knowledge of and understand how incredible her body is and why she should look after it.
By teaching a woman exactly how her body works, by explaining to her what all those weird and wonderful things, all those strange little signs and symptoms she may encounter throughout her cycle mean and why they are happening, she can begin to learn when she is fertile and when she is absolutely 100% not fertile. When she could conceive and when there is no possible way, not a chance my friend, able to conceive during that cycle.
My experience of teaching this method of natural birth control to women – both to those that are trying to conceive and those are avoiding pregnancy – is that almost every woman has said they wish they had known about this sooner, that if they had known how amazing and precious their bodies were they would have had greater respect for their themselves and looked after themselves better. I have had several patients moved to tears at the wonder of it all and quite a few women bringing (well perhaps initially dragging!) their teenage daughters along to learn the mysteries.
5 reasons to choose Natural Birth Control
1) Highly effective – it can be more reliable than condoms and just as effective as the Pill!
2) No uncomfortable/painful procedures to insert or remove devices. Inserting the devices may lead to infection for which antibiotics may be needed, this can lead to thrush for which treatment is needed…and so the domino effect starts.
Natural Family Planning is totally procedure free.
3) No synthetic hormones or chemicals going in to the body causing imbalances.
4) No side effects.
The downside of using the Pill, implant, injection, vaginal ring, patch and other hormonal contraceptives is that they have some unpleasant side effects, notable among them are a worsening of spots and acne, breast tenderness, weight change, nausea, mood changes and headaches and ovarian cysts. More concerning side effects are a risk of blood clots, breast cancer and cervical cancer.
There are absolutely no side effects from using Natural Birth Control. Well you could count an increased knowledge and awareness of the body….so that’s another reason to choose!
5) Its environmentally friendly!
Excess Oestrogen from the Pill and other hormonal contraceptives is excreted out via urine and subsequently into our water systems. Research investigating the long term effects of this has found amongst other things that it is affecting aquatic biodiversity. Oestrogen hormones in our water system appear to produce hermaphroditic fish and a reduction of the male population.
Around the world condoms are one of the components of ‘sea trash’, affecting coral reefs and marine ecosystems. Their mass consumption also contributes to urban litter problems. Ultimately, because of its un-biodegradability condoms end up in land fill.
Natural Family Planning and Birth Control has no impact on the environment as everything needed has been provided by Mother Nature! To find out how to get started ring reception and get booked in! The Complementary Health Care Clinic, 34 Exchange St, Norwich NR2 1AX 01603 665173