It's a “WONDER” This PMS (etc.) Drug Still Exists!

“Wonder Drug”, an article discussing birth-control pills in “Elle” magazine this month, repeated virtually verbatim a comment that absolutely blew my mind several years ago. It was made by a nurse practitioner, speaking at a women’s health conference supposedly on reproductive health, but actually presenting a thinly-veiled push for the new-at-the-time “Yaz” pill. What she said was “while having periods may be culturally significant, they are medically meaningless”, and therefore no possible harm could result from artificially limiting them to once a year or so. Not long after introduction it appeared to be causing more blood clots, the sometimes fatal side-effect of birth control pills, than other birth control pills; although the manufacturer was briefly ordered to run an ad campaign informing consumers of the possible risk it was never taken off the market.

In actuality, periods are an extra “chimney” (watch my introductory video on YouTube if you haven’t) for women. Your body knows you can live without reproductive organs so will use them as a dumping ground, which is one of the reasons premenstrual problems disappear once you start getting rid of the decaying matter in the uterus. Women with endometriosis often find that their liver often needs support, which is often connected to a pancreatic weakness that makes it hard for them to digest fats, the basic nutrient for the liver and the raw material for prostaglandins, which are the building blocks for hormones. I noticed the tendency to see simultaneous challenges with those three organs in my clients years before studies linked polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) to a tendency toward insulin resistance and diabetes, functions governed by the pancreas. Liver stress will also manifest in acne and other skin concerns, since the skin is another “chimney” that’s overworked when toxicity increases. Cysts are basically internal pimples, sacs of waste matter sequestered to keep you safe. Using the pill shuts down hormone functions; one doctor quoted in the article likened it to a mechanic putting a piece of tape over a warning light on your dash and “claiming he’s fixed the problem”.

The article pointed out that “women with moderate to severe endometriosis are four times more likely to have been prescribed the Pill before age 18 to treat menstrual pain”; the statistic may reflect that suppression of the cycle causes endometriosis rather than that they are related in any other way. Most of my clients with endometriosis have been on the pill for so long that their bodies have never functioned independently, which is true of the author as well. What they usually find is that they can get the balance back and resolve both the symptoms and the problem in a few months at most, with noticeable improvement in the first cycle after they start their programs. Several have gotten pregnant fairly quickly, so I caution clients now to use other methods if that is not part of the short term plan!

Definitely to be continued….