Hormone Health, part 2

In this installment of my series on hormone health, I want to share with you about the three basic functions of hormonal contraception (birth control). These three functions are pretty universal for hormonal contraception, including the pills, patch, injection, implant, and IUD. They all basically function in the same way, as I will describe below. Also, just a small caveat, many people are not aware of the basic function of hormonal birth control, and some can be shocked when they find out what it does. If this happens to you, know that I welcome a no-judgment conversation and would love to dive into this a little deeper with you, as well as teach you more about natural, organic methods to manage your cycle and fertility.

Overall, hormonal birth control is called this because it is comprised of synthetic hormones that typically either completely suppress a woman’s natural hormones, or strongly alters them. Natural hormones are replaced with these synthetic hormones, in varying levels, to achieve the desired result. Keep in mind that hormones are responsible for much more than just making babies. Hormones regulate every system of the body and aid in tissue and bone growth and maintenance, mental health and feelings of well-being, etc. So when we mess with our hormones we run the risk of throwing some of these things out of balance. Ok, now onto how hormonal birth control really works in the body.

1.    1.   It prevents or delays ovulation.

Ovulation is a key cycle event for women and it takes some fine-tuned hormones to reach peak levels and trigger the next hormone(s) for ovulation to occur. Just so we’re all on the same page, ovulation is the release of an egg from the ovary. This happens once each cycle, approximately every 28 days. So the first way hormonal contraception works is to suppress all the hormones necessary for ovulation to occur. Are you tracking with me?

2.    2.   It thickens cervical mucus to ward away sperm.

This might be TMI for some of my more queezy readers, but I’ll make it quick. Women are designed to produce cervical mucus of different kinds during the different phases of her cycle. When she’s not fertile and progesterone is the main hormone in the body, she produces thick, dense, basically impenetrable mucus in her cervix that keeps sperm out, as well as any other foreign substances and infection. However, in order to foster procreation, the cervix creates a slippery, fluid mucus during the most fertile time of a woman’s cycle, which aids the sperm in its travel through the cervix and to the just-released, or soon-to-be-released, egg. Hormonal contraception thickens that fertile mucus so sperm cannot typically survive in it.

3.    3.   It thins the lining of the uterus.

This is the most important part to understand and consider. The last function of hormonal contraception is to thin the lining of the uterus, which is the endometrium. The endometrium is where a fertilized egg would implant and find its nutrition and safety to survive. When the endometrium is thinned with these synthetic hormones it becomes inhospitable to a fertilized egg. So the fertilized egg is unable to implant and dies. If you believe science about when life begins, this becomes a problem, particularly for my Christian friends. Science teaches us that a new life is formed at the moment of conception, when the sperm and egg meet, and everything needed for that individual is present. So if breakthrough ovulation and fertilization occurred while a woman was utilizing hormonal contraception, this third function is the backup plan. However, this “backup plan” is potentially causing very early abortions for women, probably without their realization.

With these functions in mind, what are your thoughts on hormonal contraception? Has your mind changed at all? I have to mention, too, that this covers the basics, but doesn’t even go into how hormonal contraception side effects take a toll on so many women. The list is long and tortuous, including things like bone mineral loss, breast cancer, cervical cancer, mood changes, depression (I should note the risk/intensity of depression increases for younger women), and blood clots. Talk about scary! I want to stay as far away from those things as possible. So what are women to do? Well, there’s a better, organic option for managing cycles and fertility, and I’d love to tell you all about it! Leave a comment or send me a message if you’d like more info, or if you have a personal testimony you’d like to share! Oh, and have a wonderful weekend! J