Why It’s Healthy to Menstruate
It’s nothing new that a lot of medical professionals, unfortunately those working at Planned Parenthood as well, tend to prescribe hormonal birth control as the go-to remedy for most problems with the menstrual cycle and female reproductive system. The pill, as well as hormonal IUD’s, are marketed as not only preventing pregnancy, but as good options for regulating PCOS, helping with endometriosis, regulating the period, and helping with heavy and/or painful periods.
If by suppressing and removing the monthly cycle and menstruation you mean regulating, than yes, in a sense it does help. By removing the main thing that interacts with the hormone imbalance or condition happening, and removing an occurrence that is usually very painful if you have endometriosis or imbalance resulting in difficult cycles, than taking that out of the equation is going to bring relief. And those underlying issues, root causes, and symptoms are still there. They have a strong band-aid on them. And most likely will be present, if not more severe, when that band-aid comes off.
Birth control pills flatline the menstrual cycle, suppressing ovulation and the period. A person is not having a period when taking the pill. The days of bleeding that you get is called break through bleeding and is due to an absence of the normal hormonal cocktail you take the rest of the pill packet. It was specifically designed to mimic menstruation so doctors and the catholic church could say See? A woman still does the same thing.
Hormonal IUD’s while not specifically setting out to suppress menstruation and ovulation, do that in many people by default. Many people who are on even the lowest dose IUD for more than 6 months or a year stop menstruating.
I will reiterate 1000 times that I believe in Planned Parenthood. I believe contraception and abortion should be free and accessible and available. Do I think it’s hugely flawed to say in the least that the only options women and people who can pregnant have are those that fuck up our hormones and reproductive systems? Yes. And if the ease of not becoming pregnant is worth it then go for it. My ongoing issue, that unfortunately I am seeing even more of post roe v wade being overturned, is that hormonal birth control is being touted as this cure all for reproductive issues when it is absolutely not this. We need full disclosure from medical professionals about how they work, what they actually do in the body, and the very real side effects. It doesn’t have to be a choice between being on hormonal bc unaware and suffering, or not taking it. With the full picture of how it works there are ways to support the system as best you can while existing in a particular hormonal reality.
I almost got the copper IUD when I was 25, that’s all that was available at the time that wasn’t hormonal, and had to have a pelvic exam first. I went to Planned Parenthood to do it and had the nurse tell me that getting on the pill was a great option as it can prevent cervical and uterine cancer and would regulate my period. When I told her I felt very differently and actually found those statements to be false, (as I was in herb school at the time learning a whole different view of hormonal bc etc) she gave me a pretty rough and aggressive pelvic exam that I left feeling raw and violated from. I remember I went to this park where I live and put my feet in the creek and sat there almost frozen like WTF just happened? I didn’t end up getting the IUD as I could barely process the experience and didn’t want to go back. I haven’t been back since. I also have the privilege of paying a naturopath or midwife for the service of a pap smear, which not everyone does. I want women to have all the information. The accurate information, and not be shamed or punished when they disagree, or try and advocate for themselves. It shouldn’t even have to be stated that we deserve to know how something is going to effect our bodies and that we deserve to be listened to when we feel something isn’t right.
What really is bothering me about this is how much it’s being advocated for for women to not have a period. Instead of looking at WHY someone is having severe menstrual symptoms or experiencing things like endometriosis or PCOS, anemia, et all, she’s given hormones to stop her cycle. The caveat to this that has to be stated is that many people don’t actually want to do the work of dealing with underlying issues. Reproductive conditions are completely healable, and mostly it’s about diet, lifestyle, and restoring balance and function to the reproductive system as well as adjacent systems. The most challenging things to change. It sucks to hear sometimes, but if we don’t change anything about how live, take care of ourselves, eat, and interact with ourselves and the world, very little will change. Especially in terms of our own health. After working with clients in the areas of nutrition and reproductive health for over a decade, I can say first hand it’s actually very rare that someone wants to do what is necessary for them to feel better and get the results they want. So. The system definitely creates a framework and it serves a mindset as well.
And it’s my little mission for women to have accurate information in order to make informed decisions.
Why is it so healthy to menstruate? A few reasons.
Menstrual blood is one of the most antibacterial substances in existence. Ya. Wild. Every month (ideally) when someone menstruates the parts of the reproductive system that come in contact with the uterine lining being shed -uterus, cervix, the vagina and the vulva- get deeply cleaned of any bacteria or pathogens that if left, could lead to infection or more serious complications.
In essence the system is self cleaning. If you are sexually active this is doubly important. If any part of someone else’s body, hands, mouths, penises, vulvas, and bodily fluids is coming into contact with your genitalia and/or is inside your body, having a monthly deep clean is really important. Also let’s be clean when we have sex and fool around. Wash your hands. Wash your penis (if anyone who has one reads this).
Menstruation and the menstrual cycle connect us to Nature. The lunar cycle, the tides, and the menstrual cycle are directly and very closely linked. Nature and the moon go through their own cycles of waning, waxing, expansion, contraction, death, and rebirth. The lunar cycle is about 29.5 days, which is very close to an average menstrual cycle. Pre industrial revolution, but also just back when we were living more in sync with the cycles of nature and in accordance with circadian rhythms, it was common for women to bleed on the new moon and ovulate on the full moon.
We are also naturally meant to flow through these phases inside ourselves. Flowing through so many emotional and physical changes is not always easy at all, and I can see the appeal of just erasing that whole process. And, we are not meant to be static or flatlined. Many women have emotional, mental, spiritual and physical side effects from not cycling that go beyond what the hormones are physiologically doing in the body. Women aren’t as connected to their emotions or self and suffer with that.
We are meant to learn how to ebb and flow, and expand and contract healthily.
Having your period can 100% be a pain in the ass. I love my period much more when I’m not on it. And. That doesn’t change the fact that it’s healthy physiologically, emotionally, mentally, and energetically. If we work with it, and with our cycle in general, we can consciously participate in a monthly cleaning on all levels. It can be a reset. And. We have to participate. We have to interact with our own body and symptoms. As best we can we have to stop vilifying our period and relating to it as a cursed thing. It’s not cool or trendy or moody to be disconnected from your body. I’ve met women who make it their whole personality to not have their period and not give a shit about it. I’m sorry, it’s 2023 and reproductive access and rights are dwindling. Relying on hormonal birth control and doctors who sometimes don’t even know how it effects the body and don’t disclose when they do is not a lasting solution.
If hormonal birth control disappeared tomorrow would you be shit out of luck? Or would you know how to navigate not getting pregnant if you didn’t want to? And/or how to take some steps to healing whatever cycle and menstrual issues you were having?
This goes way beyond regulating painful periods and preventing pregnancy. This is about women being in command of what happens to our bodies and learning to be comfortable living in them.