Dr. David Peterson, DC, DCCN
You’ve planned your life – college, career, marriage and now you want to get pregnant. It is time. Do you hear it? You were careful. You took precautions and used birth control. Can you hear it? Your clock? Your biological clock? It has been ten years using birth control. It is time to get pregnant. Listen – can you hear it? Or maybe you have never used hormonal contraceptives but you are still having difficulty achieving a healthy pregnancy. You see the calendar pages flipping away. Month after month. Rushing home in the middle of the afternoon during peak ovulation. To increase your chances of getting pregnant, you are lying there propped up with pillows in the afterglow and eating organic kale. Can you hear it? No nothing? Not your biological clock? Listen closely, it’s stopped. What? Why? How?
Infertility. Hormonal contraceptives (pill, implant, transdermal, intrauterine) are widely used in the current healthcare model not only to prevent unwanted pregnancy but also to manage irregular menstrual cycles, acne, and more. This is dangerous. Every year you are on birth control methods regulating hormones, the risk for estrogen-based cancer goes up by 2% (i.e., 10 years = 20% increase). Other problems resulting from hormone altering birth control include: depletion of many vital nutritional cofactors including methyl donors (needed to eliminate excess hormones from your body); an increased risk of stroke and heart disease; the loss of the ability to burn fat; and a loss of proper pituitary-ovarian feedback loop coordination, AKA – The Clock. The medical term for this alteration in the pituitary-ovarian feedback loop is “post-birth control syndrome”. It is most often the result of long-term usage of hormone contraceptives and rarely addressed until infertility becomes an issue.
As in real clocks, the pendulum must swing. Birth control stops the normal fluctuation of hormone levels. If the pendulum is stuck, the clock is slow to start or stops working completely. Physicians that specialize in Functional Medicine/Endocrinology can help correct Post-Birth Control Syndrome. (If discontinuing hormonal contraception is not an option for you, it is possible to offset the side effects and problems by assisting liver clearance and maintaining rhythmic fluctuations.)
Post-Birth Control Syndrome is an epidemic condition resulting in infertility for the new generation of parents-to-be. However, several issues are often overlooked and may contribute to infertility problems. If you are having difficulty conceiving or sustaining a healthy pregnancy, you may want to evaluate and correct the following: 1. Post-Birth Control Syndrome. 2. Do you have Insulin Resistance and/or PCOS? (many women do not fit the traditional profile) 3. Do you suffer from adrenal fatigue? 4. Is circulation impaired to the reproductive organs? 5. Is your pituitary-ovarian feedback loop coordination disturbed even though you have never been on hormonal birth control?
Blood and saliva testing can determine your pre-conception health in order to help you achieve the pregnancy you desire. Natural therapies have proven results and are very affordable. If you are struggling with infertility and would like an experienced physician who understands the complex issues surrounding infertility, consider a trial of natural compounds that can direct you to parenthood.
We can assist you to safely and naturally restore your clock. Wellness Alternatives, 636-227-4949. www.stlwa.com.