Hi all,

I know this is kind of a strange question but I am wondering if there is a natural birth control-- other than abstinence (sp?) of course, hehe! I want to be protected but don't want to go the harmone route, as I have done that in the past and it made me crazy, irritable, etc. I want one with no chemicals etc. --
Anyone have any ideas? I have a 7 yr old son, my fiance' has a 7 yr old daughter and right now we are not wanting to expand the family...

If there isn't anything I can take is it possible to buy one of the ovulation kits at the drugstore and determine when I ovulate and then abstain from intimacy during this ovulation period?

Thanks for reading and any advice would really be appreciated!\

Sincerely,

Joanna

nothing you can reliable take but i have the ovutrac and it works great.

Hey Joanna

I stopped using birth control pills awhile ago. Since then I have been taking my basal temperature and monitoring other fertility signs to prevent pregnancy. I also bought this book which I have found to be tremendous help and I use this site to help me chart.



My website: The Coconut Chronicles

Hi, Coco,

Thanks for the reply! Just wondering if the ovulation thing I was talking about above? Did you get it at the drugstore and was it pricey? What does the product do exactly? As you can tell I am new to this idea -- always been on some type of birth control..


Hi, Coconutchronicles,

Thanks also for the reply! I will definately check out the site-- do you find that if you monitor yourself that you ensure almost 100% no chance of getting preggo? well, as close to 100% as you can get I guess!

Thanks so much,
Sincerely,

Joanna

Joanna,

Well nothing is going to be 100% but I can tell you that after about a year of doing this I have had no accidents or causes for concern. I've read that it does work the best if you have a fairly regular cycle. I find that by monitoring a wide variety of signs (temp, cervical mucous, breast tenderness, mood etc) I get a better amount of protection. FertilityFriend has been such a Godsend for me because it inputs all those signs.

I have not personally tried the ovulation kits but I have a friend who swears by hers. I'll give her a call and ask which one she has.



My website: The Coconut Chronicles

Condoms.

the IUD (non hormonal kine). implanted and you don't have to think about it for 10 years. thats perfect for me.

when i was researching contraceptive measures lots of things had qualities that appealed to me but none of them were without a down side.

an iud leaves a small string or wire protruding from the cervix which is supposed to be a completely closed area. the string acts as a bacterial highway straight into the uterus and that can result in many illnesses, some of them undetectable until serious and irreversable damage has been done. scary.
not only that, if you are thin sometimes you can feel it inside you.
if you have heavy periods an iud can make them heavier and more painful.
a friend of mine told me that her partner got poked by the string a few times in the end of his penis during intercourse. needless to say, it spoiled the moment.

condoms are latex, many people have allergies or senstivities. if you experience bacterial vaginosis condoms can exacerbate it. condoms are supposed to be used with a spermicidal foam but hardly anyone does that. condoms lessen sensation.
while they are a terrific option is you are having sex for sport, i don't like them and don't use them with a steady partner with whom i have been for testing.

rhythm method, or mucus tracking or temperature charting is great but it's affected by so many factors. if you are upset, sick, turned on, anxious, or even just had a vivid dream before waking your temperature and mucus can both be changed to the point of being useless for hormonal tracking.
this method is very good for getting you in touch with your body though so that you know by how you feel where you are in your cycle. it's is far from fool proof and should be used with a back-up method like condoms if you Really don't want to get pregnant.

the ovutrac or another microscope tracker is actually as near to 100% accurate as anything. it measures biosalts which are unaffected by any of the factors listed in the rhythm method paragraph. additionally, your biosalts begin to change 4 days prior to ovulation and are clearly visible as a hormonal change on teh microscope slide. since sperm can live in a woman's body for at least 4 days this is very handy. rhythm method only indicates ovulation the day of so if you've had unprotected sex in the days leading up to that you are still at risk of getting pregnant.

the ovutrac cost me $100 a few years ago and i'm not sure that the company is still even in business. if i had to replace it i would gladly hand over that much money again, it's worth the peace of mind knowing without a doubt when i am fertile and when i am not. it's good at indicating that conception has taken place as well.

Vasectomy.

Rawfancois,

Thanks for the advice-- fiance' not to into condoms, though--- doesn't feel as much with them... but thanks anyway!!


Maui_butterfly,

Thanks for the IUD info-- that was actually my first choice but it just scared me too much to try it--- also checked out merana (sp?) but it releases harmones via the IUD, so I changed my mind... but thanks again for the info!!


Coconutchronicles,

Thanks again for the reply-- I think I will try to monitor my signs and also try the ovutrac that coco mentioned--- also going to check out that sight.
Wonderful to get such great info... thanks again!!


Coco,

Thanks sooo much--- i think i'm going to go with the ovutrac-- and monitor my sign too-- i really appreciate your comments-- great information!!!

Here's to not extending my family... at this time- hehe Thanks all!

Sincerely,
Joanna

Check out

www.cyclebeads.com

Katra,

Wow, that's really cool--- never seen that before, what a great idea...Thanks for the neat info!!


Sicerely,

Joanna

Thank you thank you thank you everyone, I was wondering this for a while, too. >.<

I did just recently pick up a basal thermometer at my local drugstore. It measures to the 100th of a degree, which is pretty cool. Although, my temperature is always WAY higher the next day if I eat cooked food... so that alone I don't think would be reliable.

I have to investigate getting an ovutrac around here ASAP. If salts change 4 days before ovulation and you can measure them, that sounds like music to my ears~

I had the worst month of my life on the pill.

I'd rather do chemicals than get pregnant. I am currently abstaining but also on a low-dose pill that has minimal side effects but provides some protection. Estrogens can be very protective, they are antioxidant and good for many organs and tissues. You just have to get the right dose. All pills are different in their estrogenic, progestational, and androgenic effects--some are high, low, and moderate in dosages. I find low dose works best for me and I intend to keep them for as long as possible, for my bones and my skin.

Hi there,

I've been using a machine called PERSONA. You urinate on these sticks 8 days a month, and the machine measures the hormones in your urine (I believe it's LH) to tell you which days are safe..you have green days, yellow days, and red days..no temp necessary and I believe the effectiveness is 90%. I've been using it for 3 years without incident. The sticks you pee on are like the clearblue ovulation predictors..every month you press a button on the first day of menstruation and it tracks everything else for you. I love my machine!! I think it costs $80 for the machine (maybe less by now), and $20 a month for the sticks (maybe less in the states).

Good luck!

arugula, please explain how taking any kind of synthetic hormone that changes your own natural hormone levels can be healthy and without negative health reprocussions in other areas.
i am asking in all seriousness as you generally are very well researched and this goes totally against all i have read or heard coming from a natural POV.

those beads look interesting but they are based an the assumption of a regular cycle. it's been proved that spontanious ovulation can take place at any time. after having already ovulated, at the beginning, middle or end of a period, anytime. i personally would not trust those beads to tell me anything.

Coco, just because they are synthetic does not mean they are bad. Everything that works in our bodies, is because of the way things are shaped. If a synthetic molecule is similiar enough to a natural one, it will fit like a key fits into a lock and interact with many of the same chemicals in our cells.

It's like a design flaw in some ways that when we reach a certain age our estrogen and progesterone levels decline significantly. On the one hand it makes sense: we should not be reproducing when we get too old, as we will probably be unable to care properly for our babies. But on the other hand, our bodies suffer.

Our bones get weaker, our skin is less able to defend itself from UV radiation, gets thinner and less oily, we recover from wounds less rapidly, our uterine lining starts getting precancerous, we are less able to defend from other stresses. Estrogens have been shown to protect in these and many other ways, they are not just aging-related changes but directly associated with estrogen levels.

They are like many other things: the difference between the poison and the cure depends on the dose. Some people get way too high a dose. Some people are dosing themselves too high with their own natural estrogens by being obese! Other people have too little, I have seen many very attractive women who are easily misled into having their uteruses/ovaries removed for trivial reasons who go into the menopause in their early 30s and don't take hormonal replacement. They become crones way before their time.

There is a problem with either too little or too much. Each person has to decide for herself. I can't say I have all the answers, only that what I have read has convinced me to keep it up near optimal (say, late 20s, early 30s) levels for as long as I can until I find convincing evidence otherwise. I do not want to look and feel like a crone until I absolutely have to.

I used the Billings Method (see book by that name on amazon or somewhere else)
and it always worked great. Now I am pregnant, but it is because I chose to become so.

My cycles are always very very regular and I am very in touch with my body and all its suble signals. I think knowing your cervical mucus is key. And playing it safe by not having sex between the end of your period and ovulation, as sperm can survive inside days before.

I will be using it again without worries after I have my baby. But for now, while I am pregnant, it is nice not to have to keep track of anything!

arugula, thank you. that's very interesting information. might you have some research/reference sites or book names i could read up on this some more?
i wonder if there is a food group that would do the same? phyto-estrogen, soy? i am adverse to it generally but perhaps it has a medicinal application.

jamielor, it is nice not to have to think about it while you're pregnant isn't it? i abstained throughout both of my pregnancies but it was still a nice rest from being in that cyclical consciousness all the time. it's something that is there in the back of my mind always. when am i ovulating? when is my period coming? it's never very far from my thoughts.
with little i didn't start my period again until i became sexually active following his birth when he was a year and a half old. with this baby i had only six weeks after her birth until my cycle started up again. needless to say, i preferred the year and a half!

I don't think it's imperative we all take estrogen supplements lest we age before our time. That's what antioxidants, exercise, and greens are for... and sex!! XD

One study I *can* site for everyone: I think it was called "Secrets of the Superyoung" (or something very close to that). People who have sex three times a week, regularly, have internal health/external appearances seven years younger than those who have sex two times/week or less. Interesting! :O

But in all seriousness, with a long-term proper raw diet, aren't hormone imbalances very unlikely? Especially for women, and barring extreme environmental influences, of course. From everything I've read so far, if I am still raw, active, and happy when I am 50, my condition should be much better than if I am standard cooked, sedentary, and unhappy, even post-menopause. Aging is a whole-body process, affected by so many choices and behaviors, it seems counter-intuitive that supplementing estrogen alone could make or break the decline into our final years.

And please don't misunderstand me for arguing, this is just my two cents, and like mentioned above, I'd be very curious to read otherwise, especially if it means being knowledgeable about my own well-being. =)

In the meantime, however, I must read these books and establish a foolproof method of tracking my cycles. I don't want to use plastics, I'm sensitive, and they destroy the intimacy. And just as an FYI, contact with semen also has many documented health-positive effects for a woman's body (lower breast cancer/depression statistics, happy-mood chemicals).

I do know that taking the pill decreases the risk of certain female-specific cancers... and increases the risk for others, so it's a tradeoff.

I had the pill for one month, it was low-dose. I wanted to cry all the time, I was always frustrated, had terrible brain fog, was nauseous 24/7 and could barely eat, my breasts got so huge and sore it felt like someone inflated them with a bicycle pump, and my period started on its own anyway a day before I switched to the placebos. Within two or three days off the drug I felt MAGICAL and like MYSELF again. I literally felt like a giant hormonal walrus, the pill had turned me into some kind of monster. That's why I feel very strongly that any kind of hormone manipulation is BAD. My whole body screamed in revolt for a month. Plus, there's additional pharmaceutical contamination of the water supply.

...and then I went raw. =) The pill did leave me spoiled, in the sense of having total sexual freedom, which is why I think it would be nice to approach ovulation as a science as much as possible. This is very un-mainstream, however. I did try and have a consultation with a doctor about alternate methods, just a request for information--and I got the UGLIEST LECTURE. Taking control of your body, when you could be marketed drugs, is so taboo nobody even wants to have a rational conversation about it. That recent experience left me even more sour with the medical establishment. I also want my own healthy litter of pups when I have a house of my own (in about two years! *crossing fingers*), and I need to be as healthy as possible for that--so things like IUDs, hormone manipulation, and vasectomies are totally out of the question.

Not that I could personally have a vasectomy, but you know what I mean.

alrighty then, who wants to have sex with me three times a week? just for the health and anti-aging purposes you understand... ;D

LOL coco



My website: The Coconut Chronicles

Haha....I'm glad you said that coco ...i was thinking it.

When I read that, I was like "damn, now that's something I can't get at the health food store. What am I going to do?... now I can feel my youth just slipping away."

Phantom, did the study you referred to mention whether a partner was necessary for the health benefits?
...just curious.

Greg

Aloha Nui Loa,

Greg

A great many people think they are thinking when they are really rearranging their prejudices. - William James

There is no pill that can be swallowed,
There is no guru, that can be followed, - Michael Franti (Pray For Grace)

The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion. - Albert Camus

what? you guys think that's funny?
i Was being serious.
don't wanna get all wrinkly before my time yo.

greg,

you crack me up!!! --- the question you asked about whether a partner is necessary--- is totally histerical!!


Sincerely,

joanna

I *did* get pregnant doing the Billings Method... could have been my error, but everyone I talked to about it said I "couldn't" have gotten pregnant then. I guess I was an extremely fertile person then. I would use it still 1) in conjunction with another method or 2) if getting accidentally pregnant was okay (even if not preferred). Standalone, no way, not worth the risk.

Synthetic hormones are not desirable, but they may be better for the body than an unwanted pregnancy, whether that results in induced abortion or an unwanted child. It is all circumstantial. As far as hormones go, Nuva Ring is lowest dose and much more difficult to mess up than the pill

i agree the pill is totally evil, at least in my experience and what i've witnessed with friends, etc.

i have a (detail oriented, intelligent) friend who used three different types of natural, self monitoring systems, including billings, and she has 3 (beautiful, well loved, well parented although unplanned) kids as a result. she always says the same thing "looking back, i know where i went wrong..."

you know, it's been a long time since i used the pill (last time was about 8 years ago) but it was always a nightmare for me too. the doctor tried those low dose single dose versions but it never made a difference. i always wanted to throw myself off a building from the mood swings and it totally killed my sex drive too. now that's effective birth control right there but kinda misses the whole point.

Greg, yes, the studies were with a partner. I've also read a lot about similar benefits with tantra-style practices, but haven't found much empirical data to defend those claims. =\ I think it has a lot to do with the chemical processes that are first triggered, and then heightened with a partner, that don't normally occur without one. Plus, trust, intimacy, security, etc., are all part of emotional well-being which does contribute to overall health.

<3 >8)

AND! Speaking of estrogen/premature aging/etc, this article just happened in my mailbox this morning from my Mercola newsletter!

[articles.mercola.com]

What a crazy world?!?!

Testing salts sounds best (with other methods, too), so I know exactly which days to use condoms, rather than making a very educated guess and adding extra days to allow a margin of error. I used to be regular every 25 days on the dime, but ever since I started some nasty antibiotics back in October (which was the whole reason I needed the pill--my body was in chaos for months), I have no idea what's going on now.

I very much believe that the pill is one of the worst things a woman can do to her body. Our hormones control basically all functions of our bodies, we should leave them be. Everybody I have talked to who has gone off the pill, has said that they didnt realize how 'not themselves' they had been on the pill until they went off. I personally went crazy and felt awful. Also have heard that Nuvaring has the highest risk of blood clots around, and that young and healthy women have serious complications that can often result in death. Now I have an IUD, the mirena which does have some hormone, but the entire thing contains as much progestin (no estrogen) as 5 bc pills. Thats it, and it stays in you for 5 years. Thats pretty low dose if you ask me. My boyfriend says it pokes him every once in a while, but nothing too serious to stop him =) Also, I can feel it in my tummy sometimes during sex or if I press on my belly, it kind of feels like when you have gas or something. Not bad. Its not perfect by any means, and yeah when I think about the fact that I have a plastic thing in my buisness it kind of grosses me out, but its the best thing I've found.