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what tips would you recommend for women? So today we're going to talk about how to have

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better periods without the use of hormonal birth control and a lot of that is about

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supporting the body generally to support healthy periods because a healthy menstrual cycle is

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an expression of general health. This is something I talk about in my book,

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period of perimmanuel. We talked about this a little bit in our other episode together and how

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it is possible for most women to have close to symptomless periods which goes against the

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narrative that periods are somehow inherently painful or difficult. In my 25, almost 30 years

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experience with patients, I have just found that for almost everyone there are some, in some cases,

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very simple ways to feel better. So what we could do perhaps is just talk through some of the common,

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most common menstruation or period symptoms and just some tips, some ideas that might help women

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troubleshoot those. Yeah, that'd be awesome. Yeah, so start with the most common situation

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which is either a lack of periods or irregular periods because as people know, a healthy

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menstrual, healthy natural menstrual cycle should arrive approximately every month. It doesn't have

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to be exactly 28 days. That's a myth. Most women don't have a clockwork 28-day cycle. There's a

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range for an adult woman anywhere from about a period coming every 21 days to every 35 days

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is normal and it can sort of move around within that from month to month. And just a reminder,

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as we talked about in our other podcast, pill, what I call pill bleeds or birth control induced

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bleeds are not menstrual cycles. So there's actually no medical reason to bleed monthly

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on hormonal birth control. So what we're talking about today is, you know, having the, what a

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natural menstrual cycle should be like. And so if it's not coming regularly, then as I talk about

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in all my books, you know, the first step, it is important to speak to the doctor and try to

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understand, rule out some, for example, some of the more, some of the less common explanations

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for a lack of periods. So the periods, and I list some of those reasons in my book, I provide

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a list of questions for the doctor to try to work through some of the possibilities. But at the end

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of the day, for a lot of women, especially young women, there's two kind of common reasons for

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irregular periods or lack of periods. And one is under eating. So not eating enough is a surefire

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way to lose a period. So once some of the other explanations have been ruled out, then, and there's

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a few signs of symptoms, women can, and doctors can look at to identify that the problem is

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under eating. And then the solution is just to eat more calories, or in some cases, more carbohydrates,

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because a low carb diet in some women can also shut down periods. So that's the one common reason

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for irregular periods. Another common reason is something called polycystic ovary syndrome, or PCOS,

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which is super common, affects at least one in 10 women, possibly more, and it's becoming more common

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and I've dedicated almost a whole chapter in my book, Periodic Perum manual, to polycystic ovary

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syndrome and all the different signs and symptoms, which include weight gain, facial hair, irregular

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periods, and there's some different tips for improving that. There's a supplement called

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Inositol. I can provide you with a citation for that. That's a very, one of the more evidence

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based supplements that's out there. It can help to regulate periods and relieve some of the symptoms

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associated with PCOS. And there's various other medications and diet changes and supplements

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that can help as well. Should we move on to some of the other common symptoms? Yeah,

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go ahead. You mentioned how to have periods without hormonal birth control. Would you like to talk

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something more about that? Well, just to state again, that the bleed that is induced on combined

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methods of hormonal birth control, the estrogen methods, those are not menstrual cycles. They're

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just induced, the medication has just induced a bleed and there's actually no reason to do that

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monthly. So if someone, just to give the scenario, if someone wasn't having periods, it was having

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irregular periods and then went on the pill to in air quotes, regulate the period. It hasn't

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actually done that. It's masked it. It's created a monthly bleed, which kind of looks like a

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menstrual cycle, but it's not. And one of the biggest problems with that approach is that it

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masks the underlying problem. So the underlying reason for the lack of periods will not have been

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addressed and will likely not go away. And so then this is something a lot of my patients have

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discovered is they might've got on the pill 10 years before they see me to regulate their period

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and then had tried coming off it and their periods still irregular, still missing, which is no

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surprise. And so then finally they have an opportunity to investigate and try to figure

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out what's going on with their actual hormonal system. Because a regular menstrual cycle is an

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expression of health. So this is recognized across all disciplines. In 2016, the American College of

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Obstetricians and Gynecologists released a pretty radical statement saying that the menstrual cycle

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is a vital sign, which means that young women and their doctors should be looking to see that they

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are having a fairly regular natural menstrual cycle because that's the time that everything is

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going well, not only with their reproductive system, but with their health generally.

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So that was really great when they released that statement. I talked about that in

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my book, Periodic Permanual, and just how pleased everyone in the natural medicine world was when

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we finally sort of got that official word that, yeah, natural menstrual cycles are a good thing.

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So do you recommend non-hormonal pills or do you not recommend any pills

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when it comes to birth control?

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Oh yeah, well, we can talk, before we resume our survey of period problems, I can talk a little bit

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about other methods of avoiding pregnancy, which is, yeah, it can be quite helpful. And again,

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there's a whole chapter about that in Periodic Permanual, but at the moment we have about five

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or six good methods that are non-hormonal. There are more coming. I'll just preface my

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listing of the methods to say there's a new male method coming, which is what they call a

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vasoclusive method, which is actually just undergone, I think, second level clinical trials

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in Australia. So I love that Australian scientists are stepping up to the plate to

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try to bring this research to people, bring this new strategy, this new option, contraceptive

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options. It's kind of like a reversible vasectomy. So it's non-hormonal, it's for men, and

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it potentially means all their female partners don't have to take birth control anymore.

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So that's coming, hopefully, in the next few years. The other current methods we have are condoms,

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which I'm a huge fan of, actually a lot, especially for young people. I think condoms

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are great. And then a couple things with condoms, they have to fit properly, they have to be a good

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quality condom. And then, you know, the other thing that I'm going to talk about is, you know,

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a good quality condom. And then I do, in my work, I think it's important for couples to have access,

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women to have access to emergency contraception in the unlikely event of a condom breakage, which is

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unlikely. And the emergency, the so-called morning after pill, is really just like the pill. It's the

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same medication that's in the pill. It works by preventing ovulation, except that you're taking

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it maybe never, or maybe only, you know, once every few years, rather than every day. So, you know,

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from that perspective, I think that's better for women's health. And then some of the other

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methods, there are the intrauterine devices or the IUDs. There's one, a non-hormonal one, which is

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copper, basically just impairs sperm by a copper ion. So that's another reasonable option. It can

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cause heavier flow, which is why some women can't take it, but they can't use it. And then there's a

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hormonal IUD, which is actually increasingly popular. And I would say it's of all the types

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of hormonal birth control, it's one that is more friendly potentially to female biology, because it

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doesn't shut down the hormonal system the way pretty much all other methods, hormonal methods,

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do. So with the hormonal IUD, women get to have their own hormones, which is a plus, and they get

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to have the benefits of those hormones for bones and mood and cardiovascular system. But they also

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do have some of the medication, the leave, what's called, it's a medication called leave and adjust

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for all that's released by the hormonal IUD. It does have some effects, it can affect mood and

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breasts and other things. Yeah, and then there's a few others, this sort of modern versions of the

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diaphragm or what's called a cervical cap. And then finally, popular amongst some groups of women

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and couples is what's called fertility awareness based methods, which is all the kind of modern

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ways of tracking ovulation, often with temperatures, and not guessing at, but actually

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determining the fertile window, and then either abstaining or using condoms or something during

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the fertile window. Because fun fact, men are fertile every day, women are fertile, really

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own technically only one day per cycle per month. But it translates into about six or seven days

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because firm can live for five or six days. So you've got to factor that in calculate that when

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you're so this is becoming more popular, there's a couple of approved algorithms or what they call

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that what they call femtech that can help with this and women can understand their fertile window.

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People can find that sort of information in the show notes. Yeah.

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Awesome. Well, thank you for sharing that with us today. Yeah.

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You have more to add to it? I know, but I mean, those are the primary non hormonal methods at the

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moment. And like I said, we're just everyone's hoping for 2025. I mean, I think scientists are

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on the case working on other strategies. The best one is probably the one I mentioned at the top,

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which is like essentially a reversible vasectomy, which I personally think is going to be a

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game changer for society for couples for women. Just again, to shift the burden of birth control.

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Oh, wait, in part in part away from women. Yeah. So should we continue our survey or people are

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wondering some survey of common period problems and just a few tips? We talked about irregular

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periods or absent periods. That's a very common one. I mean, the next thing a lot of women struggle

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with is painful periods, painful and or heavy periods. And so I'll just say, they're really

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very periods really shouldn't be painful. To my lens, a healthy menstrual cycle is relatively

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painless. And also in terms of heaviness, women shouldn't lose more than about 18 milliliters of

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menstrual fluid over all the days of bleeding. So that's about equivalent to about five tablespoons

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or the contents of one egg over all the days. So of course, some women lose a lot more blood than

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that. And that if they're listening to this and thinking what I'm describing sounds very low,

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then they maybe should talk with their doctor because it's not normal to bleed heavily. And

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there are different strategies that I talk about in my book and on my podcast about how to

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troubleshoot heavy periods, these different explanations, for example, just having another

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hormonal problem, the common situation of undirected thyroid, or what's called hypothyroidism

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can make periods heavier. So that's an example of if that's the explanation, then you want to treat

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thyroid hormone and that will lighten flow. So that's just one possibility. I mean, I talk about

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a few a couple of other things to try is I have certainly found over the decades and you know,

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other talk to lots of other doctors who have found the same thing that for some women,

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cows dairy, especially if they have a dairy sensitivity can make periods heavier. And some

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of that to do with a part of the immune system that releases histamine can react to dairy and

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that can play a role in heavier flow. And then I'll just give a little plug for the simple nutrient

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zinc. People can buy zinc supplements for next to no money at all. There was a clinical trial.

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Using zinc in young women to relieve period pain and they found it to be as effective as the pill,

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which is great news because zinc is inexpensive and also, you know, doesn't shut down the hormonal

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system. Thank you for being here today. I'm really happy that you tuned in to Vision Pros live. I'm

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looking forward to seeing your reactions as these episodes continue to move forward. This is going

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to get more and more fun while I'm here. I'm going to be doing a lot of research on this. So

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more and more fun. We'll have more and more engagement as well. We'll invite people to

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participate in the show and thank you for giving us your time and attention. Have an

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excellent time building out your vision and becoming a Vision Pro yourself.