what tips would you recommend for women? So today we're going to talk about how to have
better periods without the use of hormonal birth control and a lot of that is about
supporting the body generally to support healthy periods because a healthy menstrual cycle is
an expression of general health. This is something I talk about in my book,
period of perimmanuel. We talked about this a little bit in our other episode together and how
it is possible for most women to have close to symptomless periods which goes against the
narrative that periods are somehow inherently painful or difficult. In my 25, almost 30 years
experience with patients, I have just found that for almost everyone there are some, in some cases,
very simple ways to feel better. So what we could do perhaps is just talk through some of the common,
most common menstruation or period symptoms and just some tips, some ideas that might help women
troubleshoot those. Yeah, that'd be awesome. Yeah, so start with the most common situation
which is either a lack of periods or irregular periods because as people know, a healthy
menstrual, healthy natural menstrual cycle should arrive approximately every month. It doesn't have
to be exactly 28 days. That's a myth. Most women don't have a clockwork 28-day cycle. There's a
range for an adult woman anywhere from about a period coming every 21 days to every 35 days
is normal and it can sort of move around within that from month to month. And just a reminder,
as we talked about in our other podcast, pill, what I call pill bleeds or birth control induced
bleeds are not menstrual cycles. So there's actually no medical reason to bleed monthly
on hormonal birth control. So what we're talking about today is, you know, having the, what a
natural menstrual cycle should be like. And so if it's not coming regularly, then as I talk about
in all my books, you know, the first step, it is important to speak to the doctor and try to
understand, rule out some, for example, some of the more, some of the less common explanations
for a lack of periods. So the periods, and I list some of those reasons in my book, I provide
a list of questions for the doctor to try to work through some of the possibilities. But at the end
of the day, for a lot of women, especially young women, there's two kind of common reasons for
irregular periods or lack of periods. And one is under eating. So not eating enough is a surefire
way to lose a period. So once some of the other explanations have been ruled out, then, and there's
a few signs of symptoms, women can, and doctors can look at to identify that the problem is
under eating. And then the solution is just to eat more calories, or in some cases, more carbohydrates,
because a low carb diet in some women can also shut down periods. So that's the one common reason
for irregular periods. Another common reason is something called polycystic ovary syndrome, or PCOS,
which is super common, affects at least one in 10 women, possibly more, and it's becoming more common
and I've dedicated almost a whole chapter in my book, Periodic Perum manual, to polycystic ovary
syndrome and all the different signs and symptoms, which include weight gain, facial hair, irregular
periods, and there's some different tips for improving that. There's a supplement called
Inositol. I can provide you with a citation for that. That's a very, one of the more evidence
based supplements that's out there. It can help to regulate periods and relieve some of the symptoms
associated with PCOS. And there's various other medications and diet changes and supplements
that can help as well. Should we move on to some of the other common symptoms? Yeah,
go ahead. You mentioned how to have periods without hormonal birth control. Would you like to talk
something more about that? Well, just to state again, that the bleed that is induced on combined
methods of hormonal birth control, the estrogen methods, those are not menstrual cycles. They're
just induced, the medication has just induced a bleed and there's actually no reason to do that
monthly. So if someone, just to give the scenario, if someone wasn't having periods, it was having
irregular periods and then went on the pill to in air quotes, regulate the period. It hasn't
actually done that. It's masked it. It's created a monthly bleed, which kind of looks like a
menstrual cycle, but it's not. And one of the biggest problems with that approach is that it
masks the underlying problem. So the underlying reason for the lack of periods will not have been
addressed and will likely not go away. And so then this is something a lot of my patients have
discovered is they might've got on the pill 10 years before they see me to regulate their period
and then had tried coming off it and their periods still irregular, still missing, which is no
surprise. And so then finally they have an opportunity to investigate and try to figure
out what's going on with their actual hormonal system. Because a regular menstrual cycle is an
expression of health. So this is recognized across all disciplines. In 2016, the American College of
Obstetricians and Gynecologists released a pretty radical statement saying that the menstrual cycle
is a vital sign, which means that young women and their doctors should be looking to see that they
are having a fairly regular natural menstrual cycle because that's the time that everything is
going well, not only with their reproductive system, but with their health generally.
So that was really great when they released that statement. I talked about that in
my book, Periodic Permanual, and just how pleased everyone in the natural medicine world was when
we finally sort of got that official word that, yeah, natural menstrual cycles are a good thing.
So do you recommend non-hormonal pills or do you not recommend any pills
when it comes to birth control?
Oh yeah, well, we can talk, before we resume our survey of period problems, I can talk a little bit
about other methods of avoiding pregnancy, which is, yeah, it can be quite helpful. And again,
there's a whole chapter about that in Periodic Permanual, but at the moment we have about five
or six good methods that are non-hormonal. There are more coming. I'll just preface my
listing of the methods to say there's a new male method coming, which is what they call a
vasoclusive method, which is actually just undergone, I think, second level clinical trials
in Australia. So I love that Australian scientists are stepping up to the plate to
try to bring this research to people, bring this new strategy, this new option, contraceptive
options. It's kind of like a reversible vasectomy. So it's non-hormonal, it's for men, and
it potentially means all their female partners don't have to take birth control anymore.
So that's coming, hopefully, in the next few years. The other current methods we have are condoms,
which I'm a huge fan of, actually a lot, especially for young people. I think condoms
are great. And then a couple things with condoms, they have to fit properly, they have to be a good
quality condom. And then, you know, the other thing that I'm going to talk about is, you know,
a good quality condom. And then I do, in my work, I think it's important for couples to have access,
women to have access to emergency contraception in the unlikely event of a condom breakage, which is
unlikely. And the emergency, the so-called morning after pill, is really just like the pill. It's the
same medication that's in the pill. It works by preventing ovulation, except that you're taking
it maybe never, or maybe only, you know, once every few years, rather than every day. So, you know,
from that perspective, I think that's better for women's health. And then some of the other
methods, there are the intrauterine devices or the IUDs. There's one, a non-hormonal one, which is
copper, basically just impairs sperm by a copper ion. So that's another reasonable option. It can
cause heavier flow, which is why some women can't take it, but they can't use it. And then there's a
hormonal IUD, which is actually increasingly popular. And I would say it's of all the types
of hormonal birth control, it's one that is more friendly potentially to female biology, because it
doesn't shut down the hormonal system the way pretty much all other methods, hormonal methods,
do. So with the hormonal IUD, women get to have their own hormones, which is a plus, and they get
to have the benefits of those hormones for bones and mood and cardiovascular system. But they also
do have some of the medication, the leave, what's called, it's a medication called leave and adjust
for all that's released by the hormonal IUD. It does have some effects, it can affect mood and
breasts and other things. Yeah, and then there's a few others, this sort of modern versions of the
diaphragm or what's called a cervical cap. And then finally, popular amongst some groups of women
and couples is what's called fertility awareness based methods, which is all the kind of modern
ways of tracking ovulation, often with temperatures, and not guessing at, but actually
determining the fertile window, and then either abstaining or using condoms or something during
the fertile window. Because fun fact, men are fertile every day, women are fertile, really
own technically only one day per cycle per month. But it translates into about six or seven days
because firm can live for five or six days. So you've got to factor that in calculate that when
you're so this is becoming more popular, there's a couple of approved algorithms or what they call
that what they call femtech that can help with this and women can understand their fertile window.
People can find that sort of information in the show notes. Yeah.
Awesome. Well, thank you for sharing that with us today. Yeah.
You have more to add to it? I know, but I mean, those are the primary non hormonal methods at the
moment. And like I said, we're just everyone's hoping for 2025. I mean, I think scientists are
on the case working on other strategies. The best one is probably the one I mentioned at the top,
which is like essentially a reversible vasectomy, which I personally think is going to be a
game changer for society for couples for women. Just again, to shift the burden of birth control.
Oh, wait, in part in part away from women. Yeah. So should we continue our survey or people are
wondering some survey of common period problems and just a few tips? We talked about irregular
periods or absent periods. That's a very common one. I mean, the next thing a lot of women struggle
with is painful periods, painful and or heavy periods. And so I'll just say, they're really
very periods really shouldn't be painful. To my lens, a healthy menstrual cycle is relatively
painless. And also in terms of heaviness, women shouldn't lose more than about 18 milliliters of
menstrual fluid over all the days of bleeding. So that's about equivalent to about five tablespoons
or the contents of one egg over all the days. So of course, some women lose a lot more blood than
that. And that if they're listening to this and thinking what I'm describing sounds very low,
then they maybe should talk with their doctor because it's not normal to bleed heavily. And
there are different strategies that I talk about in my book and on my podcast about how to
troubleshoot heavy periods, these different explanations, for example, just having another
hormonal problem, the common situation of undirected thyroid, or what's called hypothyroidism
can make periods heavier. So that's an example of if that's the explanation, then you want to treat
thyroid hormone and that will lighten flow. So that's just one possibility. I mean, I talk about
a few a couple of other things to try is I have certainly found over the decades and you know,
other talk to lots of other doctors who have found the same thing that for some women,
cows dairy, especially if they have a dairy sensitivity can make periods heavier. And some
of that to do with a part of the immune system that releases histamine can react to dairy and
that can play a role in heavier flow. And then I'll just give a little plug for the simple nutrient
zinc. People can buy zinc supplements for next to no money at all. There was a clinical trial.
Using zinc in young women to relieve period pain and they found it to be as effective as the pill,
which is great news because zinc is inexpensive and also, you know, doesn't shut down the hormonal
system. Thank you for being here today. I'm really happy that you tuned in to Vision Pros live. I'm
looking forward to seeing your reactions as these episodes continue to move forward. This is going
to get more and more fun while I'm here. I'm going to be doing a lot of research on this. So
more and more fun. We'll have more and more engagement as well. We'll invite people to
participate in the show and thank you for giving us your time and attention. Have an
excellent time building out your vision and becoming a Vision Pro yourself.