Hello everybody and welcome to a new episode of the Awaken Together podcast.
I'm Kat and today my good friend Bridget is going to be joining us as our guest speaker
talking all about periods.
It's kind of a big topic that us women have been taught that it's not cool to actually
vocalize and there's a lot of shame tied to it.
So I'm super excited to tell you a little bit about Bridget.
She is one of my favorite coworkers.
We work together right now.
She's a marketing baddie and she's also a female hormone coach.
So in thinking about who to have on this topic as our speaker, she was like the first person
to come to mind.
So without further ado, welcome Bridget.
Hey, what's up?
I'm so happy you're here.
I'm so thrilled to be here and I'm even more thrilled I got to pet your dog for like 20
minutes than I got here.
Oh my god.
Minnie is the happiest.
But yeah, so excited to just pick your brain a little bit.
You've been really helpful for me in my journey of getting off hormonal birth control.
Thank you.
You are honestly a big reason why I finally took the plunge and did it.
Honestly, it makes me feel so honored because I'm like, yay, what I'm doing is important.
It's so important.
It really matters.
And yeah, I love it if you could just share a little bit with our listeners of like how
you got into all this work, hormone health.
Yeah, it's kind of a wild story.
So when my husband and I were getting married, I decided to get back on birth control because
we were going in as newlyweds and we were like, okay, this is going to be like the exciting
times.
And I went to my gyno, got on birth control, and a couple months in, I had experienced
like very quick weight gain.
I had gained 25 pounds in three months.
And that's a that's a lot for me quickly, like over time, sure, whatever, but three
months, very fast.
And I started experiencing really intense depression and anxiety symptoms.
And as someone who has dealt with depression and anxiety since I was a teenager, I knew
what it felt like.
But these symptoms were some of the worst I had ever experienced.
I would wake up in the middle of the night with panic attacks where I couldn't breathe
for essentially no reason.
Like my life was fine.
Nothing wild was going on.
Like our marriage was doing well.
And I just could not figure it out.
I would go to the doctor and I couldn't get answers.
And so I started thinking, OK, this this can't be real.
They're telling me that I'm fine and it's just in my head and I just need to go home
and de-stress.
And that just didn't sit well in my soul.
So I started doing my own research because that's, you know, sometimes you get pushed
to the brink and you're like, well, if no one's going to listen to me, I'm going to
figure it out myself.
Oh, yeah.
And so my first like foot in the door was actually Dr. Jolene Brighton's book, Beyond
the Pill, because I had done a bit of Googling and come to the conclusion that, oh, surprisingly,
birth control can actually impact depression and anxiety.
And if it's symptoms that you already have, it can severely amplify them.
Wow.
So I started digging in.
I purchased her book and I read her book cover to cover within just like two weeks and immediately
decided.
I went to my husband, we talked about it and we were like, OK, we're going to go off
birth control.
We're just going to like figure it out as we go along, which was terrifying because
at the time I didn't know anything about the in-depth side of cycle syncing.
I didn't know what it meant to really track my cycle or understand my period.
And I had been so disconnected from my body that I had no clue.
And so it was terrifying at first.
We had like one pregnancy scare right away.
And after that, I was like, OK, I need to dial this in.
So over the course of, I think, maybe four years now, I've done a ton of research.
I went and got two health coaching certifications and have read every book I can get my hands
on to really dive in and understand the in-depth female hormone cycle.
And it's so much more comprehensive than we've been led to believe.
And it's so much more important and vital to our lives than we've led to believe.
Like it has genuinely been like scientifically shown to be another vital sign.
Like if you show up at the hospital, they're supposed to check your cycle health and they're
supposed to check your period to determine your overall well-being and health.
Which is crazy because that's new as in, I don't know, the last 10 years or so.
And that's it's so important and we don't pay attention to it.
And we're so disconnected from our bodies that if, oh, if you have really bad cramps
or if your breasts are sore or if you have headaches, like, oh, that's just PMS.
Like everyone has PMS.
It's no big deal when in a perfect world, we would not experience any issues and we
would be like bleeding free and live in our best life.
Yeah, you were telling me about this yesterday at work and that blew my mind that like experiencing
really sore boobs, like leading up to your period isn't just to be expected for everybody.
No, it shouldn't.
It shouldn't be something that we all have to deal with.
Cramps, headaches, fatigue, muscle soreness, just like overall mental tiredness.
I mean, anxiety, depression, mood shifts, acne, even any of that stuff shouldn't actually
be something we have to deal with.
And we have been so conditioned that, oh, women are just hormonal.
Women they just get angry one time of month and we just, oh, women are crazy.
We just got to expect that.
People with female hormones are crazy.
Like, we just have to expect that.
Like, whatever.
And that's just been ingrained and taught to us by the patriarchy.
That's not reality.
That is something that has been given to us and force fed to us to keep us in our places
and out of our power.
Oh my God.
Well, for so many things I want to say.
First, why does this happen to us?
In terms of the body, why do we experience the acne, the sore boobs, the really intense
cycles?
Like, what are some of the reasons?
I'm sure there's so many.
There are so many, but in layman's terms, it's a symptom or a sign of a hormone imbalance.
So like me personally right now, a couple of weeks ago, I went on a trip for my anniversary
and we were living large.
We were eating pizza for every meal.
We were drinking so many booze.
We were having a great time.
However, when I came home, my body was like, what the fuck, bro?
Why did you do that?
And so now, as I am currently menstruating today, I have had very gnarly PMS, which isn't
something that I commonly deal with.
Normally it's like, oh, maybe like a little bit off, but not like where I'm laid out and
have migraine.
You know, and it's typically because, oh, like for me, I have high estrogen.
So when you have high estrogen, you can sometimes have sore breasts, mood swings, acne, and
headaches are very common symptoms of having higher estrogen.
They are also symptoms of other hormone imbalances as well, but they are the ones most commonly
connected to estrogen.
And yeah, right now I'm trying to even them back out and get myself like back to homeostasis
which is not a fun process, but it's so valuable when you can even yourself out and know because
I know that how I am right now, this is not who I am because I know what how I feel when
I'm healthy is like, and a hormone imbalance is not anything to be scared of.
It's not anything that's going to destroy your life.
It's not going to, I mean, completely fuck you over.
It makes you feel like shit for sure, but it's not the end of the world and it is fixable.
Like with the right workout routine, the right food in your body, the right like exercise.
I already said workout, but like movement even outside of exercise, like going on walks
or things along those lines can so heavily impact you and heal you.
And even time with friends, like what we're doing right now, like that is a healing part
of the process.
And it's just, it's so crazy.
And I mean, hormone imbalance is a hormone imbalance and we honestly, we all have them.
Like they're that's, that's just the reality of it.
Like every woman on the planet probably has a hormone imbalance.
Every person with female hormones probably has a hormone imbalance.
Like we just, we just, yeah, we just do.
It's what you eat.
It's the products you put on and in your body.
It's the environment that you're in.
It's your job.
It's your exercise.
It's what you drink, what you listen to, what you watch, everything affects it.
It's insane.
Mind boggling.
Yeah.
Well, one thing that comes to mind too is PCOS, right?
Like polycystic ovarian syndrome.
I have some friends who have experienced this in the past, some former clients too, who
I've worked with and I'm not like a hormone coach.
So one thing that while I was researching, working with these women on the topic is that
one of the first things that doctors recommend to them as teens is to get on hormonal birth
control.
How do you feel about that?
I mean, okay.
So take this at the grain of salt because I'm not a doctor, but I don't think that should
be the first step in the process.
I firmly believe that there should be other avenues considered.
I think unfortunately a lot of our amazing doctors on this planet have so much education
around their speciality, but the body is not just one part.
The body is a whole and all of our systems are intertwined and work together.
And nutrition and lifestyle play a huge, huge part in that.
So literally going to McDonald's, I'm not hating on McDonald's, I love me some french
fries and some ice cream.
Don't get me wrong here, but if I'm eating McDonald's five times a week versus one time
a week, that is really impacting my hormones.
Versus if I'm having a smoothie for breakfast along with a piece of toast and some walnuts,
that is helping my hormones.
And it's not to say that weight has really much to do with it or anything along those
lines.
It's like, okay, what is your body telling you by how you feel?
Do you feel good right now?
Not like, oh, my pants don't fit.
It's like, yeah, sure, your pants don't fit, buy a bigger pair.
But do you feel mentally aware?
Do you feel like you have energy to hang out with your friends today?
Do you feel like you can go to that meeting at work and not take a nap in the back of
the room?
There are so many things that we can consider when it comes to health.
And I personally, like when I was 14, I got put on birth control, hormonal birth control,
just for acne.
Wow.
They didn't ask questions.
My mom, I mean, my mom didn't know anything.
She didn't ask questions, but they were like, hey, slap it on you.
And I was on birth control for eight years as a teen in my early 20s, which is why I
had to get back on it when I was getting married because I hadn't been on it for such a long
time.
I was like, it's fine, whatever.
But it's like what it does is it disconnects you from how you're actually feeling.
So when you go on hormonal birth control, essentially what it does is it stops your
natural hormone production.
So you don't ovulate because when you're not ovulating, you can't get pregnant.
So when it stops it, great.
We're not ovulating.
Okay, we can't get pregnant.
Like that's a win.
And I'm not going to say that birth control is like this horrible thing because it's done
a lot for women and people with female hormones.
It's done so much for us, which shout out, we probably wouldn't be able to vote if we
didn't have that sort of thing.
It's crazy.
But it completely disconnects us in a way that says, hey, I'm going to get rid of your
real hormones and I'm going to replace them with these synthetic hormones.
And I'm going to tell your body what it's feeling and I'm just going to cover up the
symptoms.
I'm not actually healing you.
I'm just kind of putting a bandaid on it so you can survive the thing versus healing,
which looks so much longer and so different.
And I know that you're kind of in the process of healing from hormonal birth control right
now and it's a long process.
Because typically, in most cases, it can take one month for every year that you are on hormonal
birth control to heal your real hormones.
That, yeah, learning that from you was like earth shattering for me thinking about like
I was on birth control, hormonal birth control for 11 years straight.
And then I took a little bit of a break before that, but cumulatively, probably like 16 years.
And so thinking about how it'll take me at least about a year for my body to fully heal,
to fully heal, that's earth shattering.
And it's just crazy because thinking like one day I want kids and my whole idea is to
have my body be in a really good healed shape where I'm not, my hormones are happy, my period's
normal.
I've had that like 11 months to a year where I'm just completely on my own and just balanced
out.
And so, yeah, I mean, kind of going back to one thing you said about modern medicine and
doctors and all of that, they're trained really, really well to treat symptoms.
Yes.
Not the root cause.
And so I think that's also why we're seeing so much of this.
Like in our nutrition school, IIN, that we both did, a big thing that I remember learning
is that in modern medicine, doctors, they are so knowledgeable on so many things, but
diet and lifestyle is not one.
Yes.
Yeah.
And so I have a funny little anecdote about this.
So my entire life, I had had really gnarly stomach issues and I would go to the doctor
and they're like, oh, you're just anxious.
You're just anxious.
And I was like, I don't know.
It doesn't feel like anxiety.
Like I know what anxiety feels like, doesn't feel like this.
And when I turned 22, I had like the worst stomach pain of my entire life.
I went to multiple doctors, had multiple blood tests done.
I literally, this is so dramatic, but I legitimately thought I was dying like, cause I could not
get out of bed.
I would get up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night and my roommate would
find me like passed out on the floor in the hallway of our dorm, like trying to walk to
the bathroom.
Luckily she was in school to be a nurse, so she loved it.
She was like, oh my God, I get to use all the things I'm learning at school.
And I was like, this is a great study.
I was like, this is great.
So I finally decided to like leave school and go back and live with my parents because
I was like, I am so physically ill.
I shouldn't be walking to school.
I shouldn't be walking to class.
So I go home and my mom's like, Hey, my friend told me about this really cool homeopathic
doctor and this is in Dallas, Texas.
And I'm like, okay, I've literally tried everything.
Like take me to whoever, whatever.
So I go in, I meet with this doctor and he like sets intentions and like brings in peace
into the room.
And before we even start the examination, he does a couple of presses on my like pelvis
and stomach.
He's like, okay, I'm going to have you go do a blood test.
He does blood tests.
I come back in the office.
I answer more questions and he's like, okay, well, good news is you're not dying.
We have to wait a little while to get your blood test results, but I think you're severely
allergic to gluten.
Wow.
And I'm like, what is gluten?
Like this was before everything and its mom was gluten free.
Right.
And I'm like, okay, like tell me more about it.
So he's like for the next two weeks, I want you to go home and just completely cut out
all gluten and come back to me and see how you feel and we'll go over your blood test
results.
So I turns out I completely removed gluten, literally healed in a week.
Oh my God.
That's insane.
Absolutely wild.
Like I, since that day, it's been, I don't know, eight years, nine years since I was
in his office and have not experienced even remotely the same pain that I did before because
I cut gluten out of my diet.
And that's like so crazy.
And just like one of the ways, but it's like Western medicine didn't catch this.
And because this person was trained on how lifestyle and nutrition also interacts and
impacts the body, I was able to like find healing in that.
And I was like, holy mackerel.
Oh my gosh.
And that's why like viewing health holistically is the only way that we can be doing it.
So important.
Oh my gosh.
I'm so happy you found those answers.
Finally.
Same.
God.
Yeah.
So, wow.
I mean, going back to like doctors using birth control as a crutch to treat like acne to
treat PCOS to treat so many different things.
Like it seems like a very much product of our society of like easy fixes.
Just like serotonin hits.
Just like quick fixes, easy wins.
And it's kind of like a laziness, I think.
Yeah, I struggle with that because I have such a soft spot for doctors, which is like
kind of silly because they kind of have screwed me over in so many circumstances.
But it's also that like they're not trained in school.
They don't know.
So most of the doctors that we're going in to see have, I mean, yes, they could go seek
out and they could all go get health integrative health coach degrees and certifications.
And yes, but like they've already done 12 years of school, like adding in another six
months to a year is not probably doesn't sound super appealing.
Right.
So yes, they could do that.
But also like they don't have that education.
So I have so much grace for it because we are in this space now where people like you
and me and dietitians and all of these kinds of people who do understand more about nutrition
and lifestyle exist on the planet, which is really cool because we get to kind of partner
with doctors in a way that's like, OK, like you read their blood tests or you take their
blood tests and I'll read them or however.
And then we can go over that and decide based off of that, like what the best plan to get
them started with would be.
Because in every instance, like sometimes you do need medication, you know, especially
for like mental health stuff.
Yeah.
Right.
Like in some instances, Western medicine is so valuable and so important.
But in other instances, it's like, OK, we wouldn't necessarily need as much medication
if we would just like swap this for this other thing.
It's like such a good perspective.
And I so agree.
And it becomes a point of like, who's teaching the doctors?
How can we get this information into their hands?
We could tear down the patriarchy.
Seriously.
Oh my God.
I mean, at the end of the day, like that is the root cause.
That is the root cause of all of it.
But that's another topic for another time.
It's all intertwined, right?
Yeah.
With you, it's I say this a lot, but we're in the age of Aquarius where old patterns,
there's no space for it.
And so this uprising of female energy and she's in a way at that patriarchal block.
We're doing it.
Yeah.
Just a lot of time.
When you say female energy, it just makes me really excited because the women that I've
worked with, like seeing them step into their power through connecting to their bodies or
like reconnecting to the true body that they live in is like one of the most impactful
and beautiful things I've ever seen.
I had this amazing client earlier this year and they came to me and they were like, I
just don't feel feminine.
Like I don't feel feminine in my body and I want to reconnect my feminine.
And through working with them, we discovered that it's not necessarily that they don't
that they need to reconnect to their feminine.
It was that they needed to reframe how they viewed feminine and masculine within themselves
because there are some people who are women and identify as women that present more masculinely
and that is totally okay.
That doesn't mean you don't have feminine energy.
It just means that within you, your person, it's flowing differently and that's not bad.
But through working with this client, we were able to understand that like, oh, their masculine
energy is actually working really well with their feminine energy.
And when they're hanging out with these people that have very high feminine energy, like
their partner, they even doubt and we're so cohesive and so sweet together.
And it was just like one of the most amazing things.
And it was so cool to see them realize like, oh, there's not actually anything wrong with
me.
Like I'm totally perfect and awesome.
Just the way that I am, I just needed to step into it.
And it was like, it was, it was so cool.
And I just like literally could cry thinking about them because like that was just the
sweetest moment ever.
It sounds so empowering.
And that's also where I see like the spiritual side of all of this work coming into play.
Yes.
One in a past episode, Jen and I talked about with astrology, reading your chart, you can
literally get a breakdown of your feminine and your masculine and how that balance works
out.
And with both Jen and I, we have more masculine placements than our husbands do.
And so we feel that like on a soul level because like here we are like being super strong independent
women and having husbands who like really encourage us to feel and talk about our emotions.
Yeah, that's so awesome.
Just like this watery element that both of us air signs really lack in our charts.
And so yeah, I think it all it's like yes and it's all together.
Yeah, it's so fucking cool.
Like just when we lean into that and what's so crazy is when we're on any type of hormonal
birth control, whether it's an IUD or a pill or a patch or an implant, whatever it is,
right, we because our body is not creating hormones anymore and it's being replaced
with chemicals or like chemical versions of hormones.
We the receptor that sends our brain signals of what's truly going on is like basically
just like shut down the lights turned off, it's on pause.
So when you're experiencing emotion, like there have actually been studies on this that
people have not chosen partners who are true to them because of being on hormonal birth
control.
Like it literally changes the way that your brain chemistry can work.
So like there are many people who have like gone off of hormonal birth control within
a relationship and been like, oh my god, like I'm not straight.
Or like, oh my god, you are like way too similar to me and like this just isn't like this just
doesn't work.
And it's so crazy to just see how when we are not connected to ourselves, our decisions
change.
Yeah.
And so when we are able to reconnect to our bodies and listen to the signals that sending
us into connect to our emotions and things like that, we become better business people.
We become better partners.
We become better friends.
We become better dog and cat moms and parents and plant parents and like literally better
in every way.
And this I've seen so much my own relationship with my husband because before when I was
on the pill, I was like, I could not communicate anything clearly.
Like we would get in arguments and I would just absolutely shut down.
And now I have the clarity to be like, okay, like I'm feeling this and what I need from
you is this.
And it's just helped him and me connect so much more deeply because I can advocate for
myself and he's also able to hear me better because I'm not reacting in a crazy, like
not true to me way.
Yeah.
Which is so insane.
I resonate too.
I resonate with that too.
And it feels like it feels like hormonal birth control acts as like a mask for intuitions
in some ways.
And yeah, for me, when I was on the pill, I called myself like the steadiest person I
ever knew, which is a weird thing to say.
Right?
Like Kyle would say it and like I had friends who would just say, yeah, you're always happy.
Like you're always just so steady and good.
And I'd be like, yeah, I am.
I'm the best.
I know.
I feel great all the time to a point where it was like maybe a little weird.
Yeah.
And then getting off the pill, I was completely rocked.
Like I was for the first two months just, and it didn't show up until maybe like a month
in.
But I around the time where I should have gotten my period based on like, yeah, I think
I remember this.
You remember?
Yeah.
It was one day at work where I just started crying.
Yeah.
When we were doing our personal check in of like, how are you?
And I was just like, I just started tearing up.
I was like not steady, which also totally okay.
Yeah.
It just felt so on me that I was just shocked.
And any little thing would set me off.
And I remember talking with Kyle because my cancer, my water husband just like so in touch
with his emotions.
And I remember being like, is this how you feel all the time?
He's like, yeah, dude.
I was just like previously so like unable to really connect with like the highs and
the lows because I was just so flat line steady all the time that it has now like that I have
leveled out my hormones a bit in three months since getting off of it.
Still haven't gotten my period, but it'll come.
Not pregnant.
This happened to me last time I got off the pill.
I didn't get it for nine months, just to say.
So I'm not really concerned.
We can do it.
We're here.
We're doing it.
We're able to connect so much more.
Because I have that sense of like empathy because I've felt now the highs and the lows
and I feel it more regularly on an ongoing basis.
It's done wonders for our relationship too.
I love that.
That's so good.
It's also like I think with what you do work wise, like working with so many different
people and personalities, it helps you to be able to really connect to them how they
need it in a way that's authentic versus like having to try and show up in that way when
you're like, but I don't feel like I can match you there because I haven't necessarily experienced
that emotion for myself recently or, you know, exactly.
Like I'm great at holding space before.
It's because like I was just steady all the time and I had like a built in guard.
Like I take on people's energies because I was just so steady.
And now I'm enjoying holding space for a different reason.
It's like I can connect a little bit deeper heart to heart.
But I can still draw my energy back and like put those ties.
Which that is such a valuable lesson to learn to like even through this process is understanding
where your energy ends and where someone else's begins.
Because when we aren't connected to our bodies, we can't figure that out.
It's so hard to be like, oh, that's not mine.
To not keep it or to like rinse it off or to throw it away or to like just literally
say that's not my energy.
We have a good friend at work.
And if someone comes in their space, that's like kind of off or like has bad vibes, they
will literally out loud say that's not mine.
I'm not keeping it.
Take it back.
Like after the person leaves, obviously, like you're not going to say to their face like,
hey, you have bad energy.
But like once they walk away and they're in their own area and like it's safe with people
that they know they're like, that's not my energy.
I'm not keeping that.
And I'm like, that is so impressive.
Just to understand and recognize that and be so in touch with yourself and your body
and understand like, okay, like, I don't need to absorb that today.
Yeah, hell yeah.
So cool.
I love it so much.
That's a great tip.
Yeah, throw it off.
Practice that more.
Just like speak it.
Yeah, we all needed you.
Exactly.
So I feel like we've gotten to the bottom that getting off of hormonal birth control,
if you're in the place in your life to do so, I mean, even to switch to another form
of birth control potentially is kind of like a spiritual practice.
I would say yeah, I'd say so.
Right.
So yeah, thinking about that.
And for any listeners that we might have who are interested to potentially start this process
for themselves.
Yeah.
What like first intro tips would you give?
First intro tips would be do your research before you get off and be prepared before
you get off for the shifts.
Because a lot of people that I have had the pleasure of working with or know as friends
and have like given recommendations to kind of just like this is what I did.
I kind of like read a book and was like, fuck it.
I'm just literally stopping the pill tomorrow.
Hell girl.
Which isn't recommended.
You shouldn't just like stop taking the pill.
You kind of need to like taper off of it because your body's used to taking it.
That if you just like jump ship, it could mess you up a little bit more than you needed
it to.
I am a testament to that.
So I would recommend slowly if you're on the pill, tapering it off.
And if you have like an IUD, I have a really good girlfriend who got her IUD out earlier
this year and she prepared a month in advance to get her IUD out.
And I want to say this is like, if you go to your gynecologist and they are not a functional
gynecologist or a homeopathic gynecologist or someone who understands the other side
of medicine, like nutritional lifestyle based, they will encourage you to stay on the pill
most likely and kind of not.
This is my friend's case and this was in my case as well as they were very adamant about
us not getting off of hormonal birth control because, oh, it's going to mess you up and
you're going to all of your all of your signs and symptoms are going to come back and you're
going to feel worse than before.
And like, yes, all of that is true, but it's not a reason to stay on birth control.
Seriously.
And it's also they aren't providing you with another resource.
They're not providing you with education.
And my recommendation would be if you really personally want to get off of hormonal birth
control, like go into the situation ready to advocate for yourself.
And if you can't advocate for yourself, bring someone in your life who you know can advocate
for you well on your behalf.
That's an awesome tip because like I know for me, if I told my husband, hey, I want
to go off hormonal birth control and we went to the doctor and I was feeling wishy washy,
he would advocate very heavily for me because I mean, well now he knows that I'm so much
better off of birth control because I actually understand myself.
But also like he wants me to feel healthy and well and he wants to fight for me in any
case scenario.
So if you have a friend like that, a parent, a partner, anybody that can advocate for you
if you're not in the space to do that for yourself, invite them along into your journey
because we all need that support.
And outside of that, I would say give yourself a month to prepare knowing what kind of food
you should eat coming off the pill that will help get your hormones in line, that can help
ease you into the process.
My best recommendation if you want something like if you can't hire a health coach or a
hormone coach would be to buy the book Beyond the Pill by Dr. Jolene Brighton and the book
Woman Code by Alyssa Vede.
Those are my top two recommendations for people who want to do the research themselves and
want to learn how to come off the pill in a healthy, holistic, sustainable way.
Just because all of our bodies are so different.
This is a big thing they teach to us in IIN where Kat and I both went is bio individuality.
How I am coming off the pill might be so different than how Kat experienced coming off the pill.
And my friend who came off her IUD is so different than how I experienced it.
She bounced back super quickly.
Her body within two and a half months, she was having her period regularly.
She was not having really bad cramps.
She bounced back very, very quickly.
But I also believe that's because she started prepping herself before.
And then I would say my next recommendation would be to use a condom every single time
you have sex until you understand your cycle.
Because personal snafus over here, if you don't, you could wind up with a pregnancy
scare.
And usually, that's not what you want.
No, not right away.
Any of us like pregnancy scares.
I think it's safe to say.
Yeah, we're trying to avoid those at all costs, most likely.
So I would say like, go into talk with your partner.
And most likely, if your partner is supportive of you coming off the pill, they will be like,
oh, for sure, like, I'll totally use a condom.
And if they don't, that's a whole other discussion for another day.
Yeah, let's really reconsider that partner.
But you know, that's just my personal opinion.
But use a condom every single time until you are very, very, very dialed into your cycle.
And then my next recommendation would be to start taking it easier on yourself when it
comes to physical movement.
Like if you know, in the next month and a half, you want to come off the pill, like
maybe don't train for a marathon.
You know, let's do some disheveled girl walks.
Let's let's do some pilates.
Let's go to yoga.
Like maybe don't do a sculpt class like maybe do like a power vinyasa or like, like a cool
down or some Hatha or something like more chill and really focus on like slowing down
your body and tuning in and listening more.
And also I would strongly advocate, I'm sure met Kat would as well for meditation.
Meditation is such a great way to learn how to listen to yourself more clearly and to
sit with yourself more clearly because that is something while being on birth control
that you don't necessarily get the power to do.
So when you come off, everything's going to be crazy.
And you'll really want to learn how to tune in and understand like what's actually happening
versus what's like a symptom of coming off the pill or what is like your hormones waving
and know what your true north is.
Absolutely.
So it sounds like leaning into the feminine energies of like slowness, the left side,
the cool side, slowing down and.
Yeah.
If I could, I can do bullet points for you.
So talk with your doctor, ease off of birth control.
If you can, I would ease different.
If you can't advocate for yourself, bring someone with you.
Start to prepare a month in advance by doing research.
Read some books like Beyond the Pill by Dr. Jolene Brighton and Woman Code by Elissa
Vitti or listen to them if you're more of a listener.
That's me.
I mean, it's great for a walk.
Slow down your movement.
So take it slow and add in meditation.
Amazing tips.
I wish I had asked you about this.
Before, I just lost my pill at Electric Forest and decided that's it.
It's a sign from the universe.
We're doing it.
We're getting off it right now.
And then I found it like two months later.
I was like, well, we're off.
I will say if that does happen to any of the listeners, do not be worried.
Kat's handling it very well.
Thank you.
And you also like I did the same thing.
I was just like, I'm getting off the pill tomorrow.
So I just like literally threw away my pill pack and was like, we're doing it.
Not the best idea, but it's not the end of the world.
You can still totally heal your hormones and you can work your way back to equilibrium.
It just might look a little bit differently than if you are able to prepare.
So if that does happen to you or if you are just a wild card and you decide, fuck it,
I'm going to throw it away and I don't care.
You know what?
We can do this.
You've got it.
You're fine.
And I also want to say that clearly after hearing all of this knowledge from Bridget,
she is an expert on this and this is literally what she does as a female hormone health coach.
So ways to connect with Bridget because she, I mean, if any of this sounds like a lot of
information, it is.
It would be such a great service to yourself to tap into someone who could help you high
level with all of this and get into it and just have a little cheerleader because you're
so that for me.
Thanks.
Thank you.
Yeah.
What are some ways that our listeners can connect with you?
Well on Instagram, I am at the desertmoon.co and I also have a TikTok, but that's just
outfit of the days.
So if you are interested in hormones, Instagram is the place to be.
If you're interested in outfits, TikTok is the place to be, which is the desertmoonco
all one.
And then I have a website, which is the desertmoon.co also linked in my bio on TikTok and on Instagram.
And I recently, this has been something very requested and released a female hormones for
the bros guide.
So one thing I've come across in my work is that a lot of men have a hard time understanding
all of the in-depthness of the female hormone cycle because it's not within their bodies.
So of course they're going to connect very differently.
And through working on this myself and helping friends, I've just learned and discovered
that like boyfriends, partners, husbands, brothers, cousins, dads, all need the education.
So this guide is a very layman's terms breakdown of the cycle phases, cycle syncing, how to
plan a date for your partner in whatever phase they're in, foods, things like that.
So easy to grasp booklet I wrote on behalf of men for men or people who identify as men
so they can connect more easily to the feminine piece of the hormone cycle.
Kat, thank you so much for creating that.
I'm literally going to go on your website after this and buy it.
It's $20.
$15.
What a steal.
And it has been vetted by many, many men.
I've had my brothers, my dad, my husband, all of my husband's friends read through this
and my brother-in-law and give me notes.
Amazing.
And so it's been very vetted by men.
You've done your research.
You're handsome.
Yeah, I tried.
Amazing.
Oh, I can't wait to dig into that.
And listeners, if you have any further questions for us, for Brigitte, connect with us on social
at Awaken Together podcast or the desertmoon.co and we, I feel like I want to have you on
again for all the details of the cycle.
I'll be back.
Oh yeah.
There's so much we can learn from you.
Oh, there's a lot.
Thank you so much.
Yeah, I had so much fun being here and I just, I love it.
I'm so glad we get to spend so much time together.
Me too.
I love you.
All right, everybody.
We'll see you next time.
Bye.