Alternatives to Use of Pill For Medical Reasons

[Maria1212]

Ok, darlin’, I’m gonna’ tell it to you like it is.
I read a bunch of the responses to your query and they all contain fluff, as far as I’m concerned. Get right in your spirit with the Lord, and that will be your first sterp… NO IUD. It CAN injure you and impare your ability to have children in the long run. My best friend, now childless at about age 50, WORE ONE FOR YEARS. And you may be abstaining now, but no one can predict the future. You might slip. You, God forbid, could get raped. Then where would the baby be? Dead. The pill could kill you, and it won’t give you a long-term thought-out and already comfortable/workable solution for when Mr. Right walks in the door-then you’ll just have to disturb his peace by putting him through angst you should have already handled by the time he gets there. Hey-you are in Japan. This is bothering you THERE. MAYBE it’s God’s will that you actually find a good Japanese “Reproductive Endocrinologist” while you are there!? Maybe that’s really WHY God DOES have you there in the first place? It cracks me up to see others go through stuff I went through-somewhat in your case-we all, so often, assume we already know the path, but just not what to do about the problem. Accept that you ARE in Japan and your problem IS now/there. (Path.) Problem: Have you been thoroughly examined for fibroids? Have you used Dioscorea/Wild Mexican Yam? Natural Progesterone? Are you Anemic? Have you had an abortion in the past? Could there be left-over fetal tissue causing this issue as if it were a fibroid? Do you have Endometriosis? Have you seen a Chinese herbalist in Japan? What about Accupuncture? What about D&C? Mannatech? I took the pill for a very long time and finally begged my (Repro-Endo-Gyn) doctor to help me get my ovaries and therefore menstruation to operate naturally-since my diagnosis was PCO. The Minconized Progesterone-compounded by a bioidentical pharmacist works wonders compared to it’s counterpart from the regular pharmicist. Neither of the options you are being given are from God and thus the reason you are asking for help, because confusion doesn’t come from God and both of your alternatives thus far are not morally acceptable, or healthy for that matter, sorry to say. Seek and find God’s perfect will in His time. Go to LHLA.org for a good show in April or May about Catholic Reproductive Endocrinology info and acceptable alternative therapies. Also, Priests for Life.org “Offer it up!”

Thank you for your suggestions. I appreciate your concern. I have had extensive examinations, and no stone was left unturned. I also met with multiple doctors so I could hear their various opinions. I have tried alternative medicines, which must be used carefully, and did not help me. Moreover, some alternative medicines have very serious side effects, and some are very dangerous.

For some, using medicines that happen to have a contraceptive side effect can be a slippery slope, but that in itself does not make the medicine evil.

I want to be clear in that I was not/ am not seeking medical advice. While I appreciate your concern, when it comes to medical issues, I leave that to the professionals.

Sincerely,

Maria1212

 

[AleGenoa]

If I am allowed to speak, as I am a man …
We all agree that today your issue is only medical, tomorrow (when married) it will become also a moral one.

I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for a new medical breakthrough giving you a solution within a few years, still it could happen.
As of now, you are facing quite a conundrum. My deep sympathy. In a world where tossing a 3 months old fetus into trash is deemed normal, you are concerned about the future risk of unknowingly killing a bunch of 7 days old human beings (sons and daughters).

The IUD is more prominently focused on preventing implant than the pill, but you tell us it is also a better treatment for your condition…
Since it’s a moral issue at stake, and both could kill, I wouldn’t make a big fuss about the differences.
One can argue for or against both of them (the Catholic of course against), but I don’t see a scenario where to say: “Pill ok, IUD no way” or the opposite.
Who could say it’s acceptable to maybe kill 6 embryos during your lifetime, with a regular pill usage, instead of, say, 23 caused by a IUD?
Of course I am making up those numbers, because I don’t have any idea of the actual likelihoods (AFAIK, no one does, and the big pharma are concerned only in hiding and downplaying this problem). Maybe the actual average numbers are a lot less, but still…
We can reasonably say the IUD kills more than the pill; but killing less is not enough.

This is the typical situation like when a guy says: “I saw a mafia killing, should I denounce the killer, even knowing that witnesses face a premature death?”, where I feel guilty pointing out what’s moral, because I don’t live in Sicily, I’ll never have to deal with Mafia, so it’s easy to tell people what to do when the circumstances require heroism on their part, while things are easy for the moralist who isn’t facing the same serious burdens.
Still, the dilemma here (for a wife with your condition) is serious: being sick for a great part of the month, killing some humans, or renounce having a sexual life at all?
If the surgery is just partially impairing your conceiving ability, I’d go for that as a last resort just before marriage: that would just mean needing some more activity to get a child (pardon me); of course, if the likely loss in fertility is serious you couldn’t go this way…
The only other solution I could see, barring any good news from doctors, is to get some months of pill or, say, a 1-year-IUD use without having sex, then get back to a normal marital life for the months/year the cycles stay regular, then when the hormones effects disappear and you get another bad cycle, back to hormones, rinse and repeat… Ouch, this is tough! I’ll pray for you. This seems to make sense morally, if it’s medically acceptable also. It’s far from good.

Still, I believe there may be other factors, like growing older, or delivering a baby (or even the prolonged hormone treatment?) that could permanently alter your cycle, making it somewhat regular.
So things could eventually get a lot easier than we may fear now.

You asked for advice about what to do presently, not gloomy future forecasts. Ok, the only non-medical evaluation to take now
is about how today’s treatments could influence your future. If I were you, I would try to find a concerned and competent doctor to tell you what to do to* hope* to stop using hormones a few years from now. Does using that IUD for say, 4 years, determine A) a positive effect, so that even after removing it the hormone balance is permanently altered for the better? Or maybe B) is this indifferent? Or C) does prolonged use make your body dependent on the IUD, so that the more you keep it, the more you need it to stay to avoid bad symptoms?
Obviously in case of A) my suggestion is to run to get one; if B), you can use it now but after marriage it becomes sinful; if C), you better find another solution.

So, my advice for now is: get to know more, especially about long term effects.
God bless you (excuse my overly long answer).

 

[Eliza10]

Christine Northrup is a practising gynocologist who wrote Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom. What she has to say on the topic of heavy periods and other woman’s issues is very interesing and may be of help, as she has a unique approach. In short, she says these physical issues have emotional roots, and both a medical and emotional approach is needed; a medical approach alone is unlikely to solve the problem, she says.

I’m sure if you look it up on Amazon you can learn a lot from the reviews. Also so many copies are out there that I’m sure you could find it on half.com if you are interested.

http://www.minthorn.com/alongthecreek36x48.JPG

 

[Listener]

I wish I could offer a solution. I had a hysterectomy many years ago because of the problems you mention. I simply did not want to go on the pill for 25 years, and I did not like the side effects.

I, too, tried everything I could think of, such as taking vitamins and iron, eating healthy food, etc. Nothing helped.

I have seen many threads similar to this on these forums. The advice is for women to chart and see someone like Dr. Hilgers. That is all well and good, but I have yet to see a testimony from a woman who did this and had her problems cured.

I think what the poster is looking for is a specific example of someone who had severe problems like hers who was actually cured by using some natural method.

It is much too late for me, but it would be interesting to hear a specific example of what the doctor prescribed and how a woman cured her problem “naturally.”

 

[bunnynessuk]

Im 20 and I have the same problems as you and seemingly have been offered the same treatment! My docs keeping spouting the pill and now the mirena at me but my geneticist has now sent a letter to my gynae and doc telling them that under no circumstances should i be given any hormonal type treatments! (I am at a high risk of genetic cancer my mother died aged 24 of breast cancer) so I am now waiting for them to come up with an alternate treatment anything that will allow me out of bed during my period! so far I have a prelim diagnosis of primary dysmenorraoh?

I dont think there is much that I will be offered but hey!

J

Ps: Just as an aside my gynae has told me that if I have children my problems will likely subside? Thats the only ‘natural’ cure ive heard of!

 

[Maria1212]

Im 20 and I have the same problems as you and seemingly have been offered the same treatment! My docs keeping spouting the pill and now the mirena at me but my geneticist has now sent a letter to my gynae and doc telling them that under no circumstances should i be given any hormonal type treatments! (I am at a high risk of genetic cancer my mother died aged 24 of breast cancer) so I am now waiting for them to come up with an alternate treatment anything that will allow me out of bed during my period! so far I have a prelim diagnosis of primary dysmenorraoh?

I dont think there is much that I will be offered but hey!

J

Ps: Just as an aside my gynae has told me that if I have children my problems will likely subside? Thats the only ‘natural’ cure ive heard of!

You have hit the nail on the head! I don`t deny the attributes of charting, but it is a tool. I know it is a tool that leads to solutions for some, but often those solutions still involve hormones. In some cases, doctors like Dr. Hilgers do prescribe hormones, but to my understanding, they are not taken every day and do not have contraceptive effects. However, they are either oral or injected, which in my case is not an option.

I know my problem is hormone related. Doctors have said having a baby might help, but that is not a solution! They have also suggested the surgery to thin the lining of my utereous, but that makes it almost impossible to have children because there is nothing for the embryo to implant to. (same side effect of Mirena IUD, but nonreversible). So my options are do nothing, try the IUD, or have the surgery.

I have tried all of the “natural options” and while some of them contribute to better overall health, they are not a solution for me. I already exercise, eat very healty, take vitamins etc. I find it belittling when people tell me to just “not be so stressed.” Having a 12-day heavy period, where some days I cannot leave the house, is indeed stressful. Missing work because of a heavy period, is also stressful. I know to many people, it is not a “real problem” but it takes up over half of the month.

Due to other medications I am taking, I am not sure if charting would be an effective tool for me, but I am considering it. The problem is, I already know the problem is hormonal, which is difficult, if not possible to treat, without using hormones. (Which are no longer a safe option). The reason doctors suggested the IUD is because it has much less hormones than oral medication, and less of the hormones enter your blood stream etc (it is more complicated than that, but that is the simplified version).

Every thing has side effects. I am uncomfortable with the thought of an IUD, for moral and other reasons, but am very uncomfortable with the idea of surgery as well.

I will keep praying for a solution, and maybe a miracle will occur and my long heavy periods will disappear. They are exhausting to have (and expensive!), which few people understand. I know I need to “offer it up” but I also need to be able to function. God has blessed me in many ways, and I know this is a small problem in the scheme of life. But I would like to find the best way to manage it.

I appreciate everyone`s concern, advice, and prayers. But please refrain from saying I simply need to relax, or take the right vitamins. Believe, me, I have tried it all! Please keep the prayers coming.

Sincerely,

Maria1212

 

[cathyt]

A few suggestions–much of my understanding of the female body/sexuality is rooted in the teachings of the Church and the guidance of Couple to Couple League International. I am no medical expert but I would suggest you contact this organization for help in dealing with your difficulites.

One of the things that I became very aware of through CCLI is that the pill (and it sounds like the IUD in your case) is often used as a sort of band-aid to fix a woman’s medical problems. Basically, it makes the woman have a regular period which is seen as a good thing in most medical circles, but it doesn’t get to the root of whatever your real health problem is and that can cause other problems or just come back when you quit the pill.

I would suggest two things to you. I know that since you are not yet married, fertility is not an issue for you, but I would recommend the book Fertility, Cycles and Nutrition by Marilyn Shannon which has a lot of great advice about nutrition and supplements that can help regulate your cycles and help you deal with other difficulties related to your hormones/reproductive system.

Also, you mentioned difficulty in learning NFP because of a lack of resources in your area and a lack of ability to meet with someone personally. CCLI may be able to offer help for that too. While I never did end up using this service because my difficulties staightened out, I know that CCLI provides counselors to help those who struggle with cycle irregularities (usually for the purpose of acheiving/avoiding pregnancy, but I bet they could help you too.) I would imagine they could help you by email or, if it’s an option, by telephone since I am quite sure this is how most of their counseling is done.

I suggest you check out their website at www.ccli.org

Prayers are with you today!

 

[Maria1212]

A few suggestions–much of my understanding of the female body/sexuality is rooted in the teachings of the Church and the guidance of Couple to Couple League International. I am no medical expert but I would suggest you contact this organization for help in dealing with your difficulites.

One of the things that I became very aware of through CCLI is that the pill (and it sounds like the IUD in your case) is often used as a sort of band-aid to fix a woman’s medical problems. Basically, it makes the woman have a regular period which is seen as a good thing in most medical circles, but it doesn’t get to the root of whatever your real health problem is and that can cause other problems or just come back when you quit the pill.

I would suggest two things to you. I know that since you are not yet married, fertility is not an issue for you, but I would recommend the book Fertility, Cycles and Nutrition by Marilyn Shannon which has a lot of great advice about nutrition and supplements that can help regulate your cycles and help you deal with other difficulties related to your hormones/reproductive system.

Also, you mentioned difficulty in learning NFP because of a lack of resources in your area and a lack of ability to meet with someone personally. CCLI may be able to offer help for that too. While I never did end up using this service because my difficulties staightened out, I know that CCLI provides counselors to help those who struggle with cycle irregularities (usually for the purpose of acheiving/avoiding pregnancy, but I bet they could help you too.) I would imagine they could help you by email or, if it’s an option, by telephone since I am quite sure this is how most of their counseling is done.

I suggest you check out their website at www.ccli.org

Prayers are with you today!

Thank you for your post. I previously ordered that book from Amazon, and many other similar ones. It is a great resource, but nutrional changes and supplements have not helped.

CCLI is a great resource and I have checked them out as well. I don`t mean to sound pessimistic, but my struggle is how to treat the problem, wich NFP charting methods do not help with. I agree that they definitely assist in identifying problems, but they do not resolve them. Does that make sense?

I really appreciate your suggestions and am thankful you took the time to post. I know the IUD is a band-aid, as is oral or injected hormones. But sometimes, treating the symptoms, is better than doing nothing. That is what I am struggling with–finding the best way to treat the symptoms, since i cannot resolve the problem. I am committed to continuing the search, because I would like the best solution (meaning the best health and spiritual solution).

The one cloud to this silver lining, is that while it did not solve my problem, I discovered I love making (and drinking) vegetable juice, and continue to do so every day. But in my case, my problem does not appear to be nutrional.

I would be interested in hearing from women who have resolved problems similar to mine with help from folks like Dr. Hilgers. But again, in my case, I need a non-oral and noninjection solution.

I know most women dread menapause, but frankly, I will rejoice when I no longer have to deal with this.

Sincerely,

Maria1212

 

[Maria1212]

I wish I could offer a solution. I had a hysterectomy many years ago because of the problems you mention. I simply did not want to go on the pill for 25 years, and I did not like the side effects.

I, too, tried everything I could think of, such as taking vitamins and iron, eating healthy food, etc. Nothing helped.

I have seen many threads similar to this on these forums. The advice is for women to chart and see someone like Dr. Hilgers. That is all well and good, but I have yet to see a testimony from a woman who did this and had her problems cured.

I think what the poster is looking for is a specific example of someone who had severe problems like hers who was actually cured by using some natural method.

It is much too late for me, but it would be interesting to hear a specific example of what the doctor prescribed and how a woman cured her problem “naturally.”

You described exactly how I feel. Did you have children before you had a hysterectomy? Were you glad you did? The sugery they recommended is uterine albation (I know I spelled that wrong!), and is what they recommend now instead of a hysterectomy, in cases like mine. It it doesn`t work then hysterectomy is the next step.

Since I am not married, I am hesitant to make such a permanent decision now. But I do wonder if that is the safest alternative.

I will keep praying for a miracle, but it sure is frustrating. We can send a man to a moon, but still have a long way to go when it comes to women`s reproductive health. It disgusts me that so much money is put into how to find new ways to perform abortions and how to prevent contraception… When I searched for information on the internet, I was frustrated because most of the sites are sponsored by companies wanting to sell you their “product” (whether it be birth control or different types of surgical options.).

My doctors have been wonderful but it is extremely difficult to find neutral, unbiased, yet accurate educational information. As a result, I have a mini-library on women`s health issues thanks to Amazon.com.

Thanks again to everyone for taking the time to write. It makes me feel less alone in my search for the “panacea.”

Sincerely,

Maria1212

 

[Brenda_V]

Maria,

You are in my prayers. One of my good friends suffers similarly to you. She has had the uterine ablution (?) and it helped for a very short time. She has had two children so a hysterectomy should that be the next step is not nearly as a big a deal for her as it is for. The other thing is, she will be turning 50 (she is ~6 months older than I am) and is in prei-menopause so menopause itself isn’t that far off.

In my humble opinion a “band-aid” solution for you in the life situation you are in is the right solution for now. I will repeat that it is not morally wrong to go that route, you are not going to use the IUD for contraceptive purposes (the chances of your getting raped are very slim and you have remained celibate/chaste this long so the chances of that changing are practically nil).

Again, my prayers are with you. I am praying for a miracle that this time you do the “nothing” thing it works so you won’t have to go for the IUD.

Brenda V.

 

[dkoinzan]

I would really incourage you to write to the PPVI. Tell them everything and send all your records of all the hormone tests you have had. I have used them in the past and have recently needed to return. They work with your regular doctor when needed. They will definately want you to go off everything and have two months of charting before they see you. The problem is that you have to have the pill totally out of your system and then chart for two months. The hormone tests that PPVI run are more extensive than most doctors. All the tests that I had taken in the past revealed nothing hormonal wrong. Dr. Hilger’s test have revealled several problems with how my hormones relate. I have been faxing my charting to my doctor for months. I would think that someone could teach you and monitor your charting through the internet. Dr. Hilgers will only use his charting method to treat you and he wants it followed to the letter. It isn’t hard but it does help if someone will monitor you until you get the hang of it. It takes time to get things figured out, but it is worth it. If I had it to do over again, I would have sought his help much earlier. You are in a perfect position because you aren’t married. Once you are, that puts another demention(SP) to the whole thing. I will pray!