Homeopaths are sometimes asked if we have a “natural” birth control.
No, we don’t.
Homeopathy is about working towards healing, towards life, supporting natural healthy processes.
Hormonal contraceptives suppress the reproductive system and its finely balanced cyclical production of hormones.
Our female hormones have important roles in many aspects of our long-term health – bone density, brain health, cardiac function, skin health, blood sugar levels, emotional well-being, immune function. See my other blogs on this:
Understanding Your Menstrual Cycle
Are Menstrual Periods Necessary
Hormonal contraceptives are so disruptive to women’s health that some homeopaths will not work with women who are not prepared to come off them.
If you have read this far, I assume you the topic is one that really interests you.
Maybe you are on the Pill or have an IUD or implant and are wondering if your symptoms (such as weight-gain, low libido, anxiety, depression) might be related.
Maybe you want to start a family.
Maybe you want to come off but are worried (or even terrified) of the symptoms you had before (such as extreme PMS, period pain and/or heavy bleeding) coming back.
Perhaps you’re simply not ready for a pregnancy at the moment.
Some women can simply stop using their hormonal-contraception-of-choice and any adverse side-effects disappear, their suppressed reproductive system happily kicks in again and healthy cycles resume.
Other women might experience any of a range of symptoms as her body tries to remove the synthetic hormones and re-establish it’s own hormonal balance. These symptoms may include
Acne (this may happen six months later!)
Amenorrhea (no periods) or Menorrhagia (heavy periods)
Hair loss
Fatigue
Blood sugar problems
Digestive problems
Mood swings
Three Point PLan for Coming off Hormonal Contraception
Whether you are wanting to come off hormonal contraception or have already done so and it hasn’t gone as smoothly as you would have liked, help is at hand.
Self-help measures such as diet can make a significant difference. Add in some liver support and homeopathy and you have my three point plan.
1. Replenish and REhydrate
Sort your diet out and drink plenty of water. Your body will cope better with anything if it has plenty of fluid, the right building blocks and good fuel.
Hormonal contraceptives are known to affect the conversion, absorption, excretion and metabolism of certain nutrients leading to deficiencies:
Vitamins B2, B6, B12, C, D, E
Folate
Selenium
Zinc
Magnesium
Coenzyme Q10
Even a cursory familiarity with those nutrients should set alarm bells ringing!
For example, Vitamins B6 in particular but also Vitamin C, Folate, Zinc and Magnesium are all essential for the production of both Dopamine and Serotonin. Most of this production takes place in the gut – an extra problem if the microbiome has been compromised (often the case when synthetic hormones are involved).
A deficit of both Dopamine and Serotonin leads to depression.
General healthy diet advice to replenish.
Restrictive or expensive diets are not practical for most people.
My advice is to
- Keep it simple and nutrient-dense (whole foods – organic if possible)
- Ditch the junk food, over-processed food, alcohol, refined sugar
- Eat a plentiful variety of fresh seasonal vegetables and fruit
- Eat healthy fats for fuel – olive oil, coconut oil, butter, ghee, oily fish, hemp see, avocado (also a great folate food), nuts; avoid trans-fats
- Eat quality protein food – grass-fed meat – eggs, beans, chickpeas, fish, tofu
- Add a little fermented food (e.g. sauerkraut, kimchi, miso, kefir, kvass etc) to support gut health
- Add in a few mushrooms (Button, Shitake, Oyster, Lion’s mane, Reishi etc – fresh, dried or in powdered form) a few times a week.
A vegan diet requires some thought to make sure you’re getting everything you need.
For others, a (free-range) egg a day is a great multi-supplement.
2. Support Your Liver
Your liver is the largest internal organ in your body. All the blood leaving the stomach and intestines passes through the liver where it is processed – things in the blood are filtered, detoxified, metabolised, broken down, stored, excreted. The liver has over 500 functions, some of which are about breaking down oestrogen and removing toxins.
Not only will your liver have to work harder to keep up with the synthetic hormones of Hormonal Birth Control methods, the liver is at risk of damage from those same synthetic hormones.
Chances are your liver needs a bit of TLC . You can support you liver with various herbs (such as Carduus mar, Chelidonium or Taraxacum) or low potency homeopathic remedies made from them. Your homeopath will be able to advise which is best for you.
Also a great idea to to cut back on alcohol and recreational drugs; avoid exposure to toxins such as chemical cleaners, aerosols, insecticides etc.
3. Homeopathic Support
If your reasons for using hormonal birth control in the first place were to address irregular or painful periods or bad PMS or some other life-limiting symptoms, then guess what?
The cause of those symptoms most probably has not gone away in the meantime – it may have even got worse.
This is where homeopathy can be helpful. A homeopath will look into your history, your life situation, your environmental and social stressors and how you respond to them – everything that makes up the individual that you are and the progress of your life journey so far.
From there the homeopath will offer individualised constitutional treatment to help with the underlying problems. Depending on the details of the case, this may also include
remedies to detox homonal contraceptives,
remedies for organ support (especially your liver) and
remedies to boost your gut-health.
Need Help?
Whatever your health issue may be, it is uniquely yours and the path to wellness is uniquely yours.
