Nature Cycles For a Reason

I haven’t come across too many people who don’t like the autumn season with its beautiful changing leaves and crisp, cooler air. And because the changing scenery is so vivid, I can’t help but be reminded that nature cycles — it moves from one phase to another and repeats. And as a woman, so do I.

There are a lot of young women my age, however, who would rather be without that monthly cycle, some even going so far as to shut them down with artificial hormones in order to get ahead at work.

The birth control drug, Seasonale, interrupts a woman’s cycle causing her period to occur only every three months. While some might find this ideal, they pursue this at what cost? While researching the drug, I found a laundry list of side effects looking back at me, separated into severe and common. The severe side effects indicate the need to call a doctor or visit a hospital immediately if you experience them, such as chest pain or heaviness, coughing of blood, dark urine, mood or mental changes, numbness of an arm or leg, shortness of breath, sudden and severe headache and vomiting and many more. The common side effects indicate some not-so-little annoyances you’d just have to deal with including acne, changes in weight or appetite, dizziness, headache, loss of scalp hair, nausea and stomach cramps just to name a few. Take a look at the full list for yourself here.

This is one reason I appreciate what CCL and NFP are all about. Why should I gamble with a long list of troubling side effects to my health when choosing to keeping my body and cycles 100% natural has absolutely zero side effects? And for those women who have troubles with irregular or painful cycles, a natural solution just might be out there. Try reading Marilyn M. Shannon’s book, Fertility, Cycles & Nutrition (you can purchase it here), to improve painful periods or heavy bleeding or other cycle-related issues. It might seem attractive to simply shut down your cycles, but that’s not natural and you can tell because it comes with several potential health risks.

We love the autumn leaves, but think how silly and ridiculous it would be to be in autumn forever. That doesn’t make sense; it’s not natural. Remember with NFP you keep your own cycles natural, just like in nature.

— Megan Imwalle
CCL Communications Intern