It’s one of the better articles I’ve read, refuting point-by-point the major objections to Fertility-Based Methods of Family Planning (FABM’s) as a legitimate method of family planning and fertility treatment.
One of the strengths of the article–and NFP fans may disagree–is it’s honesty about the lack of data on the benefits of FABM’s: increased communication, enhanced intimacy (the honeymoon effect), increased respect for their partner and other psycho-spiritual effects. While there’s loads of anecdotal evidence, it’s true that the statistical evidence is lacking. This doesn’t mean that the positive effects don’t exist; I believe they do. However, as I stated in a previous piece on promoting NFP, more studies are needed, and those studies need to be published.
I might know statistics and a fair study when I see one, but I don’t know the name of the grants and publication game. Any med students, doctors or academics out there who have any suggestions?
One small step for NFP, one giant leap for NFP-kind. Keep it up, Drs. Pallone & Bergus!
In a forthcoming article in Family Foundations Magazine, I begin to break down what’s the deal with the credibility crisis in the world of natural family planning, and ask questions about the best way to market NFP. One thought is that we need to do a better job of capitalizing on the ills of contraception, and the benefits of NFP.
This article is perhaps not the most informative in the details section, but it’s a fantastic way to introduce and promote an NFP Class. Since the fastest way to get ignored in an article or press release is to say, “Natural Family Pla….[news station clicking delete]“, it’s a clever intro. Next time: a few more details or mentions of previous studies (the Mayo Clinic metastudy for example).
Do you realize that a part of every single one of us resided inside our maternal grandmother’s uterus, even before our own mothers were born? Unlike male fetuses which contain no sperm, female fetuses already contain all the eggs that the newborn child will ever have. What that means, practically speaking, is that when your mother was just a fetus inside hermother, she already had developed one of the eggs that eventually became you.
DitchThePill.org is a non-profit organization dedicated to the understanding, research and treatment of women’s health concerns caused by the toxic side effects of birth control pills (BCP’s). It was created in response to what is becoming a growing epidemic of health problems in women over the last 50 years, beginning with the introduction of oral contraceptives.
DitchThePill.org strongly feels that women should have a vital part in managing medical decisions regarding their own health. Prescription medications, particularly in the form of oral contraceptives, have unknowingly caused an epidemic of health problems in women since the advent of the Pill in the 1960’s.
What’s the alternative, to a hormone-free, pro-fertility, pro-woman approach?
Shockingly (!), I’m going to suggest natural methods of family planning. You’re going to have to go elsewhere from this site to find information on Natural Family Planning (NFP), because, strangely enough, they don’t know all that much about modern NFP. Guess who’s going to give them a call today? Maybe you should too (281-962-4264).
NFP/ Fertility Awareness Resources:
Secular NFP, or Fertility Awareness Method (FAM)–this is a great book and educationally amazing for women, although it advocates the option of using barrier methods during a woman’s fertile time, which some readers may be opposed to.
6.2 million women experience some sort of compromised fertility in the United States. Are you one of them? If you are blessed with your full fertility, chances are you know someone who struggles with or has struggled with it.
In this FertilityCare Consult episode, show number fourteen on Infertility, Dr. Thomas Hilgers talks about the major differences between the ordinary approach to treating infertility and the FertilityCare and NaProTechnology way. The ordinary way is to treat the symptoms, and if all else fails, try IVF. The NaProTechnology way is to begin learning about and charting your cycle through the Creighton Method of FertilityCare, then working with your FertilityCare Practitioner and Medical Consultant to identify and diagnose the underlying problem to the compromised fertility. Napro treats the disease, not the symptom, and with much higher success, lower cost and much less suffering.
Do you know the success rate of pregnancies achieved and carried to term with IVF? It’s in the low to mid 20 %. With the Creighton Method of FertilityCare (charting your cycle) and subsequent diagnoses and treatment, do you know what the success rate is? At the lowest, it’s around 35%, and at best 80%, depending on the underlying cause.
If you’ve been having difficulty achieving a pregnancy, or have had recurrent miscarriages, you’ll definitely want to listen to this episode. You may wish to follow up by listening to the episode on Recurrent Miscarriages. So many people have amazing stories of going through the IVF process, only to find disappointment or disillusionment. But there is hope. Please pass this on to any one who might be interested or find healing in new hope for infertility, as well as insight for women’s wellness.
A friend sent me the link to this up-and-coming documentary. I’ve not seen it yet, so I can’t give a commentary or full analysis, but I support natural childbirth. I *think* I understand where they’re going with the “orgasmic” parlance, but I’d like to see it before I make a judgement. The friend who sent the announcement to me is super excited, and hoping it really displays the sacred of human birth and life.
I’m grateful for drugs. I really am. I take them, some as prescription and some over the counter. They’re not my friends, per se, but in a fallen world we sometimes–oftentimes–need them. But guess what? For every action there’s a reaction, for every cause an effect, and it’s not news to us that drugs–pharmaceuticals, prescriptions, our little chemic companions, or whatever you call them–have side effects.
However, our friends at Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals are so concerned about women’s wellness with completely altruistic motives that they have created a birth control, evidently, with no side effects. Amazing, right!? OMG, as the kids say. Why is this not on the front page of every paper and being quoted on every blog? I mean, by the way their product was marketed, it looks like not only will it cure my PMS but it might even stop global warming, create the perfect bra, *and* discover who really killed JFK. Nobel Peace Prize, watch out!
Wait a second…I didn’t read the fine print at the bottom of the page, in light gray. Way to go, marketing professionals at Bayer. Turns out, not only did the FDA read the fine print, they realized Yaz wasn’t FDA approved to cure everything. Not only that, but the FDA in concert with attorneys general of 27 states (um, why not 50?) have required Bayer to run $20 Million worth of new advertising over the next six years correcting the misleading advertisements, explaining that women shouldn’t take Yaz just to correct their acne.
Right. Because Yaz is the first birth control brand to promise things either they couldn’t deliver or that mislead consumers. The only one. How many teens are on the Pill because they’ve got acne or 32 day periods or cramps?
This isn’t the first warning for Bayer. They bought the makers of Yasmin, the predecessor to Yaz, who were warned in 2003 for implying in their advertising that their BC was superior to all other pills, and maximizing the positive side effects while minimizing the potentially dangerous side effects.
Right now I’m thinking of a certain Dr. E in Austin Powers saying, “Twenty meeelllyon dollars,” thinking that the world million will knock us off our rockers. I’m thinking that’s not enough, and somebody else agrees,
Bruce L. Lambert, a professor of pharmacy administration at the University of Illinois at Chicago, lauded the F.D.A. for insisting this time that Bayer run a corrective advertising campaign. But he referred to the corrective $20 million ad campaign for Yaz as “chump change” and “just the cost of doing business.”
“I don’t think it is likely to stop,” he said, “unless there are more significant consequences.” (NY Times Advertising Section, 2/11/09)
What is a more significant consequence? Death perhaps? Probably not, since a number of women have already died as a result of using the patch and other birth controls. Did you know the makers of the patch continue to settle out of court with families? What’s 1.25 million times ten to a multi-billion dollar industry? That’s right, Mr. Lambert. Chump change.
I nixed the Teens and Birth Control show on the FertilityCare iPod queue because it was more moral and cultural commentary than about diagnosing young women’s menstrual issues. It was a good show, and a little insightful into the average teen-and-mother/ doctor experience; i.e., what the doctor says when prescribing versus what he really things, and the general lack of knowledge into women’s wellness. What it comes down to is that typical Ob/Gyns are not prepared to identify, diagnose and treat girls’ or womens’ wellness issues without the Pill. There’s a lot of reasons for this–lack of education, contraceptive bias, pharma kickbacks for prescribing the Pill, etc.–but in the end, the Pill serves as a band aid over the underlying issue, which may persist for years and cause problems down the line. However, I was looking for more of the medical/ fertility commentary on that issue.
Which brings me to the next episode I’d like to feature: Women Healed: Infertility. In this episode Dr. Hilgers talks about FertilityCare vs. IVF, and why FertilityCare blows IVF out of the water, not only for helping people conceive, but also for treating their fertility issues. His years of research and medical practice developed into something called NaProTechnology, or Natural Procreative Technology. It’s a major breakthrough for reproductive science, offering real solutions to some real issues:
Infertility
Menstrual Cramps
Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS)
Ovarian Cysts
Irregular or abnormal bleeding
Polycystic ovarian disease
Repetitive miscarriage
Postpartum depression
Prematurity prevention
Hormonal abnormalities
…and so on.
It’s really quite astounding once one looks into NaProTechnology, which is a fertility-based women’s care, not fertility-control, or fertility-suppression methods. It works with your whole body because fertility is a state of wellness, not a disease to treat. Dr. Hilgers has put together a book of the same title of this post, which you can find here. Are you ready to find out more about being healed?
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I nixed the Teens and Birth Control show on the FertilityCare iPod queue because it was more moral and cultural commentary than about diagnosing young women’s menstrual issues. It was a good show, and a little insightful into the average teen-and-mother/ doctor experience; i.e., what the doctor says when prescribing versus what he really things, and the general lack of knowledge into women’s wellness. What it comes down to is that typical Ob/Gyns are not prepared to identify, diagnose and treat girls’ or womens’ wellness issues without the Pill. There’s a lot of reasons for this–lack of education, contraceptive bias, pharma kickbacks for prescribing the Pill, etc.–but in the end, the Pill serves as a band aid over the underlying issue, which may persist for years and cause problems down the line. However, I was looking for more of the medical/ fertility commentary on that issue.
