I want to begin this article by first examining the relationship between Birth Control Treatments and Female Reproductive System, especially those Birth Control Treatments that contain hormones. While I feel that it is important for you to have the freedom to choose whether or not you want to be pregnant during certain times in your live, the more I hear from women who’s menstrual cycles have been disrupted from the use of birth control pills/therapies containing synthetic hormones makes me wonder if there might be a better way. If we could educate the public, delve deeper into understanding what the excess hormones do in your body, as well as learn alternative methods of preventing pregnancy that may be more beneficial to long-term health, we might be able to prepare for conception in a healthier way.

Birth Control and Female Fertility

Many doctors will easily prescribe oral contraceptive (pill) birth control if you have fertility issues such as PCOS, Endometriosis, Ovarian Cysts or irregular menstrual cycles. While the birth control may work for some time for those conditions, the birth control does not address the key issue of why you have that fertility issue in the first place. It may reduce pain, reduce the incidence of ovarian cyst or regulate your cycle for some time and then when you stop taking it, your symptoms may come back.

Many women with these fertility issues still want to have children and taking birth control prevents that from happening. It is important to have clear communication with your doctor if you are still wanting to get pregnant while healing your body of your fertility issues at the same time. I have actually had women write in and say that their doctors did not make it clear to them that the pills they were prescribed for their fertility issues were actually birth control, which prevents pregnancy.

Daily, we receive questions through email, phone calls and SMS from women trying to get their menstrual cycles to regulate after coming off of birth control. When I speak of birth control, I am speaking of the kinds that contain hormones or IUD (which may affect the uterus and menstrual cycle). Birth Control Pills, Intrauterine Device also known as IUD (Copper T, Mirena, Progestasert), Implant (Implanon), The Ring (NuvaRing), The Patch (Ortho Evra) and Injectable Progestin (Depo-Provera) all contain synthetic hormones except for the Copper T IUD.

Anytime between the time you stop using it and up to a year afterward is considered a normal time frame in which it will take for your body on it’s own to regulate your hormones and start a regular menstrual cycle. If you were taking birth control to help regulate your cycles or for other fertility issues, this average may not apply because your cycles may have not been regular to begin with, and there are no guarantees that the birth control use is going to keep them regulated like when you were using it.

For some methods like the Implant or Depo-Provera, some women do not get their menstrual cycle at all and it seems that these women have a harder time getting their menstrual cycles to come back.

To understand contraception that affects our natural menstrual cycle, I have made a chart to help you learn what hormones are in each of the above birth control - See more at: http://www.planbwellness.com/birth-control-side-effects-balance-hormones-conceive-birth-control/#sthash.voXErntQ.dpuf