Why Doctors Discourage Fertility Awareness (Episode 336)

Full Transcript: Episode 336

Lisa Hendrickson -Jack:

This is the Fertility Friday Podcast, episode number 336. Welcome to the Fertility Friday podcast, your source for information about the fertility awareness method and all things fertility. I’m your host, Lisa Hendrickson -Jack. I’m the author of the fifth vital sign and the Fertility Awareness Mastery charting journal. I’m a certified fertility awareness educator and holistic reproductive health practitioner with nearly 20 years of experience teaching women to connect to their fifth vital sign through menstrual cycle charting, enhancing hormonal health and optimizing the menstrual cycle without hormones.

I’m outspoken about hormonal birth control and its impact on fertility and overall health because you have the right to know how your body works and how artificial hormones disrupt that natural process. I host live coaching programs to help you achieve optimal fertility and health because it’s important to have healthy menstrual cycles regardless of whether or not you want to have babies. I’m also a wife and mother of two beautiful boys. I know, I know, I’m a busy girl, but I managed to fit it all in. This podcast is designed to empower you to take full control of your cycles, your fertility, and your overall health. And I’m so excited that you’re here with us today.

I’ve got a great episode for you today. Today, I wanted to take some time to share my opinion on medical doctors, other health professionals, and the common responses that they share with women who are wanting to use fertility awareness for contraception. The reason I wanted to do this episode, I’ve alluded to it before, You know, recently, a couple months ago, I shared on Instagram just like a question and answer period. I received a really interesting DM from a woman about her experience with her, you know, medical doctor regarding her birth control method. And actually, let me just go ahead and read it for you. Okay.

So she writes, Hi, Lisa wanted to share my experience at my primary care physician today. I went in for some chronic headaches and showed her my charts with my headaches noted at the bottom. I didn’t think she had ever seen charts of this kind because she asked me if my OBGYN had given them to me. And when I told her, I had read up on the fertility awareness method, she said, oh, kind of like says, I was like, mmm, and told her not quite. You check for thermal shift and cervical mucus, et cetera, et cetera. She was very relieved when I told her I still use condoms, since we are still in the early months of learning how to chart.

I love my PCP and she can’t be any older than 35, super personable and hip. So I was kind of taken aback that she had no knowledge of them, but not super surprised. So when she sent that to me, I asked her if she could, if I could share it. And so I shared it and then I just did a little poll and I asked the question of, have you talked to your doctor about using fertility awareness before and what was the response? And it was a very eye -opening experience, I think, for everybody. If you wanna see it, you can head over to my Instagram, it’s there in the highlights. And I’m at Fertility Friday.

But yeah, so that inspired today’s episode, you know, I was thinking about it, and I was thinking about what to address. And so there’s a few things that I wanted to talk about. So right off the bat, I want to say that this is not a Dr. Bashing episode. This is not the episode where I bash doctors and say a bunch of negative stuff about doctors. But the purpose of it is really to highlight from my perspective what’s actually going on and why it is that so many doctors discourage and not just medical doctors. So to put this out there, as we’ll talk about, it’s not just an MD kind of situation.

There’s plenty of health professionals that don’t necessarily have a detailed understanding of fertility awareness and how it works. And I mean, that is just, we’ll talk about why that is. But it’s kind of par for the course, because if you think about it, the average woman has never really been taught about fertility awareness and how her body works, then that carries over, even to health professionals, because fertility awareness and the kind of nitty gritty in terms of menstrual cycle charting that we talked about here, it’s really women who use fertility awareness charting, women who’ve been exposed to these teachings on their own who are aware of it.

And so even to this day, most health professionals, I think now it’s a bit different because it’s certainly, fertility awareness certainly is getting to be more wide, kind of widely used and more well known. But even so, it’s still quite a small percentage, you know, of all women who really use this method. So even now with the growing awareness of non -hormonal methods and issues with hormonal birth control, the average health professional still doesn’t have a ton of information about it because it’s not something that is taught in medical school or other types of training as a standard part of their training. So this is what we’re going to be talking about today.

I’m thrilled to be sharing V about. So when I shared this information, when I shared this experience that this woman had had in my stories, I mean, I hear stuff like this all the time, I’ve been doing this for a really long time. And I’ve heard stuff like this from the beginning, I have personally had a lot of experiences that are not so great in doctors offices. But I even though I teach fertility where to set a user, I have never really gone into detail with my doctors about my birth control method.

So I haven’t necessarily had that experience personally, but it’s more so because I haven’t actually, I don’t really go to doctors and, you know, ask for permission or tell them about my birth control because I’ve got it handled in my mind so that I’m not really talking to them about it. And so some of the most common responses when I put this up. So, you know, in the first response, the doctor basically didn’t really know about it and was kind of like, oh, you mean the rhythm method? So that’s a really, really common response.

And when somebody thinks that the fertility awareness method is the rhythm method, the rhythm method is not a reliable form of birth control for the vast majority of women because it’s based on calendar calculations. And so a lot of apps use a rhythm method kind of base to it when they’re doing calculations and averages and telling you when you’re fertile, when you’re not based on just the dates of the calendar. And so there is a high failure rate for the vast majority of the population when they’re using only a calendar method. So in that respect, the in medical school, for example, then they’re going to learn that the rhythm method basically is like the same as not using anything.

And so they’re going to assume that if you’re using fertility awareness that it’s a non -method. So that’s a really common response. It’s not going to work. You’ll be pregnant by the end of the year. I’ll just wait till you come back pregnant kind of thing. You should start taking prenatal vitamins now that you’re off birth control because you’ll be pregnant in a couple of months. So those aren’t words that are said out of kindness and concern. concern in this instance, it’s more like, well, the stuff that what you’re doing isn’t going to work. So you may as well plan for pregnancy is basically the tone of these responses that women are sharing.

Many women share that they were literally laughed at, which was really disconcerting. The doctors fully rolling their eyes, like a deep sigh and a pause and kind of even at times ignoring what you said and basically saying, “So, do you want to get on the pill so you have some real birth control?” kind of thing. And some women have difficulty having their doctors remove their IUDs and things like that. So that’s just to give you a general sense of some of the common responses that women receive. And there was a pretty significant, you know, maybe like 10%, I think significant?

I mean, maybe you don’t think it’s as significant, but there was still quite a few women who did say that they had supportive practitioners who actually were aware of this method and did encourage them. But certainly, it was not the majority. I would say, you know, maybe one out of every 10 or less women had that type of positive response. And the vast majority had a practitioner who didn’t have understanding of fertility where it hadn’t really heard of it, didn’t really know what it was, or just thought it was a rhythm method or basically nothing, no method. And so they were very discouraging of it. So what’s the deal? Why is this the case?

And so I think it’s really important to understand where your healthcare practitioners are coming from. And so I’ve shared a number of podcast episodes now. I’ve had a number of interviews with medical doctors, so MDs. And whenever I interview an MD, I’m just really curious. What did they teach you in med school? What was your experience? What did you learn about birth control? You know, did you learn about fertility awareness? Kind of to get at that question of why is it that medical doctors tend to be very discouraging, especially for women who are choosing fertility awareness? And so I’m going to link these episodes in the show notes page. So you’ll find those at fertilityfriday .com /336.

And I’ve shared about my episode with Dr. Miranda Naylor. That was like 200 episodes ago, episode 104. More recently, Dr. Kieran Dunstan. So that was episode 314. Dr. Nathan Riley, that was episode number 285, and Dr. Aviva Robb, which was episode number 259. And if you listen to those episodes, particularly if you’re newer to the podcast, and this is really kind of like, wow, I had an experience like that, and I want to know why they do that too. Those episodes really highlight what the experience is like for a doctor in medical school, how they’re trained about the birth control pill and its uses and what it’s for, and how they’re trained about non hormonal options.

I think in particular, my episode with Dr. Miranda Neyler was really insightful in this area, because the question kind of is what are doctors taught about birth control pills? Like, it’s another, I’m not going to go into it in this episode, but most women who have ever had an issue with their periods, whether it be heavy periods, even light periods, irregular cycles, whether or not they’re meeting the literal definition of a regular, But regular cycles, any type of cycle issue really, it’s standard procedure to just put a woman on the pill and kind of not address the underlying condition from a standard kind of allopathic Western medical perspective.

And so that episode was really insightful in terms of how are doctors trained about birth control pills. And essentially there was the underlying message in my interview with Dr. Miranda Naylor, that doctors are trained that it’s basically like a benign thing. There are certain cases where there’s a more serious potential side effect. So in the case of someone who is a smoker or someone who’s over 35, you know, and a smoker. So it kind of, it was presented in a way that, you know, the risks are really only to a certain population, otherwise everybody’s really fine.

And a lot of the more common side effects like the sexual side effects of painful sex, low libido, depression, anxiety, even recurrent yeast infections. And those things that women experience more commonly were definitely downplayed and not really mentioned that much. So there’s, I had the impression from those interviews that those particular side effects are just not focused on from a medical setting. It’s kind of like the doctors are taught about the life -threatening side effects and kind of what to look for.

Even in those cases, they’re not really taught specifically about why it happens in younger women, why 20 -year -olds are having strokes, because I’ve interviewed a number of women who were in their early 20s and had those kind of serious side effects like pulmonary embolism, so like a blood clot in the lungs and like a stroke and why in those cases it wasn’t is kind of missed like it wasn’t really looked at.

So the bottom line what I’m saying basically is that the message that I receive from the interviews I’ve done with doctors is that in medical school birth control pills are basically taught like just their benign things kind of similar to taking vitamin and so unless you fall into a specific category like over 35 and a smoker then they’re not really going to look at it as a possible risk factor. And some of my over all of the years of having these incredible conversations with women about birth control, fertility awareness, their experiences with doctors, there is a small percentage. I mean, it’s probably just two or three women out of all of the women I’ve ever spoken to.

But there’s a very small percentage of women who’ve said, “Okay, my doctor pulled out the insert. We talked about all the side effects, but that’s more on the rare side. Most women’s experiences with doctors when it comes to birth control pills is that they’re basically just, it’s like giving out like candy. And there’s very little time, if anytime, spent talking about any potential side effects. And to take it a step further, there’s many women who do experience side effects. So statistics on birth control are that about 50 % of women will experience side effects to the point that they will come off of the pill within the first year of using it. So it’s quite a thing, it’s a real thing.

And many women who then go back to their doctors sharing information about these side effects are often kind of like their concerns are kind of minimized or maybe they’re just put on a different one and it’s not really presented as like, well, you know, half of women stop taking the pill so it’s really common for women to have side effects where it’s more like, well, yeah, I you know, 16 other brands. So let’s try you on this one. And then maybe that one doesn’t work out so well, and then let’s try you on this one.

And it’s kind of presented more of a like, we just need to get the right fit when there is an underlying issue in general with all contraceptives, but certainly different formulations can affect you to varying degrees, right? Okay, so that’s an important aspect to know about how doctors are trained about birth control pills in general. But then there’s another aspect, which is, how are doctors trained about contraception? Right?

Like, so, you know, in my first point there, it’s more talking about contraceptives being benign and also that them being kind of like the number one treatment, air quotes for period related issues, even though it doesn’t really address the root cause, but that’s just how Western medicine works. It’s not a root cause type medicine. So then, how are Dr. Strange about the contraception aspect? And so what’s really interesting is that if you think about all the different contraceptive methods, I went over this more recently in the podcast episode where I was talking about perfect use using different birth control methods correctly. So I’ll also link to that episode in the show notes page.

But basically, you have a variety of methods. And the big difference, I would say between All methods is the level of what they would call like user the the degree of user error versus the degree of math The degree of method failure. So, oh, let me say user failure versus method failure And so if you’re using something like an IUD like a hormonal IUD that’s inserted or if you’re using or an Hormonal or non hormonal IUD that is inserted into your body. If you’re using something like an implant that’s inserted into your arm, if you’re using something like the shot. So those are examples of methods that require no part on the user. I mean, the shot requires you to come back every three months.

But other than that, you know, you go, you get, you get it inserted or you get the shot and then you are protected in that sense. And you don’t have to learn anything, read anything, you don’t have to change or modify your behavior in any way, because you are completely and entirely dependent on the effectiveness of the method itself. Now, the pill, the patch, the ring, those are examples then of, I mean, you’re still highly dependent on the method. But of course, there is that aspect with the pill of taking it every day at the right time, the possible interactions with different medications or antibiotics.

There’s a number of different medications and things that can affect the overall effectiveness. I mean, the patch and the ring to a lesser degree because it’s not something you have to do daily. You just have to put it on or off once a month or put it in or out once a month kind of thing. But you get my point. So those methods, though, it’s still you’re relying on the efficacy of the actual method and there’s a small kind of user component but still you don’t have to necessarily modify your behavior and those types of things.

Now on the other hand, when you’re looking at non -hormonal methods like condoms, like withdrawal, like the diaphragm, cervical cap, fertility awareness method with the devices. So with the cervical cap, diaphragm, condom, and even if I’ll start with those three. Like with those methods, there’s a user component and a method component. So you have to put them on and use them, insert them each time. And of course, they have to work. So there’s like two components there. And then with fertility awareness and withdrawal, for example, there’s no like, there’s no barrier, there’s nothing like you’ve pulled the goalie and it’s just you have to understand. So with withdrawal, withdrawal.

He has to understand his body. He has to kind of sort that out. And with fertility awareness, it’s entirely user dependent, like 100%. So there’s no device, there’s no hormones, and it’s just you. Now, from my understanding, in medical school, the concept of conception is really looked at from a bit of a black and white lens. And so it’s really like, from the perspective that efficacy is really the only factor or the most important factor. So when doctors are trained in medical school for my understanding, so this is coming from my interviews with doctors. So if you’re a doctor and you had a different experience than, you know, please let us know. The efficacy is highly, highly prioritized.

And so from that perspective then, it’s kind of saying that the best thing for women, right, in This kind of paternalistic way is to use the methods that have the highest efficacy that leave no room for error. And so those methods would be the IUD, the implant, the shot, and then also the hormonal methods like the patch, the ring, the pill and all those types of things because those methods heavily rely on the efficacy of the method itself and leave less room for user error. Many doctors then are trained from that perspective of if you remove the possibility for user error, then you’re going to increase the overall efficacy. And in a way, it kind of paints everyone with the same brush.

So there’s kind of this idea that anything that requires the user to remember to take it or anything that doesn’t involve hormones, like anything that doesn’t change the body composition is basically just risking it because it’s kind of, again, this paternalistic idea that it’s just too, she’s basically just not really reliable and anything that’s going to require education or effort is just not going to be as effective. And so, I mean, there’s an argument for that when you look at the perfect use versus typical use efficacy rates of all methods. So there’s certainly an argument for that.

And when it comes to fertility awareness, I think one of the key points and key reasons behind the kind of general discouraging tone from medical professionals about fertility awareness is that they’re not really taught about fertility awareness as a legitimate option. So in medical school, from my understanding, and again, this comes from many interviews with doctors, and also interviews with Dr. Marguerite Duane, who runs FACTS, Fertility Awareness Collaborative to Teach the Science, which is literally an organization that is aimed at teaching medical students, so teaching doctors about fertility awareness -based methods so that they actually have the science about it.

From these interviews, what I’ve gathered is that fertility awareness -based methods get very, very little time in medical school. So it might get a mention, but it gets a mention lumped in with the rhythm method, which doesn’t have much of a high efficacy rate. And so the message is that all of these kind of calendar methods, right, in the condescending tone, have a very low efficacy rate, and it’s basically the same as not using anything. And so we want to gear patients to the birth control pill and other other hormonal methods, like real methods. We wanna gear them to the modern methods, right? Like this kind of idea.

And so what happens in that case is that, and this is why it’s important to understand the perspective. Most health professionals have very little, if any, true knowledge of modern fertility awareness -based methods. Their true efficacy and what would really be involved in using them effectively. And there’s kind of this bias then that it’s too complicated. Most women won’t use them correctly. You’re just going to get pregnant because it’s basically the same as not using anything. And this is really coming from a place of ignorance. And I don’t mean that in a, like a negative way. I mean it in a literal way.

If you, if your health professional, if you’re a practitioner did not learn that there are modern fertility awareness based methods that when used correctly have the efficacy comparable to hormonal contraceptives in the 99 .4 % range as is the most commonly cited study and also It’s not the same as the rhythm method like it’s it’s not a calendar counting method It’s a different method. We’re using biomarkers. We’re testing fertility on a, you know, day -to -day basis identifying the fertile window and avoiding protected sex during that time.

So if your medical professional hasn’t had an opportunity to really learn that it’s a real thing, then of course they’re going to be skeptical and they’re not going to feel comfortable actually endorsing or suggesting or supporting a method that they don’t even have knowledge about. And so what you find is that medical professionals will kind of fall into different categories. So some will say, well, I’ve never really heard about that. I don’t really know about that. Can you tell me more? Or, you know, I can’t really speak on that because that’s outside of my training.

Now, we would hope that that would be the response of a seasoned professional, not to just bash something because they don’t know about it, but even just to be honest and to say, I actually am not aware of how that method works or the efficacy of it, right? But that’s sometimes what happens, obviously, not all the time. What typically happens is this seriously discouraging kind of like, you shouldn’t do that, I wouldn’t go there. Well, if you’re going to do that, you know, you’ve got to use condoms kind of thing.

But this is again, coming from a genuine, I feel in the, even though, even though it comes across real, you know, rude sometimes, I feel that it does still come from a place that they’re trying to help you. If you go to a mechanic and you ask them to bake a cake, well, what do they have in the mechanic shop? They do all changes and rotate tires and stuff. If you go to your medical doctor, what do they have for you for contraceptive? They have a prescription pad. They have hormones. They So this whole concept of, you know, charting your body signs and stuff, that falls completely out of their realm.

Like that’s not something that they can help you with, to be honest, because this is not a part, a standard part of their curriculum, their education. This is not their field of expertise. Most of them don’t necessarily learn about it beyond. It’s kind of like the rhythm method and it’s not effective. So you’re really going, you’re kind of barking up the wrong tree then, if you actually want detailed information or real support. And that I think is also important because since they don’t know about it, they may not even have the resources to refer.

So in my perfect world, medical doctors would be informed that, you know, a lot of women now are looking at alternative methods that are non -hormonal for a variety of reasons. And when a patient comes to you and says that they — and this does not just apply to doctors, by the way. This also applies to midwives and other health professionals. I just want to say that. But when a patient comes to you and they say, “Look, the pills are working for me and my partner.

We’re looking at non -hormonal methods.” If doctors would — if doctors had the knowledge about these methods and knew that they were a real thing and understood that they could support their patients if they really want to do this seriously by encouraging them to say take a class and get support from a certified instructor in addition to their own independent research. That would go a long way if your doctor wasn’t really aware of or knew that they had limitations in terms of their own knowledge but knew that it was a legitimate method and then referred and said okay well you know this is outside of my area of expertise.

I didn’t learn about fertility awareness, so this isn’t something that I can help you with, but I am aware that it is a legitimate method. And my understanding is that if you want the highest efficacy going to a practitioner, at least going to a couple of classes from someone who’s certified in this method or in the method of your choice, you know, that is really going to give you the best outcomes in terms of your confidence and your ability to use the method and all those types of things. That would be my perfect world scenario. And I think that that’s, that’s quite reasonable.

But again, it’s, it’s not really something that we can even expect, because the vast majority of doctors and other health professionals did not receive the training. They didn’t learn that fertility awareness, modern fertility awareness based methods are a legitimate method. They didn’t learn how to support clients who want to use it because maybe they don’t even know that it’s a legitimate method and therefore they wouldn’t be able to even refer you or even suggest that you look for a teacher who can really train you.

So I think this is really, really important for the discussion because when you understand where the doctors and other health professionals are coming from, I think one of the things that was surprising to a lot of people when I did this Instagram sharing situation was But many people said that their midwives discouraged them from using fertility awareness and their naturopaths, right? So again, I am not slamming midwives and naturopaths, and I recognize that you’re much more likely to have a positive experience with other health care providers because they may be more aware.

So many midwives and naturopaths and other natural more root cause type medical practitioners are more likely to know about fertility awareness methods, based methods. But that doesn’t mean that they all do, right? And it doesn’t mean that that’s something that’s standard, standardly taught in every profession. And so this is why I want to stress, it’s not only medical doctors that can discourage their clients from using fertility awareness based methods. It can be a variety of health professionals because of the very knowledge. And again, because it’s not a standard thing that is taught in medical school, or other types of health care education programs.

It’s just not a standard part of that training curriculum. And this is more of a comment on our society as a whole, because for women who discover me through that podcast and the book, the vital sign, and all the different ways that– whatever brought you here today. So all of the different ways that you find me, for example, most health professionals are in the same boat, you know, I’ve had over the years many health professionals reach out and wow, I just read your book and I’m so surprised that I didn’t learn about this. You know, I thought I, I thought I knew all there was to know.

And this is really eye -opening because this is an area that that we didn’t really go into in my educational program and things like that. And so it’s really important to recognize that this is like a societal problem. The lack of awareness of the true workings of the female cycle, even medical doctors don’t learn to this extent of being able to chart and understand the cycle in that way. Even though, of course, medical doctors are extensively trained in the hormonal patterns on the cycle and all of those things, it’s still not trained in this way. And in terms of the efficacy of fertility awareness -based methods, again, it’s just not really there. So I hope this at least opens the mind.

‘Cause when I think about it, this isn’t about vilifying anybody. It’s just about, it’s kind of like asking everybody to put down their pitchforks. It’s like, okay, can we have the medical professionals put down the pitchforks around this method? And can we have the patients and the clients put down their pitchforks too? Because this is really an issue of kind of understanding where everybody’s coming from. And if we understand where we’re coming from. There’s a couple of things. So when you then are on your own path and your own journey, so perhaps you are currently taking hormone birth control or you have an IUD in or you know whatever the case and you’re thinking about making the switch.

So you’re kind of wanting to, I think it’s natural to want to go to your doctor you know when you’re thinking about making a change, thinking about canceling your prescription or thinking about having your IUD removed or something of that nature. And it’s, there’s kind of like this ingrained sense that you need to ask your doctor’s permission to switch methods. And it’s almost like we want our doctor’s blessing. And so what is challenging about learning more about fertility awareness and how your body works and all that kind of stuff is that often we find ourselves in a situation where it’s like we want validation or something.

So you make an appointment with your doctor and you’re so excited, maybe you carry my book, the pitfinal side or taking charge of your fertility with you, and you’re so excited to have this conversation with your doctor because you’ve learned so much about your cycle and you’re excited about this non -hormonal method and you’re kind of wanting this validation from your doctor. And because of all of the reasons that we discussed, your doctor is not the expert when it comes to fertility awareness based methods. Your doctor may have never even heard of fertility awareness. They may not even know what it is.

And so then you go and you’re basically kind of like, okay, so I want to use this other method of birth control. I want you to take out my IUD or I want to cancel my prescription for the pill. And so you’re kind of like asking, like, is that okay doc? And then the doctor can be really discouraging not because they are being mean, but because they legitimately are not the expert of in this particular area. They may not even be familiar with it. They may not even, they may literally not even know what fertility awareness is. So I guess the point of this is to say that you don’t need your doctor’s permission.

It’s like you don’t need to go to your florist to ask if you can have an oil change, right? Like you don’t need your doctor’s permission to use fertility awareness. You may need your doctor’s help if you want them to remove your IUD or if you have an implant or something that you need to take out, but you don’t need your doctor’s permission or blessing or any of that because it’s not like your doctor is not the expert in fertility awareness based methods. Now I’m not saying don’t talk to your doctor, don’t talk to health care professional. Certainly, it’s warranted when you make changes in your health to speak to your health care professional.

But I think that in our culture, we have this expectation that a medical doctor or our midwife or our naturopath is going to necessarily be an expert kind of in all areas. And they’re kind of going to be the be all and end all. We kind of expect them to be like a, I don’t know, like a loving parent or something, but like an all knowing kind of being that’s supposed to know all the answers to everything. And so I think it’s really important to always remember to know your audience. So you don’t need your doctor’s permission or blessing. If you want to use a different birth control method, you’re in charge of your own life and your own health. And so it’s really up to you.

But also know that if you literally are taking control, taking charge of your health, making those decisions, opting for fertility awareness as your birth control method. Your doctor can’t really help you, like unless your doctor actually is aware or your health care professional is aware of fertility awareness based methods and is able to refer, because I know an increasing number of clients will say like, “My doctor referred me to your book.” And so we are at an amazing time and there are a number of health professionals that are legitimately aware of fertility, we’re in a space methods and are actively supporting their patients when they express interest. But it’s not the norm yet.

You know, it’s just not there yet. Like the majority, you’re not going to get that response from the majority. It’s more like a smaller percentage. But my point is though that that you don’t need your doctor’s permission or consent or blessing or any of those types of things. And if your doctor is discouraging or your healthcare professional is discouraging, just know that it’s up to you. So this is one of the challenges, you know, when you take control of your health and you decide that you’re going to make those decisions, it also means that you’re responsible.

And when you’re choosing a method, you know, like fertility awareness in particular, where it’s an entirely user dependent method, you’ve pulled the goalie, it’s really up to you to understand how it works. And so for some of us, having the doctor doubt us is enough to kind of motivate us, like, “Oh yeah, you don’t think it’s going to work for me? You think it’s too complicated for my little, pretty little head? You don’t think I should worry my poor little head over this, and you think it’s going to be too much work for me to actually check my cervical fluid and, you know, note it in my app or write it down in my charting book?” I’ll show you, doctor, right?

So for some of us, it’s actually like a challenge like okay you don’t think I can do it I’ll show you. But for others it can be really discouraging like oh my gosh what if it doesn’t work why does it my doctor believe it like maybe maybe it really isn’t a method like right so you it’s with with fertility awareness if you choose this you’re the one that has to take responsibility for it too. So it’s up to you to then take the time to learn because you’re kind of going off the beaten path right so you got to take the time to learn get yourself some good reading materials, this podcast of course has tons of support for you, tons of great information and encouragement.

And then consider taking a class, you know, consider working with an instructor who is certified in a specific method. So again, it’s up to you to do your due diligence and make sure that the person that you’re seeing is certified has actually been trained to teach women to chart their cycles in a specific method. It’s important because if you want the highest efficacy, there has to be a specific method and strategy that you’re following. But ultimately, I don’t say these things to discourage you. I just say these things because when you have, like when I wear glasses, for example, so I don’t go to my medical doctor when I need an eye exam, right?

I go to the optometrist or ophthalmologist, and they’re the ones who support me in that because that’s what they were trained to do. So it’s the same idea. We don’t need our doctor’s mission or blessing, but when we choose a method like this, the responsibility then falls into our lap. And so what, like I said, what I wish in my perfect world is that doctors were actually trained, like not necessarily tons of time spent in medical school, but certainly just like they learn about the other methods and their efficacy, it would be nice if there was actually just a moment in time where they said, you know, modern fertility based, modern fertility awareness based methods are becoming more common.

So you’ll start to see more of your patients come in who are seeing that they want to chart their cycles and this type of thing. So this is what it is. There’s multiple fertility awareness based methods of varying efficacy, you know, user versus, or typical use versus perfect use, etc. So just know that it is a true method. And for your patients who want to do it, for them to certify teachers so that they can learn. And that is usually the best way that you can support your patients if they’re serious about using a method like this.

Literally like that little sentence in medical school training would make such a big difference for so many women who wanna use the method because it doesn’t mean the doctor has to be the expert. It doesn’t mean that you bring your charts to your doctor for them to look at because it’s not necessarily part of their training unless they’ve taken that initiative on their own to learn about it. So what it means though is it would be a lot, but it would be nice. to learn as well. And so, you know, you may have that magical unicorn doctor who really does understand fertility awareness based methods and is able to support you.

And as time progresses, more and more doctors will have knowledge as this becomes more common place. But you know, that’s kind of the takeaway. I mean, one thing I’ll say as well is that there’s there’s really no excuse for medical professionals to be outright rude and super condescending to people. So it’s really not okay for doctors to be laughing in your face and being just really rude about it. And there’s a difference between not knowing something and just acknowledging it and showing a little bit of like, “Oh, I don’t really know what that is. I just can’t really speak on it because I don’t know about it.

I don’t know the efficacy.” So there’s a difference between that honesty versus like, that’s stupidest thing I’ve heard all day. What do you mean here? Like, right? Like, that’s, and of course, most health professionals are professional and they’re not going to be rude to you. But of course, there are some healthcare professionals that are, and certainly are very condescending, rolling their eyes, just very discouraging. And that’s not okay. So there is a line, right? I think it’s important for us to understand where our care professionals are coming from.

And I think that it’s important for us to, to understand that if you’re going to your midwife, your midwife is not, they didn’t go to school for, for dealing with charting. They have a very specific skill set that they’re, that you have come to them for. And so you can’t expect them to kind of be the jack of all trades and do all of this stuff. They may have some knowledge about it. But even so, if that’s, if they, if they’re not trained and certified in this area, then you can’t expect them to have this deeper knowledge of it. But on, on the other hand, you have the right to be respected, to be heard, not to be laughed at and not to be treated badly.

So if that’s the case, then although it can be tough, sometimes it’s warranted to find a new practitioner. I mean, if really you’re trying to get a little bit of support, a little bit of encouragement and just to be respected as a human being, and that’s not happening, then you are well within your right to just say, you know what, I don’t like the way you’re talking to me. I’m going to find a practitioner who’s going to support me. And again, it doesn’t need to be a unicorn practitioner that is a certified fertility awareness instructor. Also, like, they already went to med school, or they already went to naturopathic college, or they already went to midwifery, midwifery school.

So, I mean, come on, like, Everyone isn’t required to do every training. You don’t expect your doctor to also be your massage therapist, right? Maybe it happens, but you don’t expect that. But you do have the right to be respected and heard and treated with respect. And so certainly there’s a line in the sand when it comes to that kind of treatment. But hopefully this episode has just open your eyes in terms of specifically like, we don’t want to go into this thinking, oh, these doctors are Like, no, no, we just want to understand that this is not their area of expertise unless they have chosen it to be.

It’s like an elective if they if they chose to take training after they already graduated from medical school or naturopathic college, which some do. There’s a small percentage of healthcare professionals that will legitimately take a training program once they’re already done their initial training program so that they can have an awareness of this. and when you find doctors like that, it’s amazing. And certainly you can look. So if in particular, you want a doctor who can look at your charts, I’ve done a couple episodes with NAPRO technology doctors.

So I’ll also put links to those episodes in the show notes page so you can see them, because there are certain doctors that legitimately are trained in charting and understanding how to interpret charts and can support you in that more specifically from an allopathic perspective. It’s perspective, it’s a real thing. So that’s helpful to know. And you can certainly find practitioners who do that, but know that it’s certainly not the norm. And this is an additional training that these professionals chose to take once they were finished their medical school. So it’s not a reasonable expectation that your doctor would be specializing in this area.

So one thing that I will briefly mention that I didn’t really talk about in this episode, because of course, this episode was primarily focused on fertility awareness as birth control and some of the challenges that women experience with their healthcare practitioners when they share this with their practitioners that they wanna use fertility awareness to avoid pregnancy, that many women, I would say that it’s less likely that you receive pushback from a medical professional when you’re planning to use fertility awareness to help you time sex when you’re trying to conceive, but I’ve still heard some degree of discouragement from doctors, in particular, for that as well.

So I feel like it just gets an honorary mention today. And so to give you an example, it’s kind of like, yeah, I’ve been tracking my cycle, I’ve been paying attention to me, because, ah, that doesn’t matter, just have sex when, like, right, like, or, oh, just have sex every other day from days eight to whatever, like so, So I think that that just deserves an honorary mention.

So for those of you who are listening, who are avidly tracking your cycle to conceive, it’s also important to recognize that in the same way that the healthcare professionals may not be trained about fertility awareness, charting for birth control, they may also not be trained about the usefulness of fertility awareness based methods now to kind of time sex. And I would say that it’s probably less likely that you get pushback because they think that it’s not a method, so they’re going to think that it’s not going to matter because you’re just going to be right.

Like if they don’t even think it’s a method, then they may think that it doesn’t even matter and certainly wouldn’t think that it’s going to hinder your chances. But just a nod to that because it can even be discouraging if you are trying to conceive and your practitioner isn’t aware, they’re not, you know, able to look at your charts, they’re not able to or willing to look at your charts and try to discern anything.

But at the same time, I think it’s important to understand that your doctor wasn’t like, so if you’re going to a healthcare practitioner that did not train specifically in fertility awareness based methods, regardless of the kind of practitioner, They can’t look at your charts and provide you with detailed information about your health. For example, Chinese medicine practitioners often will have their clients track their temperatures and they basal body temperatures and things like that and they have a greater awareness of the cycle and how it relates to their overall health because it’s a part of the training for traditional Chinese medicine practitioners.

So there are certain Practitioners who actually may have this as part of their training or just a general understanding But when it comes to actually going in and looking at your charts and investigating That is a specialized skill that that a person would have to learn in order to do So I suppose the last thing as well that I’ll mention on this topic is that I’ve had a number of Clients and women over the years who I’ve spoken to who are really disappointed when they bring in their charts like “My daughter wouldn’t even look at my darts.” And again, if you’re going to your hairstylist, like the person who does like a wash and cut and that kind of thing, and you’re bringing in like your car because you want them to like change the windshield fluid.

It’s like, what are you bringing this to me for? I’m your hairdresser.

And I think that it’s a really important for us to be clear on how our medical healthcare professionals can support It’s it’s not reasonable to expect that your healthcare provider was trained in every single modality and will know every single detail of every single thing It’s just not reasonable to expect that and so when I hear oh my doctor wouldn’t even look at my charts I think well, of course not because that that’s not their specialization I mean some of them may have some degree of knowledge, but again if you’re not going to someone who’s specialized in that they may be able to discern something, but if they’re not trained in depth of analyzing the menstrual cycle in this way, then their degree of potential support is limited, even from that respect.

That’s something just to keep in mind as well and just to acknowledge that even for women who are trying to get pregnant, often their charting efforts are kind of rebuffed, thought to be useless. But again, if you’re going to a practitioner who didn’t learn about fertility awareness based methods and their efficacy, their usefulness in these areas, then you’re not necessarily going to someone who, who truly has a full awareness. So, uh, so again, just some encouragement for you there.

So I just want to thank you for spending some time with me today for tuning into today’s episode, you’ll find the show notes page over at fertilityfriday .com /336 with all of the information that we talked about today. So links to the different episodes with doctors to really shed some light on where they are coming from, what they are taught in medical school, and how that plays out in terms of their recommendation for hormonal contraceptive use as well as their recommendations for birth control methods and why they may, why you may find that you’re going to your healthcare provider and you’re not really encouraged when it comes to fertility awareness based methods.

And my hope is that we can all put down our pitchforks and better understand each other where we’re coming from. And ultimately, it would be really, really nice if even if your practitioner wasn’t aware, wasn’t that familiar, that they would just kind of like acknowledge that and say, “This isn’t really something I’m aware of, but certainly if this is something that you think is really important, I would encourage you to make sure that you do your due diligence and really learn how to use it effectively if you feel that this is something that you want to do.” That would be such a great response, right? Because we want to understand where healthcare practitioners are coming from.

We don’t want to have unreasonable expectations, but we do deserve to be respected, of course, and so there’s a good balance there. And if you want to share with your doctor, you’re changing in birth control method, that’s fine. But you can’t expect your doctor to be the expert in that area, nor can you necessarily expect them even to be aware of it when you understand that it’s not a standard part of their training. So that is what I’m hoping that you’re taking away from this. And for any of the medical professionals that are listening, what I’m hoping that you take away from this is is that there’s no woman on earth who has been forced to use fertility awareness charting.

It’s a very kind of unique and specific type of birth control method that women are drawn to depending on their own experiences and those types of things. And so because of that, women self -select to this method, and women are perfectly capable to use it. It is possible for women to learn to use it correctly and accurately. And so what I would suggest is just to learn a little bit about it. If you’re listening, you’re obviously interested. So learn a little bit about it and then encourage your clients to seek additional support.

If you have a patient who is planning to use fertility wearing a space methods or who’s expressing interest in that, I feel that one of the most, one of the ways that you can be kind of the most supportive is to literally just encourage the client by sharing resources. For example, you could share with them some common resources, like taking charge of your fertility or my book, the fifth vital sign, and then just encourage them to really, you know, take the next steps and to take it seriously.

I feel like it would go such a long way for the patients who would be able to know that if their doctor takes it seriously, I feel like that would be encouragement for them to take it seriously too because I want women to be successful with this method because I know that it works when used correctly to a high efficacy rate and it’s possible for women to achieve that high efficacy rate similar to if they were using a hormonal method provided that they have the right instruction, the right support and they’re able to really take the necessary time initially to learn how to use the method, to learn to chart, to gain that confidence in interpreting observations and things like that.

And that can be done. And I mean, of course, in my personal experience, when I first learned to chart, I certainly initially kind of taught myself in the sense that I went out and bought taking charge of your fertility, and then I started charting. But very soon after, I was fortunate to be surrounded by women who were trained and, you and many of whom were certified instructors. And so my learning curve took place in that environment. And so I truly don’t have the experience of being completely self -taught.

And I know that even for myself as studious and nerdy as I am, I benefited tremendously from having women who were experienced charters to ask my questions, to learn a Specific method of charting so to understand in a lot more depth than I could have just from reading a book and to also be around Women who were also charting so there was a lot of questions experiences a lot of wisdom that I gained from the certified Teachers and all of the women that I was around and I know yes My I certainly had a unicorn experience Definitely because this was like 20 years ago and I had this experience and I recognize that everybody doesn’t necessarily have the opportunity to experience that.

But my point is that from my perspective, even if you’re able to take a class, even if you’re able to have a couple sessions with a certified instructor to ask your questions, there’s tremendous, tremendous value in seeking out that support when you’re wanting to rely on fertility awareness as your primary birth control method. Even women who are kind of proclaimed self -taught in this area who did not go to practitioners and there’s plenty of women who are part of online groups and things like that. These women are still around other women who chart, like even if it’s virtually. So they’ve started groups and they have surrounded themselves with other women who chart.

You know, they’ve learned over years. And so I would argue that no woman is entirely self -taught. I would argue that even women who say they’re self -taught certainly are part of groups and are around other women who chart even if it’s virtually so that they actually were able to kind of tap into all of those different resources if you will. And so at the end of the day, I want women to be successful because it is a user dependent method. Fertility awareness is a user dependent method. And so what that means is that like you don’t want to be the weak link in your birth control. When you’re using a fertility awareness based method, It’s you that has to take the time to learn.

It’s you that has to be comfortable and confident in understanding how it is. And I think that the health care practitioners can certainly get on the same page with that intention of helping women to be successful. And perhaps they just don’t know how to do that, and that can be why we’re getting a lot of these kind of discouraging sentiments, because if they don’t even think it’s a real method and they’re not aware of it, then they wouldn’t necessarily know that there’s multiple different fertility awareness -based methods. And there’s plenty of certified teachers and trainers who can support women to use the method effectively.

So hopefully, that is one of the main takeaways from today’s episode. Thank you so much for joining me today. I hope you enjoyed this episode. I know I certainly enjoyed talking about these topics today. And of course, I feel that this is really important, because ultimately, I would love for practitioners and patients and women and everyone to kind of get on the same page with fertility awareness method, not necessarily that everyone’s going to think of it the same way and necessarily love it and think about it as their primary method, but knowing that it’s an option and knowing how to support your patients.

And for women to feel supported, to feel that when they go to their doctor’s office, they’re not going to be laughed at, like literally laughed at because they’re using this type of method. I mean, yeah, that would be nice, right? Like, this would be a good way to go through life. So, if you know someone who could really benefit from hearing this, and I know some of you are thinking, “Man, I want to send this episode to my doctor,” but hey, you can if you want to. But if you know somebody who would benefit from this episode, certainly share it, again, fertilitycriety .com /336. And of course, Until next time, as always, be well and happy charting.