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overstimulation of the specific cervical mucus which impedes | CONSCIOUSNESS AND THE PILL sperm motility. These two interlinked actions of the Pill on There are women today who take birth control pills from puber- mucus production can cause serious delay if not cessation of pre- ty to menopause, at which time they start on hormone replace- Pill fertility.* ment therapy—the same steroid drugs, just in different dosages In the majority of women, impairment of fertility usually and packaging. The complex physiological processes of women's diminishes with time but "may be evident up to 30 months after reproductive and post-reproductive lives have literally come to be cessation of the Pill in women who have not previously had chil- controlled and determined by powerful foreign chemicals. What dren."* Post-Pill fertility may be abetted by natural medicines to happens when millions of women's bodies, instead of being in detoxify the system and stimulate normal functioning. tune with the tides and responsive to their natural inner realities, are conforming to a schedule dictated by the products of pharma- SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES AND THE PILL ceutical companies? Sexually transmitted diseases have grown so prevalent that in In her outstanding book, Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom,” 1991 the US Centers for Disease Control issued a startling new Dr Christiane Northrup tells of a colleague of hers, an obstetri- recommendation: "Use barrier methods. Use condoms, cian/gynaecologist named Laurie, who for nine years chose the diaphragms and/or vaginal spermicides even if contraception is Pill as her preferred form of birth control and recommended it to not needed." all her patients as well. However, when a personal crisis around It was not only the fear of AIDS that prompted this advisory her sexuality occurred, Laurie realised that the Pill had actually warning, but a galloping increase in infections such as chlamydia separated her from the messages of her body and her inner self. which can cause pelvic inflammatory disease "T felt sadness," Laurie said, "that I had (PID) and infertility. The CDC estimates that taken for granted, drugged away or labelled as one million American women experience PID a ‘curse’ all the wondrous workings of my each year, 50 per cent become sterile after brain, my hormones, my uterus and my three episodes and 12 per cent after just one. There are women ovaries. No one ever celebrated my first peri- The sexual freedom that the Pill initiated is f od. No one had helped me to connect the also responsible for the present epidemic of today who take birth power of giving birth to my sexuality. I longed STDs. On the one hand, the Pill increases the . to recapture some of the lost magic and mys- stickiness of cervical mucus which may slow control pills from tery." the ascent of diseases into the uterus, When Laurie decided to go off the Pill, she puberty to 8 Fallopian tubes and ovaries. On the other . said it was "something of an act of celebration hand, the Pill increases the risk of infectious menopause, at which and rebellion... I threw away the last dial-pack conditions such as chlamydia. Chlamydia is a . and waited. I was pretty sure that after nine microscopic organism that is not a bac- time they start on years of instruction from Ortho terium, virus or fungus. It can cause hormone replacement Pharmaceutical, my ovaries would e non-gonococcal urethritis, a chlamydia totally confused, so I was willing to be infection passed on through intercourse, therapy—the same patient. I was prepared for swelling, irri- with symptoms of painful urination and . . . tability, wild emotions and confusion. I oy discharge t steroid drugs, just in 3 different dosages and packaging. a watery discharge that can lead to PID was not prepared for what happened." and infertility. Two weeks after taking her last Pill, Laurie was talking with a group of women about her feelings. "Suddenly, I was in tears and could hardly speak. I remember thinking, 'Now isn't this strange?" Then it hit her. For years she had felt sadness about certain aspects of The American Journal of Epidemiology her life and she had even told others recently reported that Pill users have about these feelings. But she had always increased risk of two painful types of inflammatory bowel dis- done so while she was on the Pill without any emotional or physi- ease: ulcerative colitis, which is dose-dependent on products high _ ological reaction whatsoever. Now, for the first time in nine in oestrogen, and Crohn's disease, which is twice as common as it years, she was actually ovulating. By returning to her natural was 30 years ago before the Pill came into widespread use. The rhythms she experienced a profoundly enhanced ability to feel connection between the Pill and inflammatory bowel disease has and express her deepest emotions. not been widely circulated or widely publicised in either the lay or She found, in fact, that all her feelings were now more available the medical press.” to her, including her anger and her sexuality. "This body that I Another problem with the Pill is the effect from the interaction _ had abused for so long and in so many ways was suddenly talking with other medications. A partial list of drugs that have been to me again, giving me encouragement and reassurance. All was UNPUBLICISED SIDE-EFFECTS OF THE PILL Even though the Pill has been in exis- tence for 37 years, new and serious side-effects are still being uncovered. implicated in blocking the contraceptive action of the Pill not lost." includes: antihistamines, barbiturates, penicillin, antidepressants, When Laurie found that birth control pills had impeded her minor tranquillisers, adrenocorticosteroid hormones (such as access to the depth of her feelings and intuition, she wondered if prednisone) and anticoagulants (Coumadin). The effects of either they had also disrupted her sexual communication with her hus- the Pill or the other medication may be increased, decreased or band. This could well have been so. There is significant evidence simply altered by the interaction between the two. If you take the that birth control pills reduce hormones that are vital to the way Pill along with any of the above drugs, you are engaging in specu- women communicate sexually with men. Certain volatile fatty lative experimentation.* acids, known copulins, are secreted in the vagina and stimulate overstimulation of the specific cervical mucus which impedes sperm motility. These two interlinked actions of the Pill on mucus production can cause serious delay if not cessation of pre- Pill fertility.“ In the majority of women, impairment of fertility usually diminishes with time but "may be evident up to 30 months after cessation of the Pill in women who have not previously had chil- dren."** Post-Pill fertility may be abetted by natural medicines to detoxify the system and stimulate normal functioning. NEXUS ¢ 25 There are women AUGUST - SEPTEMBER 1997