By Ekatherina Kazantseva
Many women in their late 20s and 30s embark on a complex and crucial journey towards hormonal equilibrium. This journey involves understanding the impact of contraceptives, such as the pill and hormonal IUDs, on their bodies' natural hormonal balance.
For over 10 years, I relied on hormonal contraceptives (HBCs), starting at a young age. While they offered effective birth control, I began to wonder if I fully understood the impact on my hormones. This personal reflection ultimately led me to explore alternative methods.
While using HBCs, I didn't experience major difficulties. However, after discontinuing them, I encountered challenges like an embedded IUD becoming ineffective and dangerous. This experience, along with a stressful incident in my life that triggered hormonal acne, solidified my desire to help others reclaim their hormonal health, especially surrounding menstrual cycles and contraceptives. Finally, I share some strategies for the journey after discontinuing HBCs to find hormonal balance again.
Hormonal Birth Control: A Double-Edged Sword
Hormonal contraceptives like the pill and IUDs have revolutionised women's freedom and reproductive choices. They work by introducing synthetic hormones, effectively preventing pregnancy but also affecting the natural hormonal cycle. This can lead to a more predictable period but potentially disrupt your body's delicate hormonal balance.
In my case, starting HBCs at a young age meant my hormones never had a chance to fully establish their natural rhythm. Discontinuing them later presented a period of adjustment.
The Journey After HBCs: Finding Balance Again
Many women experience an adjustment period after stopping HBCs, with symptoms like irregular periods, mood swings, and acne. This "post-pill syndrome" highlights the body's effort to reestablish hormonal equilibrium. It's important to remember that everyone's experience is different.
One aspect often overlooked in the journey to hormonal balance is the role of gut health. Research indicates a strong connection between the gut and hormonal health, with the gut microbiome playing a pivotal role in hormone metabolism and regulation. Hormonal contraceptives can disrupt gut health by altering the composition of gut bacteria and compromising digestive function. Especially when contraceptives have been used for long periods, as in my case (10 years), this can put additional stress on your liver, which works to detoxify the synthetic hormones from your body.
Now let's PAUSE, don't let this stress you out. Your body is a magical self-healing machine capable of creating and reversing any side effects that have been created. Our hormonal health can be repaired and recovered. The same way that cuts heal into nearly invisible scars, your body can regenerate and restabilize your hormones. All you have to do is give it the right support.
Supporting Your Body Naturally
If you are trying to transition off hormonal contraceptives and are working on hormonal balance, these are my go-to strategies that are key to supporting this process:
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Nutrient-Rich Diet:
Focusing on healthy-fats such as avocado, olive oil and nuts. Adding in nutrient-dense foods such as fruits, cruciferous vegetables will support your diet with additional vitamins and minerals. Good protein intake is important as it can provide essential nutrients for hormone production and balance. Limiting any processed foods and significant sugar intake is also important as insulin plays an important role in our hormonal balance. Too much insulin can easily throw off the hormonal cycle. PCOS and those who suffer from PCOS are often on a rollercoaster of blood sugar balance and need to address sugar/starch intake to keep a balance in hormones.
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Stress Management:
Another key aspect of finding hormonal balance is to minimise cortisol spikes. In any transition phase, prioritising stress-reducing activities such as yoga, meditation, deep breathing exercises, or spending time in nature will have the double effect of letting your body naturally heal itself and also,support adrenal health. Reducing your cortisol levels is imperative to allowing your body to feel safe enough to ovulate and find its rhythm. From personal experience, when you and your body do not feel safe, it is in survival mode and will not ovulate. That is the beauty of our biological survival instinct! your body will deter ovulation until it feels safe again.
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Hormone-Supportive Herbs and Teas:
I highly recommend to all my clients to try supportive herbal teas for cycle support but also for liver health. My favourite cycle support brand (full disclosure: I invested in the brand because I loved the brand’s ethos so much) are the healing herbatas from theSABI.co. The SABI is a female-founded hormonal wellness brand aiming to bring all-natural, adaptogenic skincare and all-natural herbal infusions at therapeutic dosages to support women in all moments of their cycle (finally!!). Their community page also helps women connect to real resources and not feel alone on their journey throughout their hormonal changes. I truly love that – we need to make hormones a non-taboo subject and that’s what they are doing.
I suggest to all my clients who have period pain, bloating issues and need additional cycle support to try an all-natural tea blend (like from The SABI The Gentle Period for cycle support or Mama Recover for cycle support postpartum) to help smooth out those hormonal waves. For liver teas, I also suggest Galium Verum or lady’s bedstraw or milk thistle to help support liver detoxification. Consider incorporating herbs such as maca, chasteberry (vitex), and dong quai, known for their hormone-balancing properties, under the guidance of a healthcare provider.
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Regular Exercise:
Engage in regular physical activity to support overall health and hormone regulation. Aim for strength training, and flexibility exercises especially in the beginning months of your journey to balanced hormones. Resistance training is highly beneficial for hormone balance as it targets the development of muscle mass and strength, directly impacting the production and regulation of essential hormones such as testosterone, human growth hormone (hGH), and insulin-like growth factor 1. The more muscle mass you have the better your insulin regulation is, which will help combat any PCOS symptoms as well. In addition, long walks have helped me to feel strong and gain endurance (uphill, speed-walking or hiking). I would suggest limiting any HIIT training to avoid those extreme spikes in cortisol.
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Patience and Self-Compassion:
Understand that rebalancing hormones takes time and patience. Be gentle with yourself and listen to your body's cues throughout the process. Find ways to journal, connect with your body and find moments of self-care to truly allow yourself and your body to go through this period with grace and to trust that it knows best. After a long period of your body’s natural rhythms being pushed away, your body will also have to learn how to react to environmental stressors, diet stressors, to determine how and when it feels safe. It’s normal to go through the emotional ups and downs and the journey that comes along with our hormones. Accept this phase and try to address it with non-judgment.
In my experience, I cycled through weight gain, weight loss, hormonal acne, very lengthy menstrual cycles, and heightened stress. Keeping a journal and writing often proved to be incredibly helpful. It allowed me to fully express my feelings and moods without judgement. Often, when deeply immersed in these emotions, I'd forget they could simply be a result of my hormones stabilising. However, I've come to understand that this entire process was crucial for learning my body's language and regaining trust in its ability to self-regulate. Journaling provided a healthy outlet for releasing those emotions and fostered self-compassion during this challenging time.
Conclusion
The journey of hormonal balance is not easy, and even after two years, there are still things that affect my cycle regularity. It's an ongoing process. However, I know and trust my body now more than ever to give me cues when it's under stress and needs support. This empowers me to make decisions aligned with my cycle. Most importantly, acknowledging the impacts of hormonal changes and prioritising digestive health, which was critical for me, can help women navigate this transition with greater ease and empowerment. Finding balance is not about perfection but about honouring the body's innate wisdom and striving for harmony in mind, body, and spirit. Isn't that our ultimate goal anyway?
HORMONAL & PROUD
Created as a brand to help women navigate the toughest moments in pregnancy, childbirth, postpartum — and practically every stage of life –– The SABI is changing the narrative around our hormones from one of taboo, embarrassment, and loneliness to awareness and even, pride. As more than a wellness brand, The SABI offers a carefully-crafted line of products to carry you through your hormonal journey, including rituals, supportive tools, and ancient herbal remedies that have been tested time and time again by women and now come backed by medicine. The SABI is a blend of science and nature conceived by women who have experienced the joys and deep struggles of bringing a child into the world, the pains of a heavy, difficult period, miscarriage, and difficulty conceiving.
We invite you to get to know your body and its cycles better –– to really understand what is going on inside. Learn to use your hormones to your advantage no matter your stage of life, and know that you can support and balance your hormone levels. We are here to help with the information, understanding and natural tools to support your body and the emotional process along with it.
