Pill Bleeds Are Not Periods

Pill bleeds are not periods.

The pill is commonly prescribed to “regulate periods,” but it can’t actually do that because withdrawal bleeds from contraceptive drugs are not real menstrual cycles.

In episode one of my podcast/YouTube video, I discuss real periods versus pill bleeds and why there’s no medical reason to bleed monthly on the pill.

I also look at the difference between contraceptive drugs and real hormones.

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How Science Got It Wrong About Progesterone

Progesterone is important for women's health.

Progesterone has been both ignored and mistakenly blamed for side effects it does not cause. How did that happen?

First, progesterone was discovered after estrogen, so, according to endocrinology professor Jerilynn Prior, missed being part of the tidy hormone dichotomy of “testosterone for men and estrogen for women.”

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The Right Way to Test Progesterone with the Menstrual Cycle

testing progesterone

The next time your doctor orders a progesterone test, ask yourself: “When is the right day to do this test?”

Forget “day 21 progesterone.” There’s no reason to test progesterone until you are approximately one week before your period. That will depend on how long your cycle actually is.

Here’s what you need to know about progesterone testing.

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Basic Body Literacy

Some basic body literacy:

A proper period or menstrual bleed is a bleed at the end of a natural ovulatory cycle. Any other type of bleed is either a pill bleed (a withdrawal bleed from stopping contraceptive drugs) or an anovulatory cycle (a bleed when there has been no ovulation).

A menstrual cycle is, therefore, an “ovulatory cycle,” in which ovulation is the main event.

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