ARE YOU CONFUSED? YOU'RE NOT ALONE!

Are you busy and just want a quick reliable contraception? Do you want birth control that's easy to understand and use? Do you get confused about what you need to do for effective contraception as well as how you can best protect yourself from sexually transmitted diseases?

If you're on the Pill did you go on it for skin or period problems? Or are you taking it for contraception? Are you in a relationship and pregnancy is just not an option? Would you like a relationship and are on the Pill just in case?

Or are you thinking about going on the Pill wondering if it's as effective as they say? Do you want to know what the side-effects may be?

Do you want to know more about how your body works and how contraception will affect you? Do you worry about interfering with your fertility or your menstrual cycle? And if you don't go on the Pill what else is there?

This book will help you to figure out what's right for you. Decisions about contraception are really important, so it's worth exploring your options.

You're fertile for many years and by choosing the right contraception method or methods that work for you, you are more likely to find the best fit for your lifestyle, values and goals. Naturally, this will be different from person to person. The more you know and understand about contraception and your own body the more you're able to tailor the methods you use to suit you. Then you can relax and enjoy your sex life.

A not so happy choice

Often we end up on the Pill because it seems the most obvious thing to do as a teenager. Kim was just starting to explore her sexuality at eighteen and in her second year of college and she wanted to do the 'responsible thing' so she went on the Pill. It was almost a rite of passage and so easy. She explained to the doctor what she wanted and five minutes later she had a prescription. She doesn't remember hearing anything about possible disadvantages or health issues — just 'use a condom as well' and instructions on 'what to do if she forgot to take the Pill'. If she'd known about the consequences she may still have taken the Pill for a little while, but not for almost twenty years.

At the time she went on the Pill it made Kim feel like an adult. It offered her regular 'periods', cleared her acne, freed her from pain during the first day or so of her period, and gave her birth control. Later, as a career woman, the Pill still seemed to offer Kim great convenience. Every time she visited the doctor to renew the script, she was told she shouldn't smoke and take the Pill but never about the side-effects she may suffer.

During her twenties and thirties, Kim found it difficult to lose weight, had monthly migraines, very little sex drive and felt chronically low. She just thought it was her. 'Why wasn't I happy? I had so much going for me and yet was so sad, so often. I didn't realise the Pill was making me depressed,' she admits. 'I thought my blue moods were just part of my psychological make-up.'

Kim decided to come off the Pill when she heard a talk about its side-effects. To her dismay she realised all her main health problems were known side-effects of the Pill. At 37, she had taken the Pill for almost twenty years, and finally felt the confidence to stop.

What a surprise. In the first week after she stopped taking the Pill Kim felt a lot of anger, partly because she had suffered side-effects from the Pill for so long without knowing the cause. This was also due to her liver detoxing after years of processing the synthetic hormones in the Pill. All drugs taken orally are first delivered to the liver before entering general circulation and years of a daily Pill is a considerable toxic load for this vital organ. With the support of her naturopath she was able to restore her health and hormonal balance. After two weeks she began to feel like a new woman — 'I was amazed. I woke in the morning feeling refreshed, awake and alive. I felt light and vibrant — a feeling of happiness and an absence from depression that I was very unfamiliar with. It would seem that my natural state is happiness, not moody depression from artificial hormones.'

Kim's menstrual cycle is still irregular and she suspects this will take some time to return to balance. But her migraines have gone and she's enjoying a wonderful resurgence in her sex drive. Kim now likes getting her period and being able to read her body's signs of fertility and know when she's fertile if she wants to get pregnant.

It was only after she stopped taking the Pill that Kim's mother confessed that she had also had bad migraines while on the Pill, but hadn't made the connection between her own experience and Kim's.

The next step Kim took was to quit smoking. At first she found experiencing her natural hormonal cycle and managing her emotions without smoking was challenging, 'However, I feel like I'm becoming closer to my real self,' she reflects. 'I am happier and feel healthier and relieved. I had no idea what it meant to be a natural woman. I think information about fertility awareness should be mandatory. If I'd learnt all this in high school it would certainly have saved me a lot of trouble.'

From powerless to empowered

Lisa's experience on the Pill echoes many women's stories. Like so many she struggled with various forms of birth control, never feeling right with them, until she finally learnt about fertility awareness, and that changed everything.

As a responsible sixteen-year-old, she went on the Pill before having sex with her boyfriend. After a few years of hating the Pill, especially the weight gain, she switched to an IUD. For over six years it worked well enough apart from the heavy menstrual bleeding and cramps.

One summer she had her IUD removed while her boyfriend was away, and didn't get...