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I know I say this every day, but ovulation is how you make your hormones, and you need to make them regularly to maintain bone and cardiovascular health (among other things like good skin, hair, and nails!)
Bc I'm often working with people younger than me, I notice contraceptive use is starting earlier into the teens. So starting from ages 13-16, menstruation is being suppressed for sometimes 6-7 years. There's no time to develop a relationship with your cycle at all. It's just gone
And obviously connected to this... is that you aren't ovulating (making hormones) during your cycle maturation years. You hit menarche (puberty) and then your body is stunted during its most crucial time for developing the cycle to maturity
So what is the impact of young people who menstruate not making their own hormones during these crucial years? I'm thinking brittle bones, cardiovascular risk, breast cancer increase before 40 y/o, higher rates of anxiety, depression, suicide, thyroid and metabolic dysfunction
And what does it mean that these people are getting to their mid-20's, have no relationship to their menstrual cycles because they've essentially never had them for any period of time, and are now wondering, what would it be like to be in touch with my body?
We are taking young, healthy teens just beginning hormone cycling which brings on adrenarche (sexual maturity) and essentially prescribing them a steroid drug that puts them in a state of menopause. And then telling them its normal, sending them on their merry way.
And I'm seeing them on the other end of this process. That's where I come in and at least inform them that they can choose to have a relationship with their bodies that is not negative, painful, and abusive. I see this pattern a lot with people in the age group just below me
For some people, they may be happy with contraceptives for years and years. To each their own. But because these people started contraceptives as teens, by the time they're 23, they're wondering why they haven't built this relationship and they feel distanced from themselves.
It's pretty jarring to be meeting people who are at the end of their journey with pharmaceuticals, who want something else for themselves and a better quality of life, who are in their early 20s. They're already looking for a way out of being reliant on that for the next 20 yrs.
