My Journey to Fertility Awareness
*CW: Womb trauma
One of the BIG reasons I do reproductive education and fertility work is because of my personal experiences in a womb body.
My periods were never an issue for me until I went on hormonal birth control. About 1 year into The Pill, I started developing a ton of (seemingly unrelated) symptoms, ranging from chronic yeast and even kidney infections to progressing food intolerances. As an overworked college student, I felt like I was barely hanging on.
After not getting any clear answers from providers, other than “it’s not the birth control,” I decided it was time to quit the pill. I thought all my issues would go away… but not quite.
The yeast and kidney infections disappeared quickly— hooray! But then came the period pain. Excruciating pain that I had NEVER experienced before. Not only during my period, but then all cycle long, I experienced pelvic pain and heaviness.
Around that same time, I had also experienced sexual assault, adding physical trauma to my womb— I knew this was compounding the physical symptoms in my cycle, but I didn’t know what to do with it.
I suffered through it alone for a long time before going back to the doctor again. Was it cysts? Endometriosis? They didn’t have many answers for me, but after many tests they said, “you might not be able to have kids, so if you want to try, you should probably do it now.”
I was 21 at the time.
I knew internally that none of this sounded right. My internal wisdom was coming through, calling me toward a different path.
I decided to get serious about charting my cycles using the fertility awareness method (FAM), which I had already dabbled in for a couple years, along with diving into root causes of my health through nutrition, herbs and addressing physical and emotional stress. Within months, I began to see changes, and most importantly, I felt power and agency in my cycle for the first time in years.
Charting using FAM revealed SO much about where I was at: how my liver needed to be supported, how stress was altering my cycles, and how gluten and dairy were causing me such pain.
It was the key to my discovering what worked for my body and what needed to change— and it led me to experience mild, pain-free cycles.
And when my cycles became easeful…I blossomed in new and big ways. I grew more into my queerness, my authentic purpose, my inner authority, my playfulness.
Our fertility is NOT just about the ability to reproduce. For me, being able to track my cycles continues to give me incredibly valuable information about my health and my body, and it allows me to access my true power.
Are my cycles consistently “perfect?” Nope. This is real life! But now, I KNOW when things are off in my body, and charting helps me to identify what I need to get back on course.
Knowing our bodies and how to care for our health and vitality is our BIRTHRIGHT. That’s why I love teaching the skill of fertility tracking to others!
If you’re considering using fertility awareness to avoid pregnancy, prepare for it, or to better understand your body’s divine cycles, I’m offering a FREE fertility tracking introductory workshop TOMORROW, July 30, at 7pm cst. Sign up here and learn how to reclaim the wisdom of your cycle— you’ll get the replay if you can’t make it live. :)
All my love,
Qiddist