Like many menstruators who find themselves on the path of Fertility Awareness, my story was quite a journey of awakening...

I began taking the pill when I was 15 years old for pregnancy prevention. It was less of a conscious decision and more of a "that's just what you do" attitude. I stayed on the pill for 7 years without ever considering whether this synthetic drug I was taking every single day was having any impact on my body or development.

When I was 22 years old, a friend told me to listen to a podcast episode about the health risks of hormonal birth control, especially for teenagers. The podcast host was talking extensively about the links between hormonal birth control and depression, anxiety, suicide, blood clots, low libido, autoimmune disorders, nutrient depletion, and even cancer! She even went into some detail about the environmental pollution caused directly by hormonal birth control entering our waterways.

I . Was. Shook.

This was the first time I had ever heard anyone talk about serious risks from taking hormonal contraceptives. I hadn't had any serious side effects from my birth control pill, but I certainly knew many friends that had a lot of trouble with theirs. What shook me the most was the statistic that 65% of females age 15-49 are on hormonal contraception, but up to 58% of users are prescribed these hormones for reasons other than pregnancy prevention, oftentimes completely ignoring the root cause of the issue and suppressing it, allowing it to stagnate, and in some cases worsen over time, completely undetected.

This single podcast spawned a full blown obsession learning about hormonal contraceptives and the menstrual cycle. I immediately stopped taking my birth control pill and ordered the book Taking Charge of Your Fertility by Toni Weschler. I was determined to give charting my cycle a try.

Fast forward two years and I entered a new relationship. My charting practice had been half-ass at best and I didn't feel confident enough in my charts to prevent pregnancy with this new partner and frequency of unprotected sex. But I was determined to avoid hormones.

That's when I decided to try Paragard- the Copper IUD. No hormones? Long-term, effortless pregnancy protection? Sounds like a dream, right?! Wrong.

Long story short, I had insanely terrible cramping, heavy bleeding, and pain during sex. My body was so unwelcoming of the IUD that after 4 months I had to have it removed because it was ejecting itself from my uterus. Because I was still lazily charting my cycle and had general awareness of what cycle day I was on, I knew immediately that two weeks after removal of the IUD, I was pregnant. I made the decision with my partner to have an abortion and was grateful to live in a place where that critical medical care was accessible to me. As it ended up saving my life. I was having a cervical ectopic pregnancy...Yes that's right...an ectopic pregnancy in my CERVIX. Cervical ectopic pregnancies are extremely rare and account for <1% of all ectopic pregnancies. The doctor at Planned Parenthood sent me to the ER with little information about what was going to happen to me.

I felt Terrified. Confused. Ashamed.

I was admitted to the hospital for a total of 5 days where the doctors attempted to induce abortion using a highly toxic chemotherapy injection called Methotrexate. When the injections failed and it became clear the danger of hemorrhaging was getting too high, I was put into emergency surgery where I had to sign a release giving permission to have a hysterectomy if it meant saving me from fatal hemorrhaging. I was 24 years old. Luckily the surgery was successful, the pregnancy was terminated, and I was sent home the next day.

Needless to say, that was the last time I ever considered taking a synthetic hormonal/internal contraceptive. I committed to learning Fertility Awareness Method with an educator and haven't looked back since.

More information about Paragard and associated risks of ectopic pregnancy and copper toxicity

FDA Warnings on side effects of Paragard

IUD use and the risk of ectopic pregnancy: a meta-analysis of case-control studies

Copper Paragard IUD Support Group

Copper Toxicity