Trouble Getting Pregnant After Birth Control Pills

Question for Dr. Leia: We are writing you because we would like to know if you can help us figure out what to do.

My girlfriend has a problem with her menstrual cycle and we are trying to have a baby.

But there is this one little problem her period is very irregular when she is not on birth control. She often doesn’t get her period.

She was off her birth control for 5 months and never had a period, so she went back on birth control and then had her period again.

She was 14 or 15 when she was put on birth control, and only had a couple periods before that. So she is worried that there is something wrong with her reproductive system.

But I was thinking that maybe her hormones were never correctly balanced or some other related issue.

I am wondering if you can product us some advice in helping us talk to her doctor. She is going to see her doctor this week, but she doesn’t know what to say to the doctor, and she doesn’t want to go through random testing.

Her OB-GYN already thought that there was something wrong because she started her period so late, and this doctor did some testing back then and told her that her system was fine.

Please help us, she is really worried and I feel like there is nothing I can do.

Young GirlDr. Leia’s Answer: It is understandable that you are concerned about your girlfriend, her irregular menstrual periods and her inability to conceive.

It is my firm conviction that teenage girls under the age of 20 should not be randomly given birth control pills, especially when they just begin their menstruation and during their early formative years of sexual development.

The female body is designed to produce estrogen and progesterone on a cyclical basis. Ovulation, or release of an egg each month, is responsible for this regular natural release of hormones.

When the body is given birth control pills (which consist of synthetic, not natural hormones), these synthetic hormones totally replace the body’s own production of it’s normal hormones.

Therefore, birth control pills suppress the body’s natural production of hormones by overriding this natural mechanism.

Age 14 or 15 is NOT too old to begin menstruation. This author began her menses on her 15th birthday, and all was normal.

The problem with today’s world is that there are many zeno-estrogen’s or estrogen mimickers in the environment from plastics, birth control pills, hormone-fed chickens, beef, and pork, which are consumed by children and teenagers and sometimes lead to premature sexual development because of the flooding of all these hormones into the body.

Some female children even begin their menses at age 5-9 years old, which in my opinion is way too young. Even male children are being exposed to way more female estrogenic substances than is healthy and eventually may affect the reproductive capacity of the human race.

Not knowing your girl friends medical history, I am unable to diagnose her problem, however, being on birth control pills has suppressed her own hormones and it does take time after coming off from birth control pills to become regular again. So patience is important.

Her doctor will know what further testing she will require, after your dear girlfriend divulges her complete history to her doctor. Again, patience and complete divulgence of her medical history and symptoms are important in her diagnosis and treatment program.

After visiting her medical doctor and having complete testing, you might mention to her that Acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine have helped to regulate women’s menstrual cycles and even help with fertility problems.

You might also want to be checked out for fertility problems yourself, just to make sure that your sperm count is normal.

Good luck.