Menstrual Health Basics

Healing the Menstrual Cycle in PCOS

It is difficult living with PCOS or Anovulatory Androgen Excess (AAE) Current understanding PCOS is difficult to treat and can never be cured “The Pill”, combined hormonal contraceptives (CHC) of high estrogen/progestin is our best currently available and scientifically proven PCOS therapy Metformin is an important and safe medicine that acts to make insulin work…
New PCOS Therapy Article Written for Clue by Dr. Jerilynn Prior

Illustration by Emma Günther Dr. Jerilynn Prior has written an article on PCOS Therapy for women for the period tracking app, Clue. In this article, she challenges the common treatment approaches to Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) and makes the case for a science-backed alternative centered on restoring ovulation. Drawing from decades of clinical research and…
Frequently Asked Questions about Anovulatory Androgen (AAE, or PCOS)

Frequently Asked Questions about Anovulatory Androgen (AAE, or PCOS) Are women with AAE estrogen deficient since they often have skipped periods or amenorrhea? You would think so, since many women with far-apart periods do have low estrogen levels. But surprisingly, estrogen levels are normal or high in women with AAE. Estrogen levels are at least…
Contraceptive Choices—Seeking Effective, Convenient, Safe and Ovulation-friendly Birth Control

Our primary goal when choosing a reversible birth control method is that it effectively prevent pregnancy, is without personal unwanted side-effects and is affordable and convenient. CeMCOR believes we should add a second goal—that the effective/safe chosen contraceptive method also preserves normal menstrual cycles and ovulation. These two contraception goals, taken separately, suggest two different…
When Should I Have Sex to Get Pregnant?

I am a 36-year old woman and we have been trying to conceive for a while. I know my fertile window is 3 days before ovulation the day of and after ovulation. Does that mean that you cannot fall pregnant if you engage in sexual activity a week before your next period? Thank you for your…
Depo-Provera Use and Bone Health

New science decreases concerns even about use in teenagers by Drs. Azita Goshtasebi & Jerilynn C. Prior Many teenagers and women of all ages around the world use a three monthly injection of medroxyprogesterone for contraception. This long-acting and highly effective birth control method is officially called DepoProvera® but for simplicity here we will call…
Stopping Depo-Provera

Many women experience difficulty when they stop taking Depo-Provera contraception – everything from heavy flow to amenorrhea, sore breasts, mood swings and weight gain. In this article based on a re:Cycling blog post for the Society for Menstrual Cycle Research (SMCR), Laura Wershler interviews Dr. Jerilynn Prior about what causes these adverse effects and what…
The ABCs of Osteoporosis Prevention for Teenage Women

Bone Health: As Simple as ABC! The teen years are a time of major change occurring before and after the first menstrual period. During these years bone not only increases in size (with growth) but also becomes stronger to reach peak bone mass. This is the best time in your life to build strong bones…
Documenting Ovulation with Quantitative Basal Temperature (QBT)

If our cycles are regular – about a month apart we assume we are ovulatory – meaning releasing an egg and making normal amounts of progesterone. However, ovulation is highly variable for all women. Progesterone raises our first morning (or basal) temperature a little bit. But so do many other things. Thus “basal body temperature”…
Manipulating Menstruation with Hormonal Contraception — what does the Science say?

The flood of recent articles and magazine reports and even books (1) about so-called “menstrual suppression” describe taking the Pill continuously or for longer than 21 days with seven days off. The advertising suggests that this is giving women a “choice” to do away with menstrual flow or menstrual problems. The Federal Drug Agency in…