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How I Balanced My Hormones & Got My Period Back

  • Writer: cfiano
    cfiano
  • Jul 1, 2018
  • 7 min read

I've been contemplating writing this post for a few months now, thinking it might be too personal to share with everyone, but then I started seeing more and more women going through the same thing. I then decided it would be wrong from me to keep this newly learned and life changing information to myself. Women? This post is for you.

Have you experienced irregular periods? Have you tried various natural remedies to no avail? Have you thought, "Maybe this is just how my body is? Maybe this is normal?"

Have you thought about getting off birth control but aren't sure how your body will respond and if it's even the right thing to do?

Have you struggled with hormonal imbalances?

Well guess what...I've found the solution! Yes, I seriously have and I'm SO FREAKING EXCITED to share with you what I've learned over the past several months.

It wasn't until I got on birth control pills in college that I started having regular periods. Before that, I got them about once every three months. I honestly didn't mind much at the time. I thought, "Hey, this is awesome! I only have to go through this four times a year!" After college I continued taking the pills but started wondering what it was doing to my body. Whenever I asked my doctor about it she would tell me to stay on them and that they're actually benefiting my body. Wait...good for my body? How can something synthetic and man made that tricks my body into thinking it's pregnant actually be healthy? A woman's body is naturally supposed to be able to regulate itself to stay on a consistent 28 day cycle, right?

I started to do more research on the topic and very quickly became overwhelmed with what I was finding. The pills causes cancer. The pills prevents cancer. The pills increases your risk of heart disease. The pills only slightly increase the risk of heart disease and shouldn't be of concern. The pills cause acne. The pills prevent acne. No one seemed to agree.

For years I went through the same cycle: become concerned, do my research, and ultimately conclude it's too complicated to figure out and decide it's easier to just stay on them. Then one day something clicked. It was not long after I started this blog that I really got serious about stopping the pill. I started to look less at the supposed advantages and disadvantages of taking the pill and instead focused on women's experiences with getting off the pill. FINALLY, there was a consensus! Practically every woman was so happy to have gotten off the pill and said she has no plan to ever go back on them. I remember reading one blog post where it took a woman 13 months to get her first period after getting off the pill, the second one came in 9 months, and they progressively got more frequent until they were once a month. Hearing that is what pushed me over the fence. If these pills are making it so that my body forgets how to function properly, I don't want anything to do with them! Knowing how irregular I was before getting on the pill, I prepared myself for a year without periods.

By the time I took my last pill on August 19, 2017, I was already looking into natural remedies to get my period back. I'm a huge tea drinker and a big believer in the health benefits of herbal teas. I decided to try Yogi's Women's Energy tea which is said to help balance the female system.

I drank this tea every day for a couple months. I enjoyed it a lot! One of the main ingredients is Dong Quai which is supposed to help with reproductive health. Yogi has a whole range of women's teas including Moon Cycle, Mother to Be, Nursing Support, and Raspberry Leaf. I'm actually not sure if they make Woman's Energy anymore. I looked on their website, Amazon, and Vitacost and see that it's unavailable everywhere. Maybe they're phasing it out since they have the other four? I'm not too sure but ultimately what I decided is while I enjoy drinking this tea, I feel like it's more of a supplement to be taken with other natural remedies. It's not a cure all and didn't help me get my period back, at least not on it's own. Once I'm done with my current box I'm planning to try out some of their other teas in the range. I'll let you know how they are!

Since drinking tea didn't seem to do the trick I started to dive deeper to find a different cure. I came across adaptogens. Adaptogens are plants or plant-based substances that help the body handle stress and bring it back into balance. One of the common ones for reproductive health is maca powder.

Maca powder comes from maca root which has many benefits including being filled with antioxidants, helping to balance out of wack hormones, and enhancing mood, memory, and energy levels. I read that taking 1 tsp a day would help bring my period back. I went on Amazon and ordered a 2 lb bag by Healthworks​ and started taking it in mid-January. Sometimes I'd mix it into smoothies, other days I'd mix it with a few tablespoons of yogurt. A week later, to my surprise, I got my period! I hadn't had it since August when I stopped taking the pill. 5 months later and I had it back! I was excited that I was able to do it naturally but not completely convinced that it would stick around. What if it took another 3 or 4 or 5+ months to get it back again? How long would this process take? I continued taking the maca powder but noticed it was hard to stay consistent. With it being the dead of winter I wasn't really feeling like smoothies and mixing it in with yogurt wasn't the tastiest of concoctions. It wasn't bad but after eating it every morning it started to feel less like food and more like medicine. I also found that on busy days or on the weekends I would sometimes forget and consistency is key. Mixing it into a smoothie once a week isn't enough. You have to take it every day. Though maca powder did in fact bring my period back, I wanted to find something easier.

I decided to take a look at Rooted Earth Farms Etsy shop. I started talking to Sara, the founder and owner, about what I had been going through and asked which of her products might help me. She suggested her Red Raspberry Leaf Tincture and, if that didn't work alone, to supplement it with her Red Clover Tincture. I started off by ordering Red Raspberry Leaf. It's made with two simple ingredients: gluten free vodka and organic red raspberry leaf. She infuses the leaves into the vodka under moonlight over a period of 8 weeks. The power of the moon's energy is said to magnify the power of the herb. Red raspberry leaf is high in B vitamins, iron, and magnesium, and has been used for centuries to support general women's health, strengthen the uterus, ease menstrual cycles, support the immune system, and much more.

I started taking a dropper full of this tincture in the morning and also at night after brushing my teeth. Sara says the most effective way to use it is to place the tincture under your tongue for 30 to 60 seconds before swallowing. It can also be mixed in with water or juice if the taste bothers you but I quite like it. The 2 oz bottle lasted about two and a half to three months. I got my period again not long after starting to take the tincture. I just about cried when I got my next one exactly 28 days later. EXACTLY...28 DAYS LATER! Can you believe it? You have to realize...that had NEVER happened to me in my entire life. My body stayed right on schedule for about a month after I stopped taking the tincture. I wasn't sure if my body would automatically know what to do now that it had been in balance for a few months. Turns out, I needed to keep taking the tincture to remind my body what to do. After not taking it for about three months and only having my period once during that time, I decided to order more. Within a week, my period came back. Needless to say...THIS STUFF REALLY WORKS!

I am so over the moon that I found a natural remedy for my imbalanced hormones. This tincture is now my holy grail health product and I can't live without it. I'm obsessed and want to spread the word to every single woman that can benefit from this like I did.

Considering all three remedies - the tea, maca powder, and tincture - I would recommend all three. I can't say that I noticed any difference with the tea, per say, but I know it didn't hurt anything and I plan to try other women's teas in the future. I continue to put maca powder in all my smoothies, and I'm going to continue taking the tincture for the foreseeable future, until my body starts working right on it's own.

I'm truly so amazed and grateful to have finally found a solution. Getting off the pill was one of the best decisions I made for my health and I'm so happy with how I feel as a result.

If you have any questions at all about my journey, my remedies, or anything really, send me a message or leave me a note in the comments. As always, I'd love to hear from you guys!

DISCLOSURE: The below link is an affiliate link for HealthWorks Maca Powder meaning I will receive a commission if you purchase the maca powder via the link, however, this is NOT a sponsored post. I have been using maca powder for many months before they reached out to me. Thank you for your support!

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