FFP 014 | What does a Healthy Menstrual Cycle look like? | The Menstrual Cycle as the 5th Vital Sign | Colleen Flowers

Colleen Flowers is a Fertility Awareness Educator who loves teaching women and couples about their reproductive health from a holistic perspective. Colleen graduated as a Justisse Holistic Reproductive Health Practitioner in 2012 and she has been working tirelessly in this field ever since! Colleen founded Flowers Fertility in 2011 where she teaches classes and offers private consultations so that women can better-understand fertility awareness charting, and improve their chances of conceiving or avoid pregnancy naturally.

In today's episode, we talk about the menstrual cycle. Colleen takes us through the parameters of a healthy menstrual cycle, and why it is important to chart your menstrual cycles not only for birth control and conception but also for overall health and screening for potentially serious illnesses. Colleen talks about what to look for in a healthy cycle, how to know if your cycles are out of the normal range, and when to seek support from a health practitioner if you have concerns about your menstrual cycle.

Topics discussed in this episode

• What is the Fertility Awareness Method? And how is it different to the Rhythm Method?
• What is the difference between calculation-based birth control methods and observational birth control methods?
• What is the main ideological difference between Natural Family Planning and the Fertility Awareness Method?
• What are the parameters of a normal and healthy menstrual cycle?
• How do these parameters change depending on a woman's age, and her stage of life?
• What does a normal menstrual period look like in terms of color, quantity, and frequency?
• How much variation is normal in the length of your menstrual cycle?
• Is it possible that your menstrual cycles are "normal" even if they aren't always 28 days long?
• What is a vital sign? And why do some practitioners consider menstruation to be the 5th vital sign?
• How does monitoring your menstrual cycle help you to gauge your overall health?
• How does the pill prevent pregnancy?
• How long does it take a teenage girl's menstrual cycles to mature?
• Why hormonal contraceptives can actually prevent a young woman's menstrual cycle from developing normally

Connect with Colleen!

You can connect with Colleen on her website fertilityflowers.com and on Facebook!

Resources mentioned

• Flowers Fertility | Colleen Flowers 
• Gynecological Cancer Symptoms | Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• The Center for Menstrual Cycle and Ovulation Research | Jerilynn Prior
• The NaPro Technology Revolution: Unleashing the Power in a Woman's Cycle | Dr. Thomas W. Hilgers
• Can we Achieve International Agreement on Terminologies and Definitions used to describe Abnormalities of Menstrual Bleeding | Fraser IS, Chritchley HO, Munroe MG, Broder M
• Justisse Healthworks for Women | Geraldine Matus

Music Credit: Intro/Outro music Produced by Sirc of (The Nock)