Dare read this ONLY if you're a womanly woman interested in the many facets of womanhood. Things like...estrogen levels

There. I hope I effectively scared off any persons of the guy pursuasion who might have been tempted to view this post. ;op

Ladies, I thought some of you might find helpful some of the women's health resources I've discovered over the past few months. A little background: I've always had irregular monthly cycles. This is somehow related, I believe, to hormonal imbalances that have occured from time to time, causing (mostly mild, but still not fun) bouts of depression, irritability...some of you may know what I'm talking about! I never really did much about it or had many tests done.

For almost the first two years of my marriage, I was on hormonal birth control (the pill), which caused my natural cycle to be replaced with an artificial hormone-induced one. Thank God, I finally became aware of the harmfulness of chemical birth control methods and stopped using it! I've written more on this here.

Once I went off the pill, my cycle returned to it's natural irregularity. I decided I needed to find out if there's something wrong and how it might be corrected. Several months ago, I finally started charting my cycles on a calendar to get more of an idea as to what's really going on. To my surprise, I found that though my cycles ARE irregular, they're not as bad as I thought. Over the past eight cycles they've stayed within 28-39 days, with one exception of a 50-day cycle. (Still have no idea what that one was about!)

I'm now stepping it up a little more by charting my temperatures as well. I purchased a digital basal thermometer from this site. (which also has great prices on pregnancy tests and other women's health items, btw). Charting temperatures not only helps you to know if and when you're ovulating, it gives indicators of other health problems that might be occuring, like thyroid issues. This site gives tons of information on how to chart, how to interpret your chart, how to recognize problems, and offers free online charting software. Though geared towards women trying to conceive, it might be helpful to anyone who has questions or concerns about their cycle or reproductive health. Having detailed records of your cycles, temperatures, etc., would be very helpful to have if you're planning to go to the doctor for any type of women's health issue.

The next thing on my list is to do more research into which vitamins and diets contribute to hormonal balance and healthy cycles. Oh...and I really do need to start exercising more!:op I may also schedule a doctor appointment at some point for some bloodwork or something, but since this isn't an emergency matter (I've lived with it for years!) I want to gather as much information as I can on my own so that I can be as informed as possible.

The more I find out, the more fascinated I am to discover how uniquely and wonderfully we are made! Does anybody else have any helpful websites, articles, etc., to offer dealing specifically with women's health issues? Has anyone experienced problems for which you've found natural solutions? (I'm not against medical solutions, but just prefer to use them as a last resort. I'd rather correct problems and imbalances by correcting lifestyle or diet deficiencies than by taking some pill;o)