A Better Way to Care for Women’s Health

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Bella has painful and irregular periods.

Anna suffers from endometriosis.

Marylin deals with polycystic ovarian syndrome.

Pamela has acne.

They were all prescribed the birth control pill to control their symptoms.

But there is a better way! A way consistent with the dignity of women and authentic sexuality, a way that treats underlying causes and respects a woman’s total health, a way free of the Pill’s risks of depression, weight gain, nausea, cancer, blood clotting and early abortions.

Whether single, married or consecrated, in their teens, 30s or retirement, all women deserve to know about the authentic women’s health care available through NaProTechnology, developed by Dr. Thomas Hilgers of the Pope Paul VI Institute in Omaha, Nebraska. Using Creighton Model FertilityCare System natural family planning charts, NaProTechnology addresses gynecological issues as well as problems like depression, which often result from an underlying hormonal imbalance.

My friend Eileen Savoy of St. Mary Magdalen parish in Everett — now the proud mother of four — graciously shared with me about her experience receiving treatment for infertility.

She described the run-around she and her husband went through when they requested to use perforated condoms in a marital act to collect sperm, a moral option approved by the church.

“When it was time to try to conceive, I came back for some injections,” she said. “When I asked what I was being injected with I was told that it wasn’t my business as the doctor was going to ‘get me pregnant.’ I asked lightheartedly, didn’t he mean that my husband would ‘get me pregnant’? He never told me what that injection contained.”

After his course of treatment didn’t work, the doctor recommended Eileen and her husband pursue in vitro fertilization, a method of conception inconsistent with Catholic ethical principles.

When Eileen started receiving care through the Pope Paul VI Institute, she said, it was “radically different from the beginning.”

“They asked for a family picture with our intake forms so they could pray for us. When we asked what their goal for our treatment was, Dr. Hilgers said ‘for you to be healthy, whether or not you get pregnant,’ which was a revelation for us!”

Eileen discovered she had an underactive thyroid and severe endometriosis, an often painful uterine condition. “Without treating those, IVF wouldn’t have worked because the odds of me carrying a baby to term were extremely slim,” she said.

“We found out perforated condoms are a scientifically sound way of collecting a sperm sample, because Dr. Hilgers has worked very hard to prove it in the scientific community,” she added.

“The gentleness of a Christ-centered, faithfully Catholic approach to fertility radiates in all they do,” Eileen said of the Pope Paul VI Institute.

I also connected with Dr. Michele Yi, a pediatrician practicing in Bonney Lake, who is trained in NaProTechnology, and asked her about the benefits of treating the underlying causes of issues like polycystic ovarian syndrome, endometriosis, infertility and depression using Dr. Hilgers’ methods.

She said the Creighton Model FertilityCare System allows women to “interpret their menstrual cycle and symptoms and better understand the relationship between their hormonal activity, reproductive health and general health.”

“If abnormalities emerge,” she added, “women are empowered to make more informed decisions about their health care and work with health care providers in the treatment of underlying conditions, thereby finding solutions instead of just masking a woman’s underlying health issues.”

Dr. Yi said she’s seen women who suffered from infertility achieve pregnancy without the use of IVF, and women who dealt with irregular cycles and premenstrual syndrome be able to experience normal menstrual cycles and be relieved of their PMS symptoms.

More information about the Pope Paul VI Institute is available at popepaulvi.com. Local Creighton Method NFP teachers can be found at seattlearchdiocese.org/nfp.

Northwest Catholic – May 2017

Bella has painful and irregular periods.

Anna suffers from endometriosis.

Marylin deals with polycystic ovarian syndrome.

Pamela has acne.

They were all prescribed the birth control pill to control their symptoms.

But there is a better way! A way consistent with the dignity of women and authentic sexuality, a way that treats underlying causes and respects a woman’s total health, a way free of the Pill’s risks of depression, weight gain, nausea, cancer, blood clotting and early abortions.

Whether single, married or consecrated, in their teens, 30s or retirement, all women deserve to know about the authentic women’s health care available through NaProTechnology, developed by Dr. Thomas Hilgers of the Pope Paul VI Institute in Omaha, Nebraska. Using Creighton Model FertilityCare System natural family planning charts, NaProTechnology addresses gynecological issues as well as problems like depression, which often result from an underlying hormonal imbalance.

My friend Eileen Savoy of St. Mary Magdalen parish in Everett — now the proud mother of four — graciously shared with me about her experience receiving treatment for infertility.

She described the run-around she and her husband went through when they requested to use perforated condoms in a marital act to collect sperm, a moral option approved by the church.

“When it was time to try to conceive, I came back for some injections,” she said. “When I asked what I was being injected with I was told that it wasn’t my business as the doctor was going to ‘get me pregnant.’ I asked lightheartedly, didn’t he mean that my husband would ‘get me pregnant’? He never told me what that injection contained.”

After his course of treatment didn’t work, the doctor recommended Eileen and her husband pursue in vitro fertilization, a method of conception inconsistent with Catholic ethical principles.

When Eileen started receiving care through the Pope Paul VI Institute, she said, it was “radically different from the beginning.”

“They asked for a family picture with our intake forms so they could pray for us. When we asked what their goal for our treatment was, Dr. Hilgers said ‘for you to be healthy, whether or not you get pregnant,’ which was a revelation for us!”

Eileen discovered she had an underactive thyroid and severe endometriosis, an often painful uterine condition. “Without treating those, IVF wouldn’t have worked because the odds of me carrying a baby to term were extremely slim,” she said.

“We found out perforated condoms are a scientifically sound way of collecting a sperm sample, because Dr. Hilgers has worked very hard to prove it in the scientific community,” she added.

“The gentleness of a Christ-centered, faithfully Catholic approach to fertility radiates in all they do,” Eileen said of the Pope Paul VI Institute.

I also connected with Dr. Michele Yi, a pediatrician practicing in Bonney Lake, who is trained in NaProTechnology, and asked her about the benefits of treating the underlying causes of issues like polycystic ovarian syndrome, endometriosis, infertility and depression using Dr. Hilgers’ methods.

She said the Creighton Model FertilityCare System allows women to “interpret their menstrual cycle and symptoms and better understand the relationship between their hormonal activity, reproductive health and general health.”

“If abnormalities emerge,” she added, “women are empowered to make more informed decisions about their health care and work with health care providers in the treatment of underlying conditions, thereby finding solutions instead of just masking a woman’s underlying health issues.”

Dr. Yi said she’s seen women who suffered from infertility achieve pregnancy without the use of IVF, and women who dealt with irregular cycles and premenstrual syndrome be able to experience normal menstrual cycles and be relieved of their PMS symptoms.

More information about the Pope Paul VI Institute is available at popepaulvi.com. Local Creighton Method NFP teachers can be found at seattlearchdiocese.org/nfp.

Originally posted on Northwest Catholic – May 2017

One thought on “A Better Way to Care for Women’s Health”

  1. THIS information is SO necessary; those who have concern for womens’ health; doctors, nurses and women themselves, have been deprived of education.
    Women who take vitamins, buy organic food, exercise regularly have been completely misled to not be concerned about what a doctor gives them to put into their bodies.
    Just as the Church declares parents the primary educators of their children, women can use NFP to be the primary EMT of their body.
    Choose Pope Paul VI Institute as a ‘favorite’ and share this information.

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