One of my goals this year is to read at least a book a month about a health topic in my quest to better understand my body and make it the best it can be. The first book I read won’t be helpful for everyone, but I enjoyed it. It was Taking Charge of Your Fertility.
I’m not about to turn into a blogger who write TMI posts or blogs about my sex life. That’s not my style since I’m a pretty modest girl, but I do want to share something my review of Taking Charge of Your Fertility because it has changed my life.
Why I Read Taking Charge of Your Fertility
I wish I had read this book months or years ago. Personally I never learned much – or anything really – about my body and how it works regarding my period and fertility. All I knew was every month or so my period came and though it sucked I just had to get through it. I learned all hygiene stuff and the very basics of why it happened but nothing beyond that. I suppose I didn’t need to but the fact that I didn’t learn that then meant I didn’t know it even in my 20s. Reading this book changed all that.
It’s surprising that I never learned much about my hormones or monthly cycles. (Shocking, really.) I remember as a teenager being diagnosed with PMDD [Premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) is a condition in which a woman has severe depression symptoms, irritability, and tension before menstruation aka more severe PMS where I can’t control getting super duper sad] and being put on prozac to treat the symptoms until I decided I hated taking medication. Once I started exercising and eating healthier just to lose weight I noticed that it also reduced the PMDD symptoms and medication wasn’t as necessary anyway. Though the symptoms are still around they are tolerable and don’t completely disrupt my life.
Eventually I went on birth control pills because I wasn’t wanting to become pregnant in my twenties. This ending up being a horrible decision because in my case hormonal birth control pills increased the PMDD symptoms and almost literally made me insane. My history with depression combined with PMDD combined with birth control pills was a recipe for disaster. Crazy insane person disaster!! Much like when I stopped taking Prozac I realized again that I didn’t enjoy my quality of life so I stopped taking birth control. But that left me with a need to figure out something else for birth control.
The Basics of Taking Charge of Your Fertility
The interesting thing to me about the book Taking Charge of Your Fertility is that it is about understanding your body as a woman. This means it is useful either for those wanting to prevent or create a pregnancy. It is focused around the Fertility Awareness Method which involves a women tracking her cycle and changes in her body to know when she can and cannot get pregnant.
The book is broken into several sections that cover your period, your body, how to track your cycle, how to get pregnant, how to not get pregnant, basic womens’ health issues. The main part of the book is focused on learning how and why to track your monthly cycle as it is very important to both sets of goals. The book includes lots of examples and instructions and makes it easy. It also comes with a cd that has software that help you do this on your computer.
It teaches women the basics of fertility that we don’t learn anywhere else. It gives the knowledge and power to the reader and really builds confidence. After reading the book you can take your own fertility into your hands and know that you have a better chance at achieving what you want rather than just guessing.
My Thoughts on Taking Charge of Your Fertility
I’ll admit that this book made me feel stupid. I’m not sure why since I simply never had the opportunity to learn these things, but I definitely learned more in this class than I did in any school sex education (that was one awkward class that taught nothing) or doctors visits. After reading the book and putting into practice it’s method I feel much more confident about preventing and hopefully eventually becoming pregnant.
For me personally it also helped me better understand my body and the hormonal things that happen each month as well. I liked that the book works for both women trying to get pregnant and those trying to prevent it as well as giving lots of information important to all women. It’s a wonderful resource and a
Even if you don’t plan to use “natural birth control” or the Fertility Awareness Method that is described in the book I think this is a great read for anyone wanting to understand more about their body and the process of either achieving pregnancy or preventing it. I’d say it’s even a good read for either teenagers or moms of teenagers who want their kids to be more informed than most.
Obviously my review is positive. I’d give it 5 of 5 stars! ?????
You can buy Taking Charge of Your Fertility on Amazon or in your local bookstore. I got mine at Barnes & Noble (it’s less expensive online).
Thabks for this review! I read this book many many years ago. It is outstanding and in my opinion a “classic” for women to read. Very informative!!
I read that book last year. It was so helpful!
I loved that book too – so interesting! I really wish I had read it when I was a teenager. Now that I’m paying more attention and sort-of charting, it really helps me see how my mood changes throughout my cycle (I struggle with depression too, and it helps to know that I’m not having a huge setback, it’s “just” hormones) and I also noticed that I get a migraine at the exact same time every month.
I haven’t read that book, but very early in my marriage 35 years ago I read several books about natural birth control. The knowledge I gained from them has been the foundation of managing my fertility all these years. I had two planned pregnancies, both achieved when I wanted them, and no unplanned pregnancies. Moreover, since I have always had erratic cycle lengths (especially when I was in my 20’s, when the number of days per cycle would be along the lines of 32, 47, 28, 72, 63, 29, 34…..), I never had to worry that I might be pregnant simply because I was ‘late’. Great information that every wife should be in possession of!
That is a fantastic book!
I got married when I was almost 35, so I was interested in becoming pregnant ASAP. I had a history of endometriosis, so I had been on the pill from age 19-34. Also I was concerned that the endometriosis would come back if I didn’t get pregnant quickly. I learned so much from that book – I didn’t know anything about ovulation signs or cervical mucus or anything like that.
Ultimately I did chart to see what was going on with my cycles (which was good because it turned out I didn’t ovulate until day 22), but I also used the Clear Blue Easy Fertility Monitor and got pregnant right away. I never used natural methods of preventing though – I think I was too nervous for that.
But you are right – it is a book all women should read!
Great review. :)
This book is interesting.
I’m tempted to add this to my to be read list, but I’d probably scare my boyfriend something awful! haha
I can say that I feel I know more about the female body and reproductive system/health then most women I know, mainly because for about three years, sex, & sexual health was a huge hobby of mine. I even took a human sexuality class at the college and it was amazing. The class had about 25 women and like 3 guys, who were largely very uncomfortable. *shakes head*
Just tell him you are reading it to NOT get pregnant. That’s actually why I bought and read it. :)
LOL I just went through all my blog links trying to find this post again so I can grab the book! I’ve got a huge stack of books on my nightstand, but I think something different is in order.
I’m definitely going to have to explain this one when it comes in!
I love this book too! And yes, you learn a lot. I have no doubt that if you follow the principles, you will not have an accidental pregnancy. The tracking software is very good as well.
Hello! First time reader and commenter (found your blog via Beth’s at The Kitchen Minions). Thanks for the book review and also the one you did on In Defense of Food (which I’m now reading). My education regarding the inner workings of my body is very sketchy.
Hi Vanessa! Glad you found me and thanks for reading!
So glad you read and enjoyed TCOYF! Please don’t feel dumb for not having known any of that info before—I don’t think any of us get taught more than what you learned. I sure didn’t.
Even though TCOYF didn’t help me conceive (I had other issues), I can’t recommend it strongly enough to any woman who’s even thinking about heading down that road.
Have you tried the Nuvaring? I LOVE it. Taking the pill made me have some mood swings and such, but I find that with the Nuvaring, it’s a lower dose of hormone so it doesn’t seem to affect me at all. It’s definitely worth a shot! I recommend it :)
Taking Charge of Your Fertility is a wonderful book. I read it in my early 30s when my dh and I were having trouble conceiving. It shed so much light on how my cycle works and charting my cycles gave my Dr more info on why I was having trouble. I think it should be required reading for all women.
The book was so helpful. I read that book last year.